Recommend a lightweight USB-C charger

I just upgraded from a Dell XPS 13 to a Framework Laptop 13.

The charger that came with my new Laptop 13 is fine but I’d like to buy a compact/lightweight charger for travelling with.

Can anyone recommend a charger (preferably 60W) that works well with Framework laptops?

Assuming you are in the U.S. or other countries that uses the same physical socket.

I have a Belkin 65W Dual Port charger, model is WCH013dq. Works pretty well with my Framework

I also have a even smaller Belkin 30W, single port charger that can charge my 12th Gen Framework no problems when system pulls under 30W. Model is WCH001dq.
(Should work fine with Intel FWs. AMD FWs currently doesn’t support certain smaller chargers due to PD bug, fix could come in next firmware release, unknown timeline)

It seems like Belkin now also have a 45W Dual Port, size sits between the above two models. I do not own this model.

Not endorsing Belkin or any other brands. I simply found them work pretty good for my needs, so I figured I will share these chargers.

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Depending on the flavour of Framework, AMD or Intel, chargers (or the AMD laptop) are a little fussy. There is a thread about it somewhere…

However, in the UK I bought a UGREEN 65W GaN for the previous laptop and it works great with the AMD Framework 13 I am using now.

2 usb-c ports the ports, closer to the prongs is the higher power…

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Anker’s 67w Prime series works for me.

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At work I use the Anker 735 3-Port 65W and at home the Anker 737 3-Port 120W

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Do you get the full 65 W with the Anker 735 3-Port Cable? I am only able to get about 42W
If Anyone else has a guess why this could be I would be very happy about some ideas ;))
Btw I’m using this cable:
Anker 643 USB-C to USB-C Cable (Flow, Silicone) 100W

I think the battery charging circuit on a FW13 will only draw ~ 30W for charging the battery (and less as the battery has more charge). If you let the machine work very hard, you may be able to draw more than that, but you’ll have to work pretty hard. I’m not sure it’s actually possible to get the system to draw 65W consistently. The cooling may not be able to dissipate that much heat.

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You sold your XPS 13?

Otherwise just use that charger- that’s what I’m doing.

If your battery charge is low, you should be able to get higher than 30W charging.

@Philipp_O Is it possible you’ve only checked the charge current at times when your battery charge was relatively high? Li-ions need to be charged under a charge profile that reduces the current progressively as it gets close to full.

I’m not sure at what charge percentage the current needs to start being reduced for the Framework 13, but I’ve seen li-ion charge profile charts that show current being reduced when the battery is as low as only 65% full. That sounds rather low to me, but I’ve never checked.


Source: batteryuniversity.com/article/bu-409-charging-lithium-ion

So to rule that out, I’d suggest checking the power draw when your battery is 60% or lower.

Welcome to the forum by the way.

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Thank you MJ1 for the very detailed reply!
I tried charging at 54% right now and these are my results:

  • (I guess) red is indicating the power consumption when unplugged and the blue dots are the charging speeds
    BTW: I also updated the bios where on of the update notes was something “fixing issuses with anker 65w charger” or similar but after that I actually ended up getting worse charging speeds (based on a very limited sample size since the bios update…)
  • I am running Fedora Workstation on the latest version

Should I get a different charger/cabel - I am still in the return period since I just bought the plug and charger a few days ago…

So… 8, 12, 16W if blue, 35W if red.
Either way, it’s no where close to what you should be getting at 54% battery.

Do you have a Framework brand power supply? If so, maybe try its cable with your Anker charger. The Anker cable would not be most suspect to me, it’s just that it’s easy to rule out if you happen to have a Framework one on hand. And then try the Anker cable paired with the Framework brand supply.

I’d return them if it was me. It might not be their fault, or might not be entirely their faults, who knows. But if the combination with your Framework isn’t working together, that’s all that matters.

I would recommend the Anker 315 (67W, USB-C Charger). I have 2 of the chargers, and I used them for the Framework Laptop 13. It’s lightweight and compact.

That does kind of check out for a 65W charger. The ec already limits the psu to 90% of negotiated do we are down to 58.5W available and the laptop does need some power to run in the forst place and when connected to a psu will turn off a lot of power saving stuff so using 20W for the laptop itself doesn’t sound too weird. You’ll probably get a bit more charge power if the laptop was off or you used a 100W psu.

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Good point!

Made exactly this experience with the anker 65w charger
I am now using a 100W one

The battery charging is MSCC-CV. Initially 1C(3915
mA), then 0.7C(2740mA) above 16.6V(4.15V/cell), then eventually constant voltage at 17.8V(limited charging voltage).

I use a Xiaomi AD65G

Maybe off topic, but I love the Anker GaNPrime PowerCore 65W. It’s tough to find, and it’s almost as if Anker doesn’t want to sell them, so you have to google that phrase. They’re available at Amazon and Microcenter, but if you look on Anker’s website, you’d never know that it exists.

This is bigger than what you’re asking for, and it is certainly not lightweight. BUT for my purposes, it’s a net reduction in bulk and weight because it replaces a phone charger, laptop charger and power bank, as well as plugging directly into the wall outlet (so no extra power cord). If you just want a laptop wall-wart, then it’s much bigger than other options, but if you want an on the go battery bank, laptop and cell charger, it’s great. It isn’t perfect: the old 13 BIOS didn’t play well with it, and it is limited on output so that the flowchart to figure out which ports are active on wall power and battery is not simple. Still, there’s nothing else on the market that condenses so many different functions into one compact box.Anker GaNPrime PowerCore 65W

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