Volta 2.0 - 5A Super fast charging Magnetic Cable | Drops 23.01.19

Great concept but poor quality and even poorer customer service.
I bought a lot (300€+) of original Volta cables through the original campaign to end up after less than a year with breaking tips and not holding tips. I so went to Volta XL (100€+) to find out once delivered that they don’t transfer data so completely useless. And after a few weeks here comes the Volta 2.0 full of promises if you are ready to spend 300€+ again ! (Completely impossible to reuse my previous investment if I want a seamless experience)
I tried writing a few times to customer support with only part of my questions being answered and not even the original Indiegogo discount level being proposed. Not to say that many lengths and colors are not available, price have surged and there’s a good chance that USB-C ended cables will be out soon.
Sadly

@CYRILLE
Don’t want to over promise here. We are looking into this, but it will be a little challenging to combine the QC2.0 (micro USB) protocol with the USB Type C Power Drive/Delivery together in a single cable.

@SAIF MSK Your issue is most likely a software problem within Android Auto or your android device manufacturer’s flavor of android running on the phone. Most of them will try to lay the blame in the cable being used and say you need to use the original manufacturer provided cable but if you do some digging around the internet there is a plethora of user feedback stating otherwise with issues still persisting with Original phone cables.

To give some feedback on my experience. When I first got my Subaru and starting using Android auto, the volta 1.0 OG cable and my one plus cable, and other USB A to C cables, i had those same issues with inconsistent pairings with the head unit. As android auto got updated and One Plus released new phone patches, those problems are essentially gone. I very rarely have pairing problems with android auto now using those exact same cables. My head unit has never been updated. Most reliable brands of cables are built to USB spec and are very rarely the cause of such issues.

Maybe the New Original 1.0 cable does have issues, i havent tested it myself as I never say a reason to procure those as they released at the same time the XL was released and i actually prefer the tip design of the XL over the other volta cable iterations.

@colby Volta 1.0 works well with Android auto head units. However, I’ve found Volta xl to be extremely inconsistent. Sometimes it will work perfectly fine and other times it will constantly disconnect from the head unit but still charge the phone. I’ve noticed this especially on longer drives. Once it starts disconnecting, it will not properly connect to the head unit anymore. Subaru 2018 crosstek(XV) here. I’m pretty sure the head units are the same in all Subaru cars

@DSIEN I have used both the original volta USB A magnetic charging cable (the actual original not the improved 1.0 Original rebranded they sell today), and the volta XL USB C cable with a monoprice USB C female to USB A male adapter in a 2018 Subaru Crosstrek and android auto on a OnePlus 6. Both have worked with charging the phone and providing data to the car for the android auto display. Most vehicles have USB 2.0 spec ports so actual charging rates are usually slower than what you would be used to on a wall charger or a USB 3.0 12v car adapter plug, but it functions fine otherwise

Yes, I would buy a usb c version of the universal cable… considering how usb a is also rapidly becoming obsolete

@Volta Do you guys plan to launch a USB-C version of the Volta 2.0 cable ? I mean in replacement of the USB-A.

I’m not understanding all this fuss? Technology improves constantly. The Original & XL were advertised as charging cables not data cables, your own fault if you thought different. The Original & XL still have a lifetime warranty and function as advertised, but eventually any tech product will be outdated within several years. To expect a tech company to support your cables 5 years from now is highly unlikely.

Volta is NOT saying you HAVE to buy the new 2.0 version & the other cables are obsolete! They are saying they have a variety of cables depending on your needs! Like all companies, they are trying to keep up with new technology & stay ahead of their competitors, while trying to provide products that will provide the needs of their current & future customers….

I mean, I would prefer only single Type-C cable. Then we can use tips as adapter to the device port and cheep USB-A 3.1 to USB-C adapter for USB-A slot. I think many people will have USB-C everywhere in the future.

Hi! Can maybe Volta XL can introduce the microUSB and Lightning tips? If yes, can it support 5A? I mostly have USB-C charging slots at home. But in case I need to use old USB-A slot I can just use USB-A (male) to USB-C (female) adapter to insert Volta XL.

HI

Compatible with OnePlus 6T Mclaren??

Finally!! a good high amp magnetic cable.

This will be a 100% compatible magnetic cable with OnePlus DASH or WARP charge?

@DSIEN

We will work something out. We will make a video and share it. Thanks for the support.

@RON DUNCAN

I sincerely apologise for all the confusion we must have caused you and a whole lot of people, it was never our intention to confuse anyone. I remember vividly when we were been asked to redesign the USB Type C tip of the Volta1.0 and I told the people that we would have to redesign the whole cable line in order for us to achieve an improved USB Type C tip. It was really difficult for us to introduce the Volta2.0, we knew some of our customers would not be happy and we tried our best to manage the situation.

