Hi, my partner and I did a van conversion recently and have been traveling in it. I purchased several DC USB-C Chargers up to 60w to charge my MBP in the van. To my surprise, none of them work. I have previously charged this same new MBP in my 4runner with one of these same charges (older 2005 4runner) but for some reason I cannot charge my MBP in my van or in my new 2020 4runner. Is anyone else having these issues? Why sell 12V car chargers and claim to charge MacBooks if it's not possible?
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Charging 2020 13in MBP over 12v DC
- Thread starter jdporter360
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Why build a 2k+ dollars machine with 16" of beautiful skin and decent graphics if it can't cool itself and will burn on your hand if you try to do anything demanding on it? Money.
But back at your question, I don't think the MacBook uses a 12V charger. I am quite sure it uses 18 V and 3.1 A. However, if the chargers used to work and don't work anymore, then either the chargers all broke at the same time (not likely) or there's a problem with the vehicle. Maybe these new vehicles can't push that much energy.
However, I would recommend you sticking to a high-quality charging divide, not necessarily original by apple but at least high quality. The laptop is charger by DC current, and low-quality chargers might not give the laptop a 'clean' energy; it might be low quality electricity (yes, it is a thing. Just look up AC to DC transfer). This might not charger your laptop well, and might damage your battery in the long run. But this shouldn't be the reason why the charging isn't working.
I have the same computer. I bought an inexpensive 175-watt inverter to charge my computer during road trips. I just plug the inverter into a cigarette lighter outlet in the car and then use the stock apple power adapter and USB-C charge cable. Works like a dream!
Happy travels!