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Comment by polski-g | Hacker News Reader

Would be nice if this was extended to almost all products, using PD instead of the 5W.

I have 20 different barrel plug wall warts in a crate used for 20 different routers, switches, and other misc DC-powered products.

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Unless I’m missing something, all of those are consumer electronic devices under 100W and are now obliged to be power-able by USB-C in the EU

This legislation wasn’t primarily trying to kill Lightning, it was trying to kill the 2.1mm DC barrel jack

No because they're not portable, don't use it for charging, and are not included in the list of devices that it applies to. Even a cordless phone is not considered portable because you can't use it very far from the base station.

Fixed voltage PD-to-barrel cables help fill the gap.

If your voltage matches one of the PD levels they work okay but many common voltages like 12v usually end up being very charger dependent. I've got one of the 12v pd triggers that on 9/10 of the PD enabled charges I've used just drops to 9v.

For auditing real-world behavior, some USB-c cables (and interposers) have tiny displays to report live voltage/current.

Wow, TIL, thank you!

I had thought briefly that something like this should exist, but then dismissed the thought, since such devices would be too much to hope for in the current environment of corporate enshittification. Slight amount of faith in humanity restored.

Fun-busting fact: 12V output was removed from USB-PD spec at some point, and not every chargers support it.

Yes, the USB Power Delivery 2.0 spec traded the 12 volt level for 9 and 15 volt levels, so not all PD 2.0 capable chargers support 12v output as there are very few devices that actually natively use PD 1.0 12v mode. Almost all devices requesting it are so-called "trigger" devices used to adapt older equipment to run on USB power.

I have a fun-restoring fact for you though: USB PD 3.0 in 2018 added a feature called Programmable Power Supply which allows a device being powered to request any voltage from 3.3 to 21 volts in 20mV increments. As support for this feature is required for a product to carry the "Certified USB Fast Charger" logo it's pretty much standard on any decent charger. I have yet to encounter a single PPS-capable charger that didn't also support the fixed 12v mode.

TBH, wall warts with voltage selector and 10+ detachable types of barrel connectors predate corporate enshittification, which is probably what makes PD variant possible.

There is also the reverse [0] for turning an old notebook charger into a USB-C one

[0] https://aliexpress.com/item/1005006000000778.html

Unfortunately, Aliexpress links go dead quickly.

Perhaps you mean something like these:

https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256806952052632.html

https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256806950028548.html

I'd be interested to know if they can really up/down convert voltage as appropriate for USB-C.

How long would it take to charge a Tesla over USB-C?

Assuming a 50kWh Tesla Model 3 charging via USB C PD 3.1 EPR 240W, it would take around ~104hrs (4.3 days) to increase battery SoC by 50%.

Considering how frequently my fiancee and I drive, 10% per day of the base model's ~400km range would actually be enough

That's not entirely true - the Tesla has a few hundred watts of overhead when charging - so a 240 W charger would probably not get over that hill. You could maybe keep the screen on and watch a movie while connected via USB-C.

I agree. I have decided to just never buy another thing that cannot be powered by Type C or C13/14. Maybe exceptions for PoE, I guess, if I had to use an ethernet cable on it anyway.

Sounds like a product idea, an ethernet cable with a USB C jack to tap the power.

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