Magnetic USB-C Charging Prototype

Isn’t there a high risk of shorting the pins with how they’re arranged?

While not exactly verifiable, but there are a couple (one, two) reddit posts about the warnings of magnetic USB C cables

The pinout is mirrored to so the cable can connect either direction. So no shorting risk there.

The lower the pin count, the larger the pin spacing, and lower likelihood of shorting between pins. Hence the 9-pin cable I have is less likely to short than the 20-24 pin magnetic cables I’ve posted. The trade off being you can’t get full USB-C performance without the higher pin count.

Geez this is amazing …

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I have a few of these off of amazon with a 65w charger, it seems that they can’t deliver the charge like I was expecting. They work with a lot of other of my devices, like iPad Pro, Pixel 4a, Surface Duo, Surface 7, and the OG Pixelbook. Pixelbook and the Framework laptop both say that it is undercharging the device. If someone made a module that is made to work perfectly with this laptop it would be awesome. My dog loves tripping over my chargers as if he goes out of his way to troll me.

Do you have a screenshot of the error because I’ve never seen such an error and I’m curious.

some of the cable types will deliver power over multiple pins, so the load for charging gets split, and as mentioned above, there is a negotiation taking place, so “higher” voltage and amperage wont hit at first plug so there shouldn’t be issues from the initial connection. I’d be curious to see any data on what apple uses vs what is available. Though the data going through the apple connector isn’t going to be the same either. Another option could be the break away cables old xbox controllers had. where they fail a few inches from the controller. In this case we would need a similar setup for usb-c. I don’t know if anyone makes those. I also have an older usb-c cable that always tries to fall out (cable clasps are worn out) so it works like a quick release cable already :smiley: but it doesn’t stay in when I want it to either. :frowning:

I and my gf both have been using this 20-pin kind for a year so far, all day every day, as the only connection from our laptops to our docking stations. Both laptops draw up to 65W (or rather, they came with 65W power supplies, so they must draw less), dual 2k external monitors, gigabit ethernet, all over the single cable.

In my case it’s especially handy because both my X1 Carbon and now the Framework both have an issue under linux where the external screens don’t work after wake from sleep, but all I have to do is pull the cable away for a second and then reconnect. Since I have to do it every time the screens go to sleep, it’s more convenient and does less wear & tear on the port not having to actually unplug & re-plug the usb-c, just swing the cable out 45 degrees and let it snap itself back.

I have to use this style that’s just the adapter with no cable because the docking station has a special cable.

It’s been working great the whole time so far.

The monitors are 2k (2.5k? WQHD 2560x1440) not 4k, and I’m not a gamer so I never pushed the framerate. But still, two monitors plus gigabit plus 65W of charging all on the one cable and that magnetic adapter is pretty good.

The connector never gets hot or even warm. I was worried about the current carrying capacity myself at first but it seems to be no problem.

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(I really do need to figure out how to quote a particular post one of these days)

@Allen_Dutra I’ve never seen this message on Linux, and I don’t use Windows so I can’t say there, but I have seen it on my Pixelbook. Not my image, but representative.

ETA: The Pixelbook exemplifies a behavior I wish other laptops had, namely if it can receive more power than it is using, (About 2A at 5V, or 10W), it will still charge, even though the battery voltage is closer to 8V, being a 2S design.

Highlight the text as if you were going to copy and paste and the option to quote should come up

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Please sanitize your links, or at least embed them, I doubt the product in itself is useful for this application.

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https://www.amazon.co.uk/Cellularize-Extender-Gunmetal-Extension-Transfer/dp/B09F9X7M7C

Item dimensions L x W x H (11 x 6 x 22) millimetres