Softbank Released a Newer 2018 Version of the 27W USB Certified Power Delivery based USB-C Charger

The 27W Softbank SELECTION USB PD Enabled USB Type-C Fast Charging AC Adapter was released by SoftBank Commerce & Service in 2017 as its first USB Power Delivery 2.0 enabled USB Type-C charger for phones. This was then followed up with the 2018 Softbank SELECTION USB PD USB Type-C Rapid Charging AC Adapter by the Japan mobile giant as a newer version of the 2017 charger. 

The Softbank SELECTION USB PD USB Type-C Rapid Charging AC Adapter (2018) isn't an entirely new charger but more like a clone of the previous version. The 2018 charger offers pretty much the same specs and capabilities as well as a almost identical design.

The Softbank SELECTION USB PD USB Type-C Rapid Charging AC Adapter (2018) also advertises the USB certification logo on both the charger and box, proudly claiming that it has been certified by the USB Implementers Forum. Notice the Softbank owned Y!mobile brand now gets printed on the charger's box which previously was missing. 

Similarly, the 2018 charger also includes a number of safety features such as being able to detect if the temperature gets abnormally hot due to some foreign material around the connector. By automatically shutting down the power supply upon detection of irregular temperature rise, the charger can help prevent fires and meltdowns from accidentally occurring.

The Softbank SELECTION USB PD USB Type-C Rapid Charging AC Adapter (2018) also comes with a 1.5 meter tethered cable so you don't need to buy a separate USB cable. When not in use, you can also fold the AC plug into the charger's body to make the adapter more portable and less likely to scratch other items. 

The Softbank SELECTION USB PD USB Type-C Rapid Charging AC Adapter (2018) still supports max 27W output using the same charging profiles of 15 watts (5 volts @ 3 amps), 21 watts (7 volts @ 3 amps), 27 watts (9 volts @ 3 amps), and 27 watts (12 volts @ 2.25 amps) as the earlier model. 

We used the USB Power Test App from Granite River Labs with the Granite River Labs USB Power Delivery Compliance C2 Tester to generate the following test results for the Softbank SELECTION USB PD USB Type-C Rapid Charging AC Adapter (2018).

The USB Power Test App first negotiates a power contract for every PDO supported by the Softbank charger, and increases the load gradually to find the threshold where over current protection (OCP) kicks in and voltage and current start to drop for safety reasons.

The USB Power Test App also reports out all the PDO's supported by the Softbank charger and their OCP thresholds.

PDO	OCP (A)	%OCP
PDO#1 Fixed: 5V 3A	3.35	111.5%
PDO#2 Fixed: 7V 3A	3.35	111.6%
PDO#3 Fixed: 9V 3A	3.35	111.5%
PDO#4 Fixed: 12V 2.25A	2.49	110.8%

The USB Power Test App takes this data to produce an I-V curve which graphically shows the relationship between voltage and current for each PDO.  We can observe as the current increases beyond the OCP threshold, the voltage immediately shuts off.

The USB Power Test App can also use the Granite River Labs USB Power Delivery Compliance C2 Tester integrated with the GW Instek APS-7100 programmable AC power supply to compare the charger's power output vs power input so that power efficiency can be measured and compared to regulatory limits from United States of Energy (DOE) Level VI or European Union's CoC Tier 2 requirements. We can repeat the power efficiency tests for different PDO's, current load conditions, and different AC input ranges, allowing us to get a complete picture of power efficiency ranges across all different usage scenarios.

Using the USB Power Delivery Compliance C2 Tester from Granite River Labs to run just a subset of the full USB Power Delivery compliance test suite, a compliance failure was observed for the Softbank SELECTION USB PD USB Type-C Rapid Charging AC Adapter (2018) even though the charger claims to be USB certified.

USB-IF High Level Mapping Summary

Sl No	Test Category	Test Group Description	Test Result
1	PHY_PRIMARY_TX	BMC Physical Layer Transmitter	PASS
3	PHY_PRIMARY_MISC	BMC Physical Layer Miscellaneous	PASS
5	POWER_PRIMARY	Power Source/Sink Primary	PASS

Result Summary

Sl No	Test ID	Test Name	Test Result
1	TDA.2.1.1.1	TDA.2.1.1.1 BMC PHY TX EYE	PASS
2	TDA.2.1.1.2	TDA.2.1.1.2 BMC PHY TX BIT	PASS
5	TDA.2.1.3.1	TDA.2.1.3.1 BMC PHY TERM	PASS
7	TDA.2.2.1	TDA.2.2.1 BMC PROT SEQ GETCAPS	PASS
8	TDA.2.2.2.1	TDA.2.2.2.1 BMC PROT SEQ CHKCAP P PC	FAIL
9	TDA.2.2.2.2	TDA.2.2.2.2 BMC PROT SEQ CHKCAP NOMARK P PC	PASS
13	TDA.2.2.7	TDA.2.2.7 BMC PROT BIST NOT 5V SRC	PASS
15	TDA.2.2.9	TDA.2.2.9 BMC PROT GSC REC	PASS
16	TDA.2.3.1.1	TDA.2.3.1.1 POW SRC LOAD P PC	PASS
17	TDA.2.3.2.1	TDA.2.3.2.1 POW SRC TRANS P PC	PASS

BMC Eye Diagram

We'll be testing this charger to see how it works with various USB devices in upcoming reviews.