Tired of slow Galaxy Watch 9 charging speeds? This DIY air-cooled charging cradle could do the trick

Charging woes on the Galaxy Watch 9 and Galaxy Watch Ultra 2 are well-documented at this point, and users have long complained that the new smartwatches aggressively throttle charging speeds due to heat buildup. Users are tired of waiting for Samsung to fix the issue, and several have taken matters into their own hands with makeshift solutions to get fast charging times.

Reddit user aloowak designed and 3D printed an air-cooled charging cradle for the Galaxy Watch 9. A 60mm Noctua NF-A6x25 fan (used in PC cases) underneath the charger turns on when the watch is placed on the charging puck, thanks to a micro-switch that gets pressed. The user claims that at 23° ambient temperature, using the fan allowed their charging time from 15% to 100% to be cut down from 2 hours 10 minutes to just 1 hour 15 minutes, almost half!

If this sounds interesting to you, the Reddit user has shared the 3D printing files on MakerWorld. The project does require a bit of tinkering and soldering, so it’s not a pure 3D-printed solution. Still, it will certainly be appreciated by the community.

Thermal throttling while charging is not a new headache for the Galaxy Watch ecosystem, but its presence on Samsung’s latest-generation smartwatches is infuriating. Users have experimented with passive heatsinks, active fans, metal desk surfaces, and even placing their watches on ice just to sustain advertised fast-charging speeds. When the watches hit their internal thermal limits, charging rates often plummet from the peak 10W down to a trickle, sometimes pausing power delivery entirely with an overheating warning on screen.

When we first reported on the issue, the sentiment in our comment sections echoed the frustration. Multiple readers noted that real-world top-ups frequently exceeded 90 to 110 minutes at typical room temperatures, almost double the expected time from a low-battery state. While Samsung’s thermal safety limits are designed to preserve battery longevity, the aggressive thresholds continue to irritate users looking for a quick morning top-up before heading out.

Samsung did not respond to our request for comments at the time, nor has the company shared any updates independently, rolled out any fix, or even acknowledged the issue so far.

If you have a 3D printer and an extra PC fan lying around, this Galaxy Watch air-cooled charger design might be the most practical workaround until Samsung addresses this annoyance. Hopefully, third-party accessory makers see this as an opportunity and jump in with more refined solutions, so users have to jump through fewer hoops just to enjoy their watches properly.