USB Phone Charger / Power Port for Power Wheelchairs

[Cripple Concepts]

What I am wondering is what voltage will the adapter provide that was mentioned from Cripple Concepts?

It cant do both, at least as far as I know. So the warning above means that it can only charge phones, or 5V gadgets, OR laptops, right now. Since theres only 4 wires in that cable. Send/receive takes up two.

The QC2.0 and QC3.0 protocols use the D+ and D- lines on the USB-A connectors to adjust output voltage, the smart chip uses the D+ and D- to "handshake" with the device and adjusts output voltage. I assume tiny elves are inside the chip switching levers and knobs to make it all happen. Devices that can only take 5V pull the D- line to ground so a QC2.0 or QC3.0 charger should never output more than 5V to those devices.

[Burgerman]

https://www.pcworld.com/article/3017182 ... dream.html

Which as tested here on multiple chargers and devices worked properly 1/3rd the time. Slowly half the time. And correctly some of the time!
Which mirrors what I see here?

PC worlds test conclusion (not sure how old):

Conclusion

I have no doubt that universal charging for laptops will be a reality one day on laptops, but right now it’s pretty messy. Whether that’s because vendors are “waiting” for the new USB Power Delivery 3.0 spec or they still have warehouses of power bricks to purge, I don’t know.

When I started this project with three laptops, I was far more optimistic that it would “just work.” Since I’ve added two more laptops to the mix, it’s become clear to me that a lot more has to happen first.

The most embarrassing aspect for PC fans is it’s the OEMs who seem to be be in the most disagreement, while Apple, Google, and Huawei are more accepting. To be fair to PC OEMs, they make the most laptops. Apple and Google’s MacBook 12 and Pixel units moved probably don’t add up to 1 percent of what Dell and HP ship in a month, so there’s simply less interoperability to worry about.

[Cripple Concepts]

I can't speak to the laptop charging Burgerman, all of my testing has been with phones and tablets. I was a little leery of the QC chargers and how "smart" they really are, I didn't want to let the smoke out of anyone's devices, but after a lot of online research and extensive bench testing I have confidence in the chip on my board. Yesterday I tried confirming they would put out 20V at 5A at all and fried my dummy test load device at about 12V 5A, I looked back at the specs on the pcb though and was reminded they are only rated at 18W so they won't do 20V at 5A (100W)....or at least not for very long. Heat dissipation becomes a much bigger issue as the wattage increases, if someone was to utilize a heat sink (a wheelchair frame for example) they could probably wire something up that would supply 100W. I noticed that PC World article is from 2015, I only started working on the QC chargers in late 2017 so I wonder if the charger chips and devices both got better in those 2 years? The charger smart chip is reliant on input to the D+ and D- lines from the device, so devices have to be as smart or smarter than the chargers.

[Burgerman]

Well thats what I was worried about. Many older dedicated USB-C chargers ONLY do 5 or 20V and so you cant plug my dell power brick into your phone for eg. Bad things would happen.

Likewise early USB-C phone chargers can only do either 5V or can do 20V but inadequate current.

And where does the newer 3.0 thingy you use, start to fail. Some phones are growing huge. Some pads are in the middle. Some 12 inch laptops may work. My dell needs about 20V 3.2A if working at 100% and screen on max, and while the Apply laptop USB-3 works, the laptop cries and complains about non dell power supply, and charges slow... It actually discharges while charging if it is turned on.

All a massive confusing cock up in standards if you ask me. It was supposed to be universal, so simple! For E.G. a 18W USB-C charger is obviously not got enough power for a laptop. So cant be fully compliant?

[Cripple Concepts]

All a massive confusing cock up in standards if you ask me. It was supposed to be universal, so simple! For E.G. a 18W USB-C charger is obviously not got enough power for a laptop. So cant be fully compliant?

I completely agree, makes building and selling chargers a real challenge! As an electronically challenged mechanical engineer it is extra difficult, I'm much more comfortable making chips on my CNC mill or lathe than my soldering iron but as long as the people want to keep spending their money I will keep making USB chargers too.

[wheelie junkie]

Reviving this rather than posting a new thread. 7 months on is there a way to add a USB socket to charge phone/ipad/camera without frying them and if so what would be needed to do it?

[Burgerman]

USB C or the usual USB?

[wheelie junkie]

Ideally both even if it means 2 sockets. "Old" USB looks easy enough with something like this https://www.amazon.co.uk/CHGeek-Charger ... GTFZE89RFH USB C not quite as simple.

[Burgerman]

Yes quite a big problem. My dell laptop uses USB C for power. Even several bought compatible USB C supplies dont work on it. Some do. Not sure how you will get that minefield to work. Be warned, one 'compatible' one caused my dell motherboard to fail, fortunately under extended warranty. I didnt mention the cause...

So good luck with that.

[flagman1776]

My wife just recieved a cell phone battery booster devise. She's been trying it out to see if it'll do what she needs. So far, she's underwhelmed. Clearly, such devises are of limited capacity. She's more of a traveler and not HC. Are these things worth the powder to blow them to hell?

bronze swivel cannon, 24" X 1.25" bore... range in excess of 300 yards. no longer mine

[ex-Gooserider]

Probably depends on just what unit she got... High quality, name brand might be OK, cheap Chinese imitation w/ unknown but probably exaggerated battery capacity, not so much...

I've never wanted to buy one, but from what I've seen they come in different sizes and rated capacity, bigger will do better....

I haven't played with one, so this is speculation, but I'd also wonder if they would work best if plugged in to the phone all the time and allowed to charge and discharge with it so that you are in effect running off a bigger battery from the start.... Just like the various chair add-on packs, If you just plug it in when the main power runs low, you will use (and waste because of charging losses) much of it's energy in trying to recharge the main battery instead of running the phone...

My wife just recieved a cell phone battery booster devise. She's been trying it out to see if it'll do what she needs. So far, she's underwhelmed. Clearly, such devises are of limited capacity. She's more of a traveler and not HC. Are these things worth the powder to blow them to hell?

bronze swivel cannon, 24" X 1.25" bore... range in excess of 300 yards. no longer mine

ex-Gooserider

[Burgerman]

Get a real phone. Not a gadget trying to be a camera or computer. Mines charged every 3 weeks to be safe, needed or not.

[LROBBINS]

After about 3 years use, my phone-only Nokia's battery now needs charging about once every 10 days instead of once every 3 weeks. Given that the phone costs ca. E20, it's not worth it to get a new battery. I'll just get a new phone when I find the interval time too annoying.

[Burgerman]

Get a DORO. Bigger letters, simple menu, and flip. And 2 for 39 pounds! Also practically unbreakable, and about 3 to 4 weeks per charge. No internet, stupid touch screens, "apps" or cameras etc. It just does SMS and phone calls very well. For all the rest I have much better solutions.

[LROBBINS]

Looked at the DORO site, Amazon.it and ebay.it but didn't see any that cheap. My Nokia 105 (turns out I bought it in 2015 & it's still going strong) costs as little as E18.65 with free shipping at Amazon.it.

[Burgerman]

Mine came from a supermarked buy one get one free years ago. Worked out 20 each. They do seem to have gained popularity and price though.