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SoftBank Commerce & Service Launches Its First USB Certified Power Delivery Based USB-C Charger

SoftBank Commerce & Service's first USB Type-C charger, the 18W Softbank SELECTION USB Type-C Fast Charging AC Adapter, was Qualcomm Quick Charge 3.0 based which was useful in supporting some of the Sony's Xperia models that supported Qualcomm Quick Charge like the Sony Xperia XZ Premium.

As USB Power Delivery support has become more popular in phones, SoftBank Commerce & Service has introduced the 27W Softbank SELECTION USB PD Enabled USB Type-C Fast Charging AC Adapter. This charger is the first charger from SoftBank Commerce & Service to support USB Power Delivery 2.0 and also sports the USB certification logo, indicating that it has been certified by the USB Implementers Forum. 

In addition to faster charging and high compatibility, the Softbank SELECTION USB PD Enabled USB Type-C Fast Charging AC Adapter 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 Softbank SELECTION USB PD Enabled USB Type-C Fast Charging AC Adapter can help prevent fires and meltdowns from accidentally occurring.

The Softbank SELECTION USB PD Enabled USB Type-C Fast Charging AC Adapter supports 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) power profiles. Not only are these charging profiles printed on the charger itself, but the SoftBank Commerce & Service proudly puts the USB certified logo on the charger as well.  

The Softbank SELECTION USB PD Enabled USB Type-C Fast Charging AC Adapter 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 Enabled USB Type-C Fast Charging AC Adapter has a slim rectangular sharp body with smoothed edges, and its white and black design make it one of the sexier USB PD chargers in the market.

SoftBank Commerce & Service has made a great effort into promoting USB PD certification on the Softbank SELECTION USB PD Enabled USB Type-C Fast Charging AC Adapter, which helps to differentiate this product from a lot of other USB PD chargers sold through Amazon and other retail channels which are not certified.

Using the USB Power Test App from Granite River Labs with the Granite River Labs USB Power Delivery Compliance C2 Tester, we ran the following tests for the Softbank SELECTION USB PD Enabled USB Type-C Fast Charging AC Adapter.

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 reports out all the PDO's supported by the Softbank charger and their OCP thresholds. OCP thresholds for the Softbank charger are set at about 10% above the maximum current levels for the fixed PDO's.

PDO	OCP (A)
PDO#1 Fixed: 5V 3A	3.35
PDO#2 Fixed: 7V 3A	3.35
PDO#3 Fixed: 9V 3A	3.33
PDO#4 Fixed: 12V 2.25A	2.47

The USB Power Test App from Granite River Labs also produces an I-V curve which graphically shows the relationship between voltage and current for each PDO. We can observe current fold-back behavior where as the current increases beyond the OCP threshold, the voltage starts to curve down rather than immediately shutting 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.