The RAVPower 45W Ultrathin PD Charger is one of the first GaN chargers available on the market. It uses GaNFast solution from Navitas, reaching a power density unimaginable for conventional chargers, and remains one of the slimmest 45W chargers on the market today. And here's our teardown review.


I Unboxing

RAVPower 45W Ultrathin PD GaN Charger In-Depth Teardown Review-Chargerlab

A very refreshing mint green box.

RAVPower 45W Ultrathin PD GaN Charger In-Depth Teardown Review-Chargerlab

Specifications on the back.

RAVPower 45W Ultrathin PD GaN Charger In-Depth Teardown Review-Chargerlab

Package contents: charger and user manual. No cable included.

RAVPower 45W Ultrathin PD GaN Charger In-Depth Teardown Review-Chargerlab

It is a rounded rectangle in glossy white finish.

RAVPower 45W Ultrathin PD GaN Charger In-Depth Teardown Review-Chargerlab

Foldable prongs. Very pocketable.

RAVPower 45W Ultrathin PD GaN Charger In-Depth Teardown Review-Chargerlab

Model: RP-PC104

Input: 100V-240V~50/60Hz 1.25A

Output: 5V/3A, 9V/3A, 12V/3A, 15V/3A, 20V/2.25A, 45W Max

RAVPower 45W Ultrathin PD GaN Charger In-Depth Teardown Review-Chargerlab

The single USB-C port.

RAVPower 45W Ultrathin PD GaN Charger In-Depth Teardown Review-Chargerlab

It is very slim looking from the side. Our unit has US standard foldable prongs.

RAVPower 45W Ultrathin PD GaN Charger In-Depth Teardown Review-Chargerlab

It is almost half the height of the Apple 61W PD charger.

RAVPower 45W Ultrathin PD GaN Charger In-Depth Teardown Review-Chargerlab

Compared to the iPhone XS Max.

RAVPower 45W Ultrathin PD GaN Charger In-Depth Teardown Review-Chargerlab

Dimension: 80x55.7x15.5mm (2.8×2.1×0.6in).

RAVPower 45W Ultrathin PD GaN Charger In-Depth Teardown Review-Chargerlab

It weighs 79.5g/2.8oz which is quite light for a 45W charger.

RAVPower 45W Ultrathin PD GaN Charger In-Depth Teardown Review-Chargerlab

The downside of being slim. It is not very socket-friendly since it has a relatively wide profile.


II Review


1. Charging protocols test

RAVPower 45W Ultrathin PD GaN Charger In-Depth Teardown Review-Chargerlab

Using ChargerLAB Power-Z FL001S USB power tester, we know that it supports USB PD and Apple 2.4A protocol.


2. PDO information

RAVPower 45W Ultrathin PD GaN Charger In-Depth Teardown Review-Chargerlab

PDO information reveals the USB-C port supports quick charging output in 5V/3A, 9V/3A, 12V/3A, 15V/3A, and 20V/2.25A.


3. Compatibility Test

RAVPower 45W Ultrathin PD GaN Charger In-Depth Teardown Review-Chargerlab

Charging the iPhone XS Max, we are getting 9.09V 1.98A 18.06W, under PD protocol.

RAVPower 45W Ultrathin PD GaN Charger In-Depth Teardown Review-Chargerlab

Charging the iPad Pro 11-inch, we are getting 15.1V 2.02A 30.51W, under PD protocol.

RAVPower 45W Ultrathin PD GaN Charger In-Depth Teardown Review-Chargerlab

Charging the iPad Pro 10.5-inch, we are getting 15.09V 1.99A 30.15W, under PD protocol.

RAVPower 45W Ultrathin PD GaN Charger In-Depth Teardown Review-Chargerlab

Charging the iPad Air2 which doesn't support USB PD, we are getting 5.19V 2.42A 12.57W, under Apple 2.4A protocol.

RAVPower 45W Ultrathin PD GaN Charger In-Depth Teardown Review-Chargerlab

Charging the Nintendo Switch, we are getting 15V 0.81A 12.22W, under PD protocol.

RAVPower 45W Ultrathin PD GaN Charger In-Depth Teardown Review-Chargerlab

Charging the MacBook Pro 13.3-inch, we are getting 19.92V 2.18A 43.54W, under PD protocol.


III Teardown

RAVPower 45W Ultrathin PD GaN Charger In-Depth Teardown Review-Chargerlab

Pry open the case along the side. We can see the internal PCBA of the charger is completely wrapped by a heat-dissipating copper plate and insulating tape, with a large thermal adhesive on top, which can evenly transfer the heat generated by the internal PCBA to the outer casing to avoid overheating during operation.