Again, it was never our intention to confuse anyone and we are sincerely sorry for all the frustration we have caused you. We sincerely appreciate your support and we will never take it for granted. I am personally sorry to hear that you did not get any feedback about your request to cancel your order. We were smashed last year November and December due to the high demand for our products.

One thing I want to see, actual video of someone use volta charger on apple carplay or android auto to prove the data transfer ability of this charger.

I fully understand what Volta is doing here and why they can’t have tips that work on one version with the new version. Power delivery is very important and unless each tip/cable can auto regulate the voltage to be fast/slow depending on the needs, Volta could find theirselves on the hook for many damaged products.

That being said, I supported the original volta and was very happy with it. It charged and did data transfer perfectly. The volta XL does neither without a lot of fandangling. There was a lot of confusing info on the website and I personally made certain assumptions, like if an adapter was being offered with the XL as an accessory, it must work with the XL cable. I was wrong and I didn’t read the fine print. Now i have two adapters that are completely useless and instead of being able to provide an AC adapter that would solve my issues, it turns out Volta doesn’t even offer this product for the XL. Bottom line I have 3 cables that and can ONLY use by plugging them into my computer. Other than that they are gorgeous and very convenient….except now I hear about the 2.0 version.

Wait, what? That wasn’t on the website when ordering. It was only on a facebook forum and I only learned about the 2.0 AFTER I had ordered my XL. When after a couple months I still hadn’t received my ordered I contacted Volta and asked if I could just get a refund as everything I was seeing, was telling me that I wouldn’t be able to use this cable as I had thought. I was asked for my order number for them to ‘look into’ it. I had assumed (again) that they would contact me for a refund, nope, next day I get notice that my order was actually picked up and was shipped out, with no other response to my original inquiry for a refund. No checking back with me to say “it was on the way” just a notification it was. Honestly it felt that someone just packed my order up and sent it out so they wouldn’t have to process the refund.

Oh and the solution for my desire to plug my volta XL into an actual AC adapter? Go buy a third party one cause we don’t sell em. Gee thanks.

So after 8 volta and Volta XL cables, I’m done. I cannot imagine Volta will be offering any exchange program for those who ordered the XL looking to change it up as it would be very costly in time and hiring someone to deal with all the returns, plus they would have a whole stock of Volta XLs that are ‘used’. At most we might get a ‘discount’. Whether Volta intended to or not, I feel duped and taken advantage of. My emails to request my returning the cables I have now have all been ignored. I figured at least if I returned this product I might try the 2.0 as it seems it might work for me but this website itself has contradictory and again confusing information so I’m not even sure it would work with my phone.

In the end the first cable was ground breaking and a wonderful experience. The second one was a shoddy, extremely poor experience both in the product and the customer service provided. So it looks like I’m stuck with my purchase, with no return possible, all the while I’m getting new emails about their new product! Buyer beware folks.

Can I get quick charge to work on the pixel 2xl using this new cable?
I tried 1.0 and I got super slow speeds using Acubattery to record how many mA was coming into the phone I was getting far less then a good standard cable.
I was using a Nexus 6p when I first tried.
I was disappointed and tried to return everything but lost a few connectors till recently so never returned.

Cool. Glad you continue to look for ways to improve. Like all tech, it keeps changing and I’m glad you’re changing with it.

Really disappointed. You say you are doing this for the customers but you act as though this comment section isn’t full of your customers?!

What I want is to have one cable that can charge all my devices. I was upset the XL didn’t have micro or lightning tips but I figured that’d be your next announcement. I get why the tips are incompatible with v1 because of usb PD, but now your announcement is yet another “scrap it all and start fresh”.

You know what? I’m buying just as many Volta cables as I used to buy regular ones! You’ve officially solved nothing and it’s not worth the cost if you want to continue this horrible trend.

@ADEDAYO

Even more discouraging to know that I bought five more cables last year and you already had another incompatible version planned,

@ALL

What we could have done? For example, we could have launched the Volta2.0 alongside the Volta XL on the Indiegogo campaign instead of the Volta Original Improved.

We could have done that and we wanted to do that, but the cable had to pass several tests. We also created multiple polls via the Volta Insider Facebook group (https://www.facebook.com/groups/1466689113359889) a couple of time and asked our early Indiegogo backers if we should delay the fulfillment of the Indiegogo campaign in order for us to replace the Volta Original Improved with the Volta2.0. But several of the people were against the delay and some were even calling us scammers, that it was a mechanism for us not to fulfill all the pending Indiegogo orders. No one wanted to hear that the fulfillment should be delayed until January, we were called several names. This was a very difficult decision for us and we had to go ahead and produce the Volta Original improved because that was what most of the people want.

