USB-C charging

@Myles_Dear try charging the bank from the port on the opposite side, leaving the framework charger plugged into the port on the left side.

Thanks, @Shawn_Lewis, that worked! I’m getting 13.3W out to the external battery when I switch sides and have incoming / outgoing USB-C connections on different sides.

I wouldn’t have thought to go there, thanks for the tip.

@Myles_Dear, You’re welcome. The ports are paired on the left and on the right. There are 2 thunderbolt controllers and 1 usb4 controller. When in doubt use the pair on the opposite side.

Regarding a fixed USB-C port… I really would like to have a changable one. That is the reason why i looked for the framework laptop. I have two very active kids and 3 laptops with failed power supply in the last 18 month.

That changeable power adapter would be the reason for me to buy one - but the small size and the glare display is something which I would not buy. So hoping for my standard 17" display in a future generation.

So I need to order one USB-C for charging or else I wont be able to charge it.

Side question, safety wise I am very addicted to my macbook magsafe power connector. (dogs running around and stuff.) wil there be a sort of DIY expansion card available in the future so I can mod the expansion cartrage with a magsafe connector (availible at ali I think) instread of the USB-C?

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@Sean_Greenslade is it still the case that the laptop won’t draw more than 60W? With windows 11 running and charge under 40%, my laptop pulls nearly 100W. Do you have documentation to support this?

@sgt_rjp No, I was mistaken. As reported here, the USB-C ports and power input circuitry are capable of accepting up to 5 A at 20 V, allowing a maximum of 100 W of input (assuming your USB-C charger supports that voltage and current).

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Instructions unclear, have 10 potatoes in parallel…

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Amazingly informative thread on USB-C charging.
Thanks everyone for sharing your experiences using external battery banks. I am getting on a 9 hour flight this week. Just purchased this beastie https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B09FT4SHSV. My average usage seems to last 4hours or thereabouts. On flight without wifi/BT and probably much lower brightness, should last longer on its own. Let’s see.
Will report back on how good/bad/ugly it is. Was split between this unknown brand vs a 60W Anker PowerCore III. Went with the promise of PD100. :crossed_fingers:t4:

Some, yes, but far from all. I’ve had more than a few seats where the port wasn’t working (even in business and first class). USB and those “universal” AC outlets take a lot of abuse, can be difficult and costly to replace, and are considered “NEF” (non-essential equipment and furnishings) at most airlines.

Bringing your own battery bank is a far safer play, especially on a flight that long.

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Reporting back, the above battery bank does seem to be able to keep the laptop in “Plugged in” mode. My battery charging is set to 80% and once it gets to 80% the amber light blinks. So I unplugged the power adapter, plugged the battery bank in and Windows continues to show “Plugged in” icon and the amber light is still blinking. Which I assume is enough proof that the bank is providing necessary wattage (?). The battery is not hot or warm for that matter.

Now to run it down and see how far it extends the laptop uptime.

My first experience with USB C chargable laptop, absolutely stoked at this :heart_eyes:

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I have a Maxoak 185Wh battery bank which I want to use with my laptop.
So I got this. a “BiXPower USB Type C Power Converter” which is a 60W
It wouldn’t connect the orange light would flash and the usb sound would beep also I presume it couldn’t negotiate a power level.
so I got a “PWR+ car charger” which is 90W it works mostly, but sometime has the same failure mode.
I am on linux and I think this dmesg
usb 3-9: reset full-speed USB device number 2 using xhci_hcd is related.
Anyone have any thughts on what is wrong? Any logs or utils that I can run to get better insight into the problem?

Unfortunately, it’s difficult to diagnose USB-PD issues from within Linux. Everything relating to PD negotiation happens within the embedded controller and very little information is exposed to the OS. If you really want to know what’s going on, you’ll need an inline USB-C power analyzer. I’ve been using this one:

https://www.amazon.com/MakerHawk-Bluetooth-Voltage-Multimeter-Voltmeter/dp/B07P45FQW3/

That said, I have a few random suggestions that may help. The Maxoak + BiXpower combination should work in theory, as long as you make sure you’re using the 20V output from the bank. You’ll probably want to power on the bank first, then plug in the adapter to the bank, then plug the adapter in to the laptop.

It’s worth trying flipping over the USB-C cable if it’s not working. In theory USB-C is orientation-insensitive, but I’ve seen a fair number of cheap USB-C devices that don’t implement the line muxing and therefore only work in one orientation. Note that the analyzer I linked to above has this issue; when connecting power supplies with the analyzer inline, you sometimes need to flip one of the connections to get it to negotiate correctly.

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There are some debugging logs they can access to see what voltage/current is being negotiated:

cat /sys/kernel/debug/cros_ec/console_log

At least, on kernel 5.19+ (as of now, 5.19-rc6 is the latest.)

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@Kieran_Levin What if the laptop is connected to an external charger, say the original one? What protocols does each port support? Does any port support Power Delivery as a source device at 5v+?

Just basic 5V USB no matter what.

Well “basic 5V USB” can be pretty complicated nowadays… Because we have:

USB2.0 5V 500mA
USB3.1 5V 900mA
USB BC1.2 5V Up to 1.5A
USB Type-C Current@1.5A 5V 1.5A
USB Type-C Current@3.0A 5V 3A
USB Power Delivery 3.0 5V/9V/15V/20V Up to 5A

No change from normal battery power