RAVPower 45W Ultrathin PD GaN Charger In-Depth Teardown Review-Chargerlab

Remove the thermal paste reveals the copper plate.

RAVPower 45W Ultrathin PD GaN Charger In-Depth Teardown Review-Chargerlab

Peel off the tape and we are greeted by a transformer and the four horizontal input filter capacitors.

RAVPower 45W Ultrathin PD GaN Charger In-Depth Teardown Review-Chargerlab

After further disassemble, we can see the capacitors are glued, and the other side of the PCBA is also applied with thermal adhesive.

RAVPower 45W Ultrathin PD GaN Charger In-Depth Teardown Review-Chargerlab

There is an aluminum heat sink on the back of the PCBA.

RAVPower 45W Ultrathin PD GaN Charger In-Depth Teardown Review-Chargerlab

The aluminum heat sink is soldered to the PCB.

RAVPower 45W Ultrathin PD GaN Charger In-Depth Teardown Review-Chargerlab

The insulating tape on the back of the aluminum sheet. Major heat-generating components are applied with thermal conductive glue, which dissipates heat through the aluminum sheet.

RAVPower 45W Ultrathin PD GaN Charger In-Depth Teardown Review-Chargerlab

The thickness of the entire PCBA is merely 10.5mm.

RAVPower 45W Ultrathin PD GaN Charger In-Depth Teardown Review-Chargerlab

There are a slow-blow fuse, a two-stage common-mode choke and an X capacitor on the input side to form the EMI circuit.

RAVPower 45W Ultrathin PD GaN Charger In-Depth Teardown Review-Chargerlab

A 3.15A input, 250V fuse.

RAVPower 45W Ultrathin PD GaN Charger In-Depth Teardown Review-Chargerlab

The close-up of the X capacitor.

RAVPower 45W Ultrathin PD GaN Charger In-Depth Teardown Review-Chargerlab

We can see the charger uses a planar transformer, and the output solid capacitors also have a low profile.

RAVPower 45W Ultrathin PD GaN Charger In-Depth Teardown Review-Chargerlab

The input side uses four Aishi electrolytic capacitors, the specifications are 400V 15μF, 60μF in total. The output side has two CapXon solid capacitors, 25V 100μF.

RAVPower 45W Ultrathin PD GaN Charger In-Depth Teardown Review-Chargerlab

Close-up of the electrolytic capacitors on the input side.

RAVPower 45W Ultrathin PD GaN Charger In-Depth Teardown Review-Chargerlab

Close-up of the solid capacitors on the output side.

RAVPower 45W Ultrathin PD GaN Charger In-Depth Teardown Review-Chargerlab

The sticker on the transformer indicates it was made in the 45th week of 2018, and passed the Class B Hi-Pot test.

RAVPower 45W Ultrathin PD GaN Charger In-Depth Teardown Review-Chargerlab

A rubber isolation cover at the corner of the transformer circuit board.

RAVPower 45W Ultrathin PD GaN Charger In-Depth Teardown Review-Chargerlab

Under the sticker on the transformer is a copper foil shield that wraps the core of the transformer.

RAVPower 45W Ultrathin PD GaN Charger In-Depth Teardown Review-Chargerlab

Remove the isolation cover and there is a MOS tube and metal alloy inductor.

RAVPower 45W Ultrathin PD GaN Charger In-Depth Teardown Review-Chargerlab

Removing the transformer, the circuit board on the back of the transformer is a synchronous rectification circuit, with MLCCs for filtering at the output side.

RAVPower 45W Ultrathin PD GaN Charger In-Depth Teardown Review-Chargerlab

The components on the back. Major heat-generating components are applied with thermal conductive glue to dissipate heat.

RAVPower 45W Ultrathin PD GaN Charger In-Depth Teardown Review-Chargerlab

3A output rectifier bridge at the input side.

RAVPower 45W Ultrathin PD GaN Charger In-Depth Teardown Review-Chargerlab

Y capacitors in 1206 package.

RAVPower 45W Ultrathin PD GaN Charger In-Depth Teardown Review-Chargerlab

Silicon Labs SI8610BB isolator for 2.5kV and ACF upper tube isolation.

RAVPower 45W Ultrathin PD GaN Charger In-Depth Teardown Review-Chargerlab

Detailed specifications of the Silicon Labs SI8610BB.