Again, I personally understand where a lot of people are coming from and how disappointed they must have been, but our decision was based on what the customers wanted. There was no way for us to improve on the existing Volta1.0 connector without remoulding the entire magnetic connection

Nowe the BIg Question -→>>>

WHY VOLTA2.0?

The Volta2.0 is something we have been working on for a while now, based on the feedback received from our customers

1) Faster charging cable (we upgraded the current rate from 2.4A to 5A). The tips on the Volta1.0 or Original will only work with a 2.4A current rated cable, else it could damage your device if we make the Volta1.0 or Original tips compatible with the 5A Volta2.0 cables.

2) Customers requested for a more secure magnetic connection and to offer that we had to improve on the magnetic connection socket between the cable head and the tip, by introducing a slot type connection which is 100% different from the Volta1.0 or Original pin connection type. There is no way for the Volta2.0 tips or cable to work with the Volta1.0 or as a result of this new connection type.

3) Customers also requested for the remake of the Volta1.0 USB Type C tip because it is too bulky. They wanted the USB Type C tip to be of the same size as the Lightning and micro USB tip.

4) Tip reinforcement – The magnet on the tip get damaged easily whenever it is dropped on a hard surface or whenever it bumps into a hard object. To solve this, we had to reinforce the tip(s) with a plastic.

5) The Volta XL tip and cable cannot use the same tip as Volta2.0 because the Volta XL is capable of delivering up to 87W, 4.3A and the On-The-Go feature which are features of a cable with USB Type C PD protocol.

As a result of these points listed above. We had to open a new mold, in order to offer what our customers as asking for.

As for a replacement or upgrade program, we will see what we can do about that.

Finally, it is important that people know that we are not driven by profit at Volta. We are only pushing forward to deliver what our customers want. We will never do anything to take advantage of the wonderful people that supported us when we were nothing and helped us get this far with their hard earned money. Again, it was never our intention to take advantage of our customers and we will never take your support for granted. We sincerely appreciate your undying support and we will be foolish to let you guys down.

We love you all now and always.

@IAN and @Dave

We could have released the Volta2.0 way ahead of Volta XL in March 2018. We purposely delayed the release as we wanted to make sure it is 5A rated, in order for it to be compatible with the OnePlus.

One thing we were sure of was that Chinese manufacturer would copy our design just as they did with the Volta1.0 and there is nothing we can do about this. Even Apple cannot do anything about it. There are hundreds of phones in the market that looks exactly like iPhone X and yet Apple is unable to stop these China manufacturing from replicating the iPhone X design. This is something that the Chinese manufacturers are doing because they are protected by the Chinese government.

The design of the OnePlus6, Xiaomi Mi 8, LG G7 ThinQ, Huawei P20 etc is exactly the same and that is because all these guys are copying from one another. Just because a Chinese manufacturer copied our design does not mean the performance of our cables will not be their fake cable.

Volta2.0 is 5A rated and it is the only magnetic cable that is 5A rated. Any other cable you find in the market or on AliExpress that copied our design is 3A rated.

Finally, you have the right to go after those $3 gimmick cables and risk damaging your device or get a much better Volta2.0 cable with rest of mind.

Very disappointed…
How can you guys get away with this? This is totally unfair to those of us who have supported you from day one. To make the new tips non compatible with the old cables and the new cables non compatible with the old tips just blows my mind. I’m just flabbergasted that you can call yourselves a respectable company if this is how you treat your customers. I will not be purchasing anything from you ever again. You’ve just lost another customer.

Yup, going Aliexpress, with the cost saving I can give myself a lifetime warranty. You dropped the ball on this one Volta and should have looked after people who have supported you since the start. This is a slap in the face.

Guys, they are jusr reselling what you can get on AliExpress for $3 …

Thought Volta was supposed to be a one cable to rule them all kinda thing? i litteraly just got my “improved original” cables that you had on your XL campaign and now your already saying they are outdated? I kinda understood the XL not being compatable with original becuase it needs to transfer more at once but if your gonna make a 2.0 they should be compatable with at least XL to be the universal cable they kinda are geting advertized as, and if you had plans for these at the you should have skipped the improved onse in the XL campiagn(or gave a warning its only viable for old customers and not new ones).

Also what does that mean for the lifetime warrenty? Cuase you cant ship someone a 2.0 cable if their original cable broke unless you send replacement tips and then what about all the other original cables they may have? so unless you intend on continuing producing both its hard to support the warranty meaning its not lifetime.