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October 13, 2026 • 3 min read
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Slow charging has become a fairly common complaint among Galaxy Watch 9 and Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 owners, with many users reporting charge times that are much longer than expected.
In some cases, the watches appear to slow down dramatically as they heat up, suggesting thermal throttling plays a major role. The Galaxy Watch 9 can charge considerably faster if you keep it cool, and one user has taken that idea much further.
A PC fan nearly cuts Galaxy Watch 9 charging time in half
A Reddit user built a 3D-printed air-cooled charging dock for the Galaxy Watch 9, complete with a 60mm Noctua PC fan underneath the charging puck. According to their testing, it cut the time needed to charge from 15% to 100% from 2 hours and 10 minutes to just 1 hour and 15 minutes.
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That’s a massive difference and another indication that heat, rather than the charger itself, could be one of the biggest limitations on Samsung’s latest watches. The custom dock uses a Noctua NF-A6x25 fan and a small micro-switch. When you place the Watch 9 on the charging puck, the watch presses the switch and automatically turns the fan on.
At an ambient temperature of around 23°C, the creator says active cooling brought the 15–100% charging time down to 75 minutes. The project files have even been shared on MakerWorld, although building the dock requires some soldering in addition to 3D printing.
Galaxy Watch users have tried plenty of less elegant solutions, too, including passive heatsinks, regular fans, cool metal surfaces, and even placing watches on ice. The reason? Thermal throttling.
Multiple tests and our Galaxy Watch 9 review show that these watches can drop from their peak 10W charging rate to extremely low speeds or temporarily stop charging altogether when they get too warm.
Samsung really needs to address this issue
We’ve seen how unpredictable Galaxy Watch charging can be ourselves. In our Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 testing, a full charge from 1% to 100% took 1 hour and 34 minutes when using a 45W Samsung power adapter. That was much better than some of the extremely slow results reported with other adapters, but it also showed how much the charging setup can matter.
Thermal protection is obviously important for battery health and safety. The problem is that a smartwatch shouldn’t need a miniature PC cooling system to consistently reach the charging speeds its hardware is capable of.
Samsung hasn’t publicly acknowledged the Watch 9 and Ultra 2 charging complaints, and neither watch has received a fix specifically addressing them. Until that changes, pointing a fan at your Galaxy Watch charger might sound ridiculous, but apparently, it works.
Everything we know, in one place: we keep Samsung Galaxy Watch 9: Everything You Need to Know current as new details are confirmed.
Written by
David Buliga is a Romanian writer at SammyGuru, where he covers the Samsung and Android ecosystem with a focus on apps, software features, and the trends shaping how we actually use our devices — from Galaxy Watch apps to One UI 9, plus the occasional opinion piece. He joined SammyGuru in 2026 after previously creating entertainment content on YouTube, producing animations and gameplay videos. Currently pursuing a Bachelor’s degree in Applied Electronics and Telecommunications, David is passionate about consumer technology and enjoys getting under the hood of smartphones to see what makes them tick. Outside of tech, he loves listening to music, reading books, photography, and exploring the random ideas that often inspire his next story.