Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

A better power cable?

jclardy

jclardy

macrumors 601
Original poster
Oct 6, 2008
4,290
4,740
So I was watching a review video of the new Dell XPS 13 2-in-1, which also charges via USB-C. But I noticed one thing at this point in the video.

It appears the power cable has an LED in it. One thing that I miss from MagSafe was this simple amber/green LED to know two things - your laptop is actually charging and that your laptop is fully charged, all without even opening the lid.

Now seeing the video I'm wondering if this is possible? does the laptop tell the cable that it is fully charged and to change to a trickle mode? I'm sure the charging rate is negotiated at some point, but could someone build a cable with charge status LED's built in? I'm thinking you can, and annoyed that apple didn't do it.
 
jclardy said:
So I was watching a review video of the new Dell XPS 13 2-in-1, which also charges via USB-C. But I noticed one thing at this point in the video.

It appears the power cable has an LED in it. One thing that I miss from MagSafe was this simple amber/green LED to know two things - your laptop is actually charging and that your laptop is fully charged, all without even opening the lid.

Now seeing the video I'm wondering if this is possible? does the laptop tell the cable that it is fully charged and to change to a trickle mode? I'm sure the charging rate is negotiated at some point, but could someone build a cable with charge status LED's built in? I'm thinking you can, and annoyed that apple didn't do it.
Click to expand...
https://www.moshi.com/usb-c-charge-cable

Up to 60W so it should charge the MBP pretty fast still, and has the MBP in it's "compatibility".
+ As somebody who is slightly red/green colorblind i'm happy it won't feel like i'm losing a feature when I eventually upgrade :p On the Mac it's fine because I can open the lid and check the charge, but on chargers that only have a red/green indicator it's pretty much a guess :rolleyes:
 
acorntoy said:
https://www.moshi.com/usb-c-charge-cable

Up to 60W so it should charge the MBP pretty fast still, and has the MBP in it's "compatibility".
+ As somebody who is slightly red/green colorblind i'm happy it won't feel like i'm losing a feature when I eventually upgrade :p On the Mac it's fine because I can open the lid and check the charge, but on chargers that only have a red/green indicator it's pretty much a guess :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

Sweet, that is just what I was looking for. Now if only that could also be a USB3 speed transfer cable as well so I can use it with my USB-C monitor.

As for losing a feature, you are still losing the actual MagSafe connector...but if you use a USB-C dock or monitor you won't miss it for the added convenience of plugging everything in via one cable.
 
In the same vein: Is there an alternative to the Apple 61w charger? I still can't understand why they dropped the flippable little legs and small cable clip. I noticed that this morning when I decided to take my charger with me and came to the conclusion I had to awkwardly wrap the cable around the whole charger, with nothing to hold it in place.

So much for innovation.
 
Turpentine222 said:
In the same vein: Is there an alternative to the Apple 61w charger? I still can't understand why they dropped the flippable little legs and small cable clip. I noticed that this morning when I decided to take my charger with me and came to the conclusion I had to awkwardly wrap the cable around the whole charger, with nothing to hold it in place.

So much for innovation.
Click to expand...

Something like this may solve that issue for you, but I don't know if 2016 MBP compatible ones are out yet.
 
As an Amazon Associate, MacRumors earns a commission from qualifying purchases made through links in this post.
jclardy said:
Sweet, that is just what I was looking for. Now if only that could also be a USB3 speed transfer cable as well so I can use it with my USB-C monitor.

As for losing a feature, you are still losing the actual MagSafe connector...but if you use a USB-C dock or monitor you won't miss it for the added convenience of plugging everything in via one cable.
Click to expand...

True the magsafe has saved me once or twice (in over a year but still) I really preferred magsafe 1 to magsafe 2 though, seemed like magsafe 1 was strong enough that it wouldn't accidentally become unplugged but would unplug in an emergency, magsafe 2 seems extremely weak. I'm planning on keeping my 15' 2015 for at least another couple of years so hopefully by then the third party solutions should be advanced and plentiful.
 
Last edited:
puckhead193 said:
hopefully they will update it for the new MBPs! cause i too miss this feature...
I just got a cable like this for my iPhone on monoprice, its awesome!
http://www.monoprice.com/product?c_id=112&cp_id=11213&cs_id=1083101&p_id=12870&seq=1&format=2
Click to expand...

I mean with a 60W max I believe it would still charge the MBP under a full load, just obviously more slowly than the 80W would, however in my opinion just having it -charge- at load is the most important. Heck on a 45W MacBook Air charger my 15' 2015 would charge while browsing safari, just wouldn't while doing heavier tasks, wasn't able to actually get the battery percentage to drop while on it.
 
acorntoy said:
https://www.moshi.com/usb-c-charge-cable
Click to expand...

jclardy said:
Sweet, that is just what I was looking for
Click to expand...

I have the Moshi and find it lacking. Basically, it only detects whether power is flowing over the cable or not. Thus it only turns green when it's connected but no power is used. But the original MagSafe also turns green when you use the laptop but the battery is fully charged. They call it the Smart LED but it's actually a very simple thing.

The whole point of the LED is: turn green when battery is fully charged. The Moshi only does that when the laptop is sleeping/shut down.
 
bartvk said:
I have the Moshi and find it lacking. Basically, it only detects whether power is flowing over the cable or not. Thus it only turns green when it's connected but no power is used. But the original MagSafe also turns green when you use the laptop but the battery is fully charged. They call it the Smart LED but it's actually a very simple thing.

The whole point of the LED is: turn green when battery is fully charged. The Moshi only does that when the laptop is sleeping/shut down.
Click to expand...

Then the cable does its job no? Not to be -that- guy but the point was to be able to quickly look while the computer is closed to see if it was charged, this will do that right? When the computer is open it's not very hard to look in the top right. Interesting point about the cable though, I figured that it would do something like that to make the light work but didn't realize it would cut if it was actually powering the thing.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back