RAVPower 45W Ultrathin PD GaN Charger In-Depth Teardown Review-Chargerlab

Two NV6115 GaN power ICs from Navitas Semiconductor with built-in driver, 170mΩ resistance, and 650V withstand voltage. It supports 2MHz switching frequency and comes in 5*6mm QFN package to save space.

RAVPower 45W Ultrathin PD GaN Charger In-Depth Teardown Review-Chargerlab

Detailed specifications of the Navitas NV6115.

RAVPower 45W Ultrathin PD GaN Charger In-Depth Teardown Review-Chargerlab

UCC28780 from TI is a high-frequency active-clamp flyback controller that enables high-density AC-to-DC power supplies with a variable switching frequency of up to 1 MHz. User programmable advanced control law features allow performance to be optimized for both Silicon (Si) and Gallium Nitride (GaN) power FETs. We've seen the use of TI UCC28780 in our teardown of the AUKEY PA-Y19 27W GaN Charger which is also powered by GaNFast solution from Navitas.

RAVPower 45W Ultrathin PD GaN Charger In-Depth Teardown Review-Chargerlab

Detailed specification of the TI UCC28780.

RAVPower 45W Ultrathin PD GaN Charger In-Depth Teardown Review-Chargerlab

Everlight 1018 opticalcoupler for feedback voltage regulation.

RAVPower 45W Ultrathin PD GaN Charger In-Depth Teardown Review-Chargerlab

Weltred WT6615F USB PD controller.

RAVPower 45W Ultrathin PD GaN Charger In-Depth Teardown Review-Chargerlab

The WT6615F is a highly integrated USB Power Delivery (PD) controller that supports USB PD 3.0 Programmable Power Supply (PPS) specification and Qualcomm Quick Charge 4 or Quick Charge 4+ technologies designed for USB Type-C Downstream Facing Port (Source) charging applications such as power adapters, wall chargers, car chargers, power strip, power banks, and etc. The WT6615F is also used in AUKEY 27W GaN charger and Anker PowerPort Atom PD 1 30W GaN Charger.

RAVPower 45W Ultrathin PD GaN Charger In-Depth Teardown Review-Chargerlab

Vanguard Semiconductor VS3506AE P-Channel FET As output overcurrent detection resistor and output MOS transistor.

RAVPower 45W Ultrathin PD GaN Charger In-Depth Teardown Review-Chargerlab

Close-up to the USB-C port.

RAVPower 45W Ultrathin PD GaN Charger In-Depth Teardown Review-Chargerlab

Taking a second look at the planar transformer. The core is fixed to the circuit board using black glue.

RAVPower 45W Ultrathin PD GaN Charger In-Depth Teardown Review-Chargerlab

The core is grounded.

RAVPower 45W Ultrathin PD GaN Charger In-Depth Teardown Review-Chargerlab

The thickness of the planar transformer is 7.8mm.

RAVPower 45W Ultrathin PD GaN Charger In-Depth Teardown Review-Chargerlab

Synchronous rectifier controller from MPS.

RAVPower 45W Ultrathin PD GaN Charger In-Depth Teardown Review-Chargerlab

Infineon BSC098N10NS, withstand voltage 100V, 9.8mΩ resistance for output synchronous rectification.

RAVPower 45W Ultrathin PD GaN Charger In-Depth Teardown Review-Chargerlab

Detailed specification of the Infineon BSC098N10NS.

RAVPower 45W Ultrathin PD GaN Charger In-Depth Teardown Review-Chargerlab

The case is made of flame retardant PC (polycarbonate) material.

RAVPower 45W Ultrathin PD GaN Charger In-Depth Teardown Review-Chargerlab

All the components.


IV Conclusion


Powered by GaNFast solution from Navitas, the RAVPower 45W Ultrathin PD Charger is powerful, light, and slim. After all those years, we finally have a compact and pocketable charger that can charge our laptops.

On the inside, the charger is carefully designed with neat layout and multiple heat dissipation methods on top of high quality components.

The $40 retail price is a little pricy, but it is often discounted at Amazon ($35 as of now) which seems reasonable for a cutting-edge charger like this.

Pros:

Can charge a laptop.

Slim.

High quality components and neat design.


Cons:

Relatively expensive ($40).

Not very socket-friendly.

Some waste of space in the plug area (could be justified with interchangeable adapter design like the Mu One)

$35 (with coupon) $40 at Amazon US

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Source: chongdiantou