Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Apple Watch Ultra 2 slow charging

Cristim74

Cristim74

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Aug 27, 2016
428
608
Bucharest, Romania
Hi there,

I'm charging the Ultra 2 with it's charger puck and a 20W Apple charger, but it's charging very slow.
I had it once charge 25% in 30 min. and another time charge 50% in 1 hour.
Today it charged from 10% to 95% in 3 hours. I have cellular on.
Has anybody else experienced this slow charging?
 
Yes! I have a Belkin fast charge Apple watch base. It worked perfectly for months to fast charge my series 8. However, I've had the Ultra 2 for a week, and charging is very erratic. For example, about 3 hours ago I placed it on the charger and I saw the lightening symbol. It was around 25%. 90 minutes later it was about 35%. So I took it off the charger, put it back on, and 90 minutes later it's maybe 60%. Very odd indeed.
 
Do either of you have optimized charge limit turned on in the battery health settings of the watch itself by chance? I don't know if that would affect it but just curious.
 
  • Like
Reactions: someoneoutthere
I also have the optimized charging on, but this shouldn't be the reason.
It looks to charge slower than my old Series 6 that also had optimised charging on.
 
I know it may not be helpful, but I have no issues fast-charging on my three Apple USB-C watch chargers.

One is plugged into an Apple 35w dual-port charger, one is plugged into a 30w (or maybe 35w) Anker dual port charger, and one is plugged into my Caldigit TS4 dock.

One's at work, one is on my night stand, and one is on my desk with my laptop. Since getting the Ultra 2, I've been wearing it at night for sleep tracking, so I'll top off to like 90% sometimes after I get to work or in the middle of the day instead of routinely charging at night. Charges go from 30% to 90% in like 20 minutes or something like that.

One of the charging pucks is a fast-charge one that came with my Series 7 watch (plastic cable). Another is the one that came with the watch (braided cable), and the third was purchased separately shortly after receiving the watch (also with a braided cable).
 
Cristim74 said:
I also have the optimized charging on, but this shouldn't be the reason.
It looks to charge slower than my old Series 6 that also had optimised charging on.
Click to expand...
Sometimes it's worth unplugging the brick from the outlet for a minute, powering down the watch, then trying again. Something goes wrong with the power-handshake that doesn't always properly engage the AW fast charging.
 
What rating charger is recommended for fast charging an Ultra 2? Can it use a 30w, or is it limited like the iPhone?
 
Cristim74 said:
Hi there,

I'm charging the Ultra 2 with it's charger puck and a 20W Apple charger, but it's charging very slow.
I had it once charge 25% in 30 min. and another time charge 50% in 1 hour.
Today it charged from 10% to 95% in 3 hours. I have cellular on.
Has anybody else experienced this slow charging?
Click to expand...
I do not have the issue. My new ultra charging time is about the same as the old one.
 
I just finished charging once again, from 20%to 95% it took close to 3h.
It's definitely not the fault of the charger as I had this experience with two different chargers.
I just powered the watch down and back up as somebody suggested; I'll see what happens next time.
Just a mention, I have cellular enabled on the watch, but this should not alter the charge speed.
 
I haven't noticed that my AWU2 is charging more slowly than my previous Series 7, but here's something odd: it takes a while before it recognizes that it's on the charger. I'll place it on the charging puck and...nothing...for about 5 seconds or so before it then shows the charging animation.

Really weird.
 
I am glad I stumbled upon this thread. My AWU2 is definitely not charging fast. I use the Belkin 3-in-1 charger (the version that supports fast charge). I thought it may be an issue related to me using a third-party charger but I tried today with the original Apple Watch magnetic charger (USB-C) and the Apple 20W brick. It took my watch 60 minutes to go from 15% to 80%. This is definitely slower than the advertised 30 mins 0 to 80 charge time. Not sure what to do…
 
ivanpasic said:
I am glad I stumbled upon this thread. My AWU2 is definitely not charging fast. I use the Belkin 3-in-1 charger (the version that supports fast charge). I thought it may be an issue related to me using a third-party charger but I tried today with the original Apple Watch magnetic charger (USB-C) and the Apple 20W brick. It took my watch 60 minutes to go from 15% to 80%. This is definitely slower than the advertised 30 mins 0 to 80 charge time. Not sure what to do…
Click to expand...
I put mine on the charger this morning at 65%. 50 minutes later it finally reached 100%.
 
I just wonder if somehow Apple has implemented some form of the Clean Energy charging feature on the iPhone that is causing the slightly longer charging times on the Watches.
 
I’m also experiencing what “feels” like slower charging times compared to my series 7. I haven’t actually timed it yet, but I was definitely in the habit of putting my watch on the charger for 0-15 minutes and getting close to 80% charge. Not getting anywhere near that now, but to be fair I can get through my day/night with 30% or so. Maybe I just need to adjust my perception of “enough” charge. Shrug.
 
I noticed that if I power cycle my AWU2 before putting it on the charger, it will fast charge. It must be some software glitch.
 
I know this is an old post, but I was wondering if anyone ever found a solution to this? I am up to date with the firmware and I've tried different chargers and I'm still not getting anywhere. It's taken 40 minutes for my AWU2 to charge 7%! My MacBook Pro charges much quicker than that!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back