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transmaster

Contributor
Original poster
Feb 1, 2010
1,757
873
Cheyenne, Wyoming
I have noticed that the recharge rate of my M4 iPad Pro is relatively slow. It is on a 140 Watt Anker charger. What people need to understand this charger is good for 140 Watts but it is the iPhone, or iPad that controls its own charging rate. Because of Apples efforts to keep the the new iPad cool the charge rate seems to have been cut back. My iPad is staying very cool. I have an Anker 6-n-1 charger. It has a OLED display that show charge rate in Watts and Amp and what remains to go for a full charge, and a roundel for Watts. It is showing a charge rate of about 10 watts. I have some more accurate instruments for measuring this next time I pull the iPad's battery down I am going to used one of these to see if the 10 watts is accurate. I have used Anker chargers for years and I have several plugged in in arms reach, I never took the charger that came with the out of the box.

One of the things that I like about the Anker Chargers, and Powercore charging batteries is how carefully they monitor the charge state and temperature of the batteries it is charging.
 
Last edited:

rkuo

macrumors 65816
Sep 25, 2010
1,308
955
You don't mention at what state of charge you were seeing this 10W charging rate at, which is an essential piece of information as the charging rate varies greatly with the working state of charge.
 
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ManuCH

macrumors 68000
May 7, 2009
1,599
1,204
Switzerland
If you are over 80% state of charge, it will charge very slowly, and that's normal.

Between 20% and 80%, my 11" M4 iPad Pro charges with 36W, which is fairly good. No idea if the 13" is supposed to be faster.
 
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EugW

macrumors G5
Jun 18, 2017
14,878
12,855
M4 iPad Pro can charge at up to ~40 Watts peak (unless it's nearly fully charged). It can charge at nearly that wattage through the Magic Keyboard too. (Early on many YouTubers were saying 60 W, but that was apparently based on a press note or something, and is incorrect.) I believe it maxes out with ~15 V x ~2.6 A charging.

If your iPad Pro's charge is low, and you're still getting only 10 Watt charging, then that could suggest an incompatibility with your Anker. For example, if your iPad Pro and Anker have an issue with the handshake, it could drop down to 5 V and charge based on that, at 10-15 W.
 

saronian

macrumors member
Jan 25, 2009
41
49
There's a YouTube video showing a charge rate of 39W.

Charger is showing PD3.0 at 45W (15V @ 3 Amps)


Screenshot 2024-05-24 at 12.19.54 PM.png
 
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asleep

macrumors 68040
Sep 26, 2007
3,773
1,631
Probably irrelevant because of size, but it took my iPad Pro M4 11 1 hour and 58 minutes to charge from 15% to 80% with the screen on and me using it throughout.
 

transmaster

Contributor
Original poster
Feb 1, 2010
1,757
873
Cheyenne, Wyoming
You don't mention at what state of charge you were seeing this 10W charging rate at, which is an essential piece of information as the charging rate varies greatly with the working state of charge.
At one point I had it down the 2% and the Anker still showed the slower rate. One thing I did discover the cable I had the iPad on was not charging correctly. I changed it to a USB-4, it was handy, and the charging rate improved. I have not had a useable iPad in over 4 years so I am in the learning stage. I just have my iPhones to compare it too.

I have a similar instrument used above which I will use next time I pull the iPads charge down. The 2% was falling asleep while reading a Kindle book.
 

EugW

macrumors G5
Jun 18, 2017
14,878
12,855
At one point I had it down the 2% and the Anker still showed the slower rate. One thing I did discover the cable I had the iPad on was not charging correctly. I changed it to a USB-4, it was handy, and the charging rate improved. I have not had a useable iPad in over 4 years so I am in the learning stage. I just have my iPhones to compare it too.

I have a similar instrument used above which I will use next time I pull the iPads charge down. The 2% was falling asleep while reading a Kindle book.
Charging rate improved to what though? Does your Anker show the voltage and amperage, or is it just the watts? Cuz if say 15 watts, that is still way below expected, and could be explained by a Power Delivery handshake problem leading to 5V charging.

At 2% battery charge, the M4 iPad Pro should charge at ~36-39 watts with a compatible charger, at ~15 volts.
 
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FeliApple

macrumors 68040
Apr 8, 2015
3,684
2,088
At one point I had it down the 2% and the Anker still showed the slower rate. One thing I did discover the cable I had the iPad on was not charging correctly. I changed it to a USB-4, it was handy, and the charging rate improved. I have not had a useable iPad in over 4 years so I am in the learning stage. I just have my iPhones to compare it too.

I have a similar instrument used above which I will use next time I pull the iPads charge down. The 2% was falling asleep while reading a Kindle book.
How long did it take to charge?
 

transmaster

Contributor
Original poster
Feb 1, 2010
1,757
873
Cheyenne, Wyoming
OK I used the iPad down to 80% and plugged it into the Anker 6-n-1 and reading the display screen showing Watts it started and 25 Watts, and settled down to 20 Watts. I was reading that 20 Watts is the best for the iPad's battery to give it the longest life.
 

EugW

macrumors G5
Jun 18, 2017
14,878
12,855
OK I used the iPad down to 80% and plugged it into the Anker 6-n-1 and reading the display screen showing Watts it started and 25 Watts, and settled down to 20 Watts. I was reading that 20 Watts is the best for the iPad's battery to give it the longest life.
Notebookcheck reported a charging wattage of 20 W so I wonder if it was already nearing full charge. They also didn’t use an Apple adapter since in Europe the iPad Pro doesn’t come with a charging adapter.
 
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