USB-C charging

[Denys_Pasishnyi]

Does the Framework Laptop support USB-C charging? If yes, does it support USB-C charging from any charger?

[Ian_Darwin]

If you look at the pictures you’ll see that the expansion cards use USB-C to talk to the laptop. So yes, the USB-C expansion card will double as the charge port. As to “any charger” that used to be simple but isn’t with USB-C, so I’ll let the team answer that part of it.

[Kieran_Levin]

Hi @Denys_Pasishnyi! Welcome! And yes we support USB-C Charging from most chargers up to 100W.
I have spent some time making sure our charging can support as many chargers as possible, and our battery buck-boost charging architecture supports any charger voltage from 5V to 20V.
The Laptop is designed to operate with chargers 60W+, but we can support anything down to about 15W -
We added this as kind of an “emergency use” condition, as you are likely to drain the battery while using the system on a low power charger, but if you were stuck in a situation where you didn’t have anything else, it is nice to be able to prolong your battery life, or charge the system slowly in standby/off states.

[Larry]

Just out of curiosity, what is the maximum power output, per port and in total for the system from the USB C ports? Some other popular systems with USB C are able to deliver 2.4A at 5V on the USB ports for charging mobile devices.

Thanks!

[Will_Cohen]

Does this mean that one can charge the Framework laptop by plugging into any of the card ports? One could outfit the laptop with, say, HDMI, storage expansion, micro SD, and USB-A, and when the laptop’s battery runs down just pop a card out and plug in a USB-C cable into the port? Or would one have to carry the USB-C port along with them as well?

[nrp]

@Will_Cohen

One could outfit the laptop with, say, HDMI, storage expansion, micro SD, and USB-A, and when the laptop’s battery runs down just pop a card out and plug in a USB-C cable into the port

You can do that, though it may be a bit difficult to plug in without the USB-C card.

[Felix]

Beware of new Xiaomi Usb-c Charger…it would be tje first of many more to come with such amount of Watts

[Kieran_Levin]

@Larry The laptop will dynamically allocate 3A to 1 port, and 1.5A to the remaining 3 ports while on battery.

[ts.spivet]

Apart from the expansion cards, is there also a port for charging only, i.e. a way to charge the laptop and use all four ports?

[viggy96]

Can the laptop be charged from either side with the USB-C expansion card?

[nrp]

The laptop is charged through any of the four Expansion Card bays, through a USB-C Expansion Card.

[2disbetter]

Brilliant setup with the charging scheme here.

I use a 1 Netbook Onemix 3pt currently for my on the go work load, just out of sheer convenience. (well not really. That kind of portable power is just super cool.) It can charge via USB C using a external battery that you would use for your phone, etc. I see that more and more laptops are supporting charging via USB C, but they don’t all support a wide range of chargers. Allowing one to use their phone charger with the laptop is just a good idea, that also makes it easier to pack for traveling.

Kudos and job well done!

[John_Comeaux]

Curious question: Since you can charge from any port on the laptop, could you theoretically use 4 15W chargers to add up to the recommended 60W or does it only allow charging from one port?

[Ian_Darwin]

@John_Comeaux

could you theoretically use 4 15W chargers to add up to the recommended 60W or does it only allow charging from one port?

How did you get stuck with a load of >=4 15W PD chargers?

[Kieran_Levin]

@John_Comeaux the laptop will only charge from one port at a time. It chooses the port with the highest available power.
This is due to a hardware limitation, as we only have one charge controller, and charging from multiple ports would require per port load balancing. I do not think many, if any laptops would support this feature.

[John_Comeaux]

@Ian_Darwin

How did you get stuck with a load of >=4 15W PD chargers?

I didn’t, just a purely theoretical question. Though I could imagine someone having multiple phone chargers nearby with at least 15W.

@Kieran_Levin

@John_Comeaux the laptop will only charge from one port at a time. It chooses the port with the highest available power.
This is due to a hardware limitation, as we only have one charge controller, and charging from multiple ports would require per port load balancing. I do not think many, if any laptops would support this feature.

Thanks for answering, that does make sense though my hardware knowledge is limited to knowing about components rather than circuitry, so that is interesting.

[RomanMeier]

Having four user selectable expansion slots is a great, I love the concept BUT there is a minor problem: The charging port is a dual purposed USB4/Power port which effectively forces user into having at least one USB-C slot for charging, which kinda defies the purpose beside the ability of chosing which side will contain the charging port. Older laptops had a seperate (sometimes clunky) charging port, but at least it didn’t take up any USB, video, etc. port.

My suggestion: Since the USB-C connector is so small, there should be a “hard implemented” port for charging only (and maybe USB HS) maybe for future models.

Better suggestion: Please release an expansion card which features two USB4 connections or maybe one USB4 + USB-PD port for charging and actually using the port.

Greetings

EDIT: There are already threads talking about this issue/idea

Better Expansion Cards

So I was looking through images of the Framework laptop, and I noticed that there seemed to be an inordinate amount of unused space on the expansion cards where there was no port. I think that it could be excellent if we were able to get two or even three ports on one card, because of course more ports=better laptop. What do the rest of you think? And [redacted] do I wish I needed a new laptop. Edited because I’m an idiot.

Why no dual USB-C card?

The USB-C card seems to have plenty of room to host 2 USB-C ports. Why is there only one?

Charging is possible without type-c expansion card

I know it may be a little too early to talk about a second version, but in the future, would it be possible to integrate a USB-C charge port in the laptop similarly to how the headphone jack currently is? All laptops need a charge port, so it would be nice if that port was built in, and the other 4 expansion ports could be used without having to worry about charging. Also, would a Framework subreddit or Discord server be considered? That way, people who are already on those platforms can join in…

FURTHER EDIT: First answer to why it’s not doable (so far)

Why no dual USB-C card?

It’s a card that we would like to do, but as noted early in that thread, currently available silicon doesn’t allow for the functionality to fit in the card form factor, even though the receptacles themselves can fit. What new Expansion Card types do you want to see released? - #3 by nrp

[Fidel_Ernesto_Arias]

Greetings, I got a question about how USB C works.
Can you use a USB C for charging and sharing media on a monitor at the same time?
For example the Gigabyte M32Q has a USB C and I want to know if it is possible.

[Nick_Martin]

@RomanMeier

My suggestion: Since the USB-C connector is so small, there should be a “hard implemented” port for charging only (and maybe USB HS) maybe for future models.

One thing I can say as a use case for its current design: I’m currently sitting at an unusual desk for me and it was annoying to have power on the left (where I usually have it). I just flipped the card to the other side.

Made me laugh but it was super convenient!

[njf]

@Fidel_Ernesto_Arias Yes, you can. I used to have a LG 27UK850 monitor. You would connect a suitable cable between the laptop and the monitor. The monitor would provide power to the laptop and at the same time receive 4K video from the laptop. Unfortunately, I cannot recommend this monitor for reasons relating to the display panel. I don’t know whether the Gigabyte M32Q has power delivery.