Just want to make sure of something. Assuming I were to use at least the 60W version, would I be able to charge the laptop with an apple magsafe charger, if i were able to appropriately connect the magsafe receiver to the USB-C connector? or is the compatibility only for USB PD chargers that accommodate 60W-100W? If possible I’d like to try and design an expansion card that will use the mag safe, and control the LED
@Patrick_Shannon
I see a potential issue with this. The 60 W adapter only supplies 16.5 VDC, so it would only work with the 15 V PD level. But as it was discovered in this thread, some Framwork laptops cannot be powered from 15 V. According to Wikipedia, only the very newest 85 W MBP Retina adapters support 20 V. Assuming you want to support the earlier adapters, you might be able to stuff a very efficient buck converter into an expansion card and use the 12 V PD level. That would limit you to 60 W (12 V @ 5 A).
The 1-wire protocol to query the adapter type and set the LED shouldn’t be too difficult. There seem to be some details here.
Your circuit would also need to present the 5 V rail to the USB port during the negotiation, though the magsafe adapters supply a ~6.8 V standby rail, so that should be easy enough.
And finally, you’ll need a microcontroller to manage polling the magsafe parameters and converting them into USB-PD negotiations with the computer.
It seems doable, though definitely an intermediate to advanced-level project.
@Patrick_Shannon you are probably better off just getting hold of the magnetic tip USB-C charging cables and printing an Expansion Card to hold the receptacle semi-permanently…Which I believe has already been done and of course has native support.
@Sean_Greenslade Thanks for the detailed reply. and @andyk2 I agree this would be cumbersome to say the least, and in all likelihood I will end up using the USB-C magnetic connector options that are more readily available in the short term. But never-the-less find the idea of having my apple accessories be compatible with 3rd party products too tantalizing not to at least consider
Hey, @Shawn_Lewis, I’m having a tricky conundrum. The top-tier frame.work PC is charging just fine from my frame.work 60W charger. Even when my machine is fully loaded it’s only pulling around 45W. I want to charge my SuperTank battery from a second USB-C PD port, but I can’t get much more than 0.6W out to the external battery. Shouldn’t I be able to get at least 15w more out of the charger and into the external battery ? When I connect the frame.work charger directly to the SuperTank it pulls close to 50W, but even 15W would be enough to charge it overnight.
@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. 
I thought aircraft provide USB charging ??
Hmm!
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 
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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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