Introduction

The well-known Apple accessory brand, Hard Cider Labs, has launched a wireless charging product, the SliceCharge 3 Pro Wireless Charging Station, which can charge an iPhone, AirPods, and an Apple Watch at the same time. According to the description, the charging station features an integrated Apple Watch charging stand and two Qi fast-charging pads, as well as USB-C and USB-A ports with PD output support. Let's see how this charging station performs.

Product Appearance

The packaging box of the SliceCharge 3 Pro Wireless Charging Station has a black background with a business style design. The product name and key selling points are printed on it.

The back of the box displays some specs info and the internal structure of this charging station, which is pretty cool.

Open the box, the SliceCharge 3 Pro Wireless Charging Station is fixed in a specially-made white plastic shell for stable transportation.

The lower layer contains a power adapter and four different plugs for different countries and regions.

It featuring a surface made of ABS and fabric, highlighting a luxurious texture that is both wear-resistant and durable.

Three white LED indicator lights are equipped on the side to show how many devices are charging.

A USB-C, a USB-A and a DC charging port are on the other side.

The Apple Watch charging stand can be adjusted by up to 90 degrees to perfectly match different watch straps. To be honest, it looks just like the original Apple Watch charger.

And the metal nameplate marked with specs info is placed between two anti-slip rubber pads.

Model is mwap09. It can support input of 15V4.3A (65W), and four output power of 5V1A, 5V2A, 9V2A, 15V2A. The charging station has passed CE and FCC certifications.

The power adapter has a black sticker marked with specs info.

Model is A653-1504300I. It supports input of 100-240V~50/60Hz 1.5A, and the output power can be up to 15V4.3A, which is 64.5W.

The overall length of this SliceCharge 3 Pro Wireless Charging Station is about 24cm (9.45 inches).

After placing down the Apple Watch charging stand completely, the total width is about 135mm (5.31 inches).

The width of the charging station alone is about 100mm (3.94 inches).

And the thickness is about 14mm (0.55 inches).

The weight of the charging station alone is about 446g (0.98 lbs).

And the total weight is about 702g (1.55 lbs).

Protocol Test

The ChargerLAB POWER-Z KM003C shows the USB-C port supports FCP, AFC, QC3.0, DCP, Apple 2.4A and PD3.0 protocols.

And it also supports three fixed PDOs of 5V3A, 9V3A, and 15V2A.

As for the USB-A port, it can only support FCP, AFC, DCP and QC3.0 protocols.

Wireless Charging Test

Next, let's begin the wireless charging test.

Firstly, the no-load power consumption is 1.14W, which is negligible.

Single Device

When using the far right charging pad to charge the iPhone 14 Plus, the input power at the power adapter end is 11.88W.

Replace the phone with an iPhone 14, the power is slightly higher at 14.53W.

Next, let's check out its compatibility for smaller electronic products.

When using the far left charging pad to charge the AirPods Pro, the power is 3.85W.

And when using the Apple Watch charging stand to charge the Apple Watch SE2, the power is 4.01W, which is acceptable.

Multiple Devices

Then, we are going to charge multiple devices at the same time because that's what this type of products is designed for.

When using the charging station to charge the iPhone 14 and 14 Plus, the input power at the power adapter end is 21.77W.

Then we added the Apple Watch SE2 to the test, but the power only increased to 23.1W.

Finally, to push the charging station to its limit, we tried to charge six devices at the same time using the wireless charging pads as well as the other two USB ports, and the power reached up to 54.4W.

Wired Charging Test

As the protocol test apart shows, the USB-C and USB-A ports both support multiple fast charging protocols, so let's take a closer look.

USB-C

For example, the ChargerLAB POWER-Z KM003C shows the USB-C port can provide 8.94V 1.82A 16.29W for the Xiaomi 11. That's means it can trigger the PD fast charging protocol.

As you can see, the testing result of the USB-C port match well with the three fixed PDOs of 5V3A, 9V3A, and 15V2A that were tested on the protocol test part.

Drawing a bar graph, it is quite clear that the top six charging power rankings among the tested models are all Apple products, with most of them reaching above 26W. In contrast, Redmi K50 came in last with only 11.07W. It is not surprising that the USB-C port has excellent compatibility with Apple products, considering that Hard Cider Labs is a brand that specializes in producing accessories for Apple products.

USB-A

Moving on to the USB-A port, the ChargerLAB POWER-Z KM003C shows it can provide 8.33V 1.87A 15.58W for the Xiaomi 11. And that's means it can trigger the QC fast charging protocol.

The testing result shows two PDOs of 9V2A and 5V2A.

Similarly, drawing a bar graph, the best performer in the USB-A port test is the OnePlus 9 Pro, with a charging power of 15.66W, while the lowest is the Realme GT Neo 5 with 7.57W. The rest of the tested models could reach close to 15W overall, indicating that, except for a small number of models, the USB-A port of the SliceCharge 3 Pro Wireless Charging Station has good compatibility with most devices.

Fully Charging Test

The entire charging test process was conducted in a thermotank with an iPhone 14 Pro Max at 25℃. After powering on, the following test results were obtained:

By drawing the data into a chart, we can see that it takes 1 hour and 52 minutes to charge the iPhone 14 Pro Max to 50%, 3 hours and 24 minutes to charge to 80%, and it takes 4 hours and 35 minutes to fully charge the phone. The result is not great to say the least.

Temperature Test

We also measured the maximum temperature before and after the fully charging test.

From the image, it can be seen that before the full charging test, the highest temperature recorded on the surface of the SliceCharge 3 Pro Wireless Charging Station using a thermal imager was 33.3℃.

After the test, the highest temperature recorded was 38.7℃. This temperature is not hot to the touch for daily use, and the surface feels relatively warm.

Summary of ChargerLAB

In conclusion, the Hard Cider Labs SliceCharge 3 Pro Wireless Charging Station is a versatile and advanced charging solution for Apple users. With the ability to charge an iPhone, AirPods, and an Apple Watch at the same time, as well as USB-C and USB-A ports with PD output support, this charging station has excellent compatibility with a wide range of devices. The wireless charging test shows that the power output is acceptable for single and multiple device charging, while the wired charging test reveals good compatibility with various fast charging protocols. However, its fully charging test result for an iPhone 14 Pro Max is not impressive, taking over 4 hours to fully charge. Nonetheless, it features a stylish and durable design, making it a great addition to any workspace or home.

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