Magnetic charging cable

General Topics
1

Hi to everyone,
Just wondering has there been any discussion at all about Framework developing a magnetic charging cable for their laptops?

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2

I don’t think Framework has talked about it. It would certainly be nice, but there would be issues. USB-C PD wasn’t designed for it. Companies, like Apple, who had official magnetic charging designed protection circuity that usb-c lacks. Even if Framework tried to do the same, it would still violate USB specs.

Some community members have used 3rd party adapters. But be aware that using such adapters risks killing the port on your motherboard. Regardless of which particular adapter you use. Googling magnetic adapters killing ports, you’ll find endless reports of it. There is at least one report in the thread on here about magnetic adapters of it happening to someone’s Framework.

Full Power Magnetic Charging Card - #184 by jmariondev

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3

Thanks for the info @MJ1

4

I’m sorry I’m a little confused. What is the usb-c magnetic limitation? Surely companies other than apple are capable of this?

Any info appreciated. Thanks

5

Apple doesn’t use USB at the magnetic end. And they are charge only, they don’t attempt to do data (there is a reason for that).

All of the USB-C magnetic 3rd-party adapters are dead simple / dumb, they just pass through USB over the magnetic connector, which USB was not designed for. It doesn’t have protection for the ESD or arcing that occurs. Even slick looking, pricey USB-C magnetic 3rd-party adapters are exactly the same in this regard. Worse, most of them attempt to do high speed data, which increases the risk. This is something Apple does not do with their magsafe, because they know you can’t protect high speed data lines at a workable cost.

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6

Thanks for info. I’d missed the elephant in the room that apple setup is charging only!

Thank you

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