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USB Type C Charging

J

jashworth03

macrumors member
Original poster
Sep 11, 2014
87
34
Has anyone tried charging via USB C from anything other than the Apple charger that came in the box?

I want to pick up an extra charger, but wanted to see if anyone has tried anything else yet.

I was thinking of buying a $12.99 USB - USB C cable, plugging it into an iPad charging block, and then seeing if it will even charge. I get that it would be slower, but if we are talking about 3 hours for a full charge vs 1.5 (per Apple charger), then I'm not concerned.

Anyone try different combo's here yet?
 
jashworth03 said:
Has anyone tried charging via USB C from anything other than the Apple charger that came in the box?

I want to pick up an extra charger, but wanted to see if anyone has tried anything else yet.

I was thinking of buying a $12.99 USB - USB C cable, plugging it into an iPad charging block, and then seeing if it will even charge. I get that it would be slower, but if we are talking about 3 hours for a full charge vs 1.5 (per Apple charger), then I'm not concerned.

Anyone try different combo's here yet?
Click to expand...

I'm charging using a newer tech wall charger to charge my macbook along with a USB C to USB cable I got from Amazon. I'm not sure I'm killing my MB or not, but so far it's working perfectly. My battery has not run down at all. I don't know if it's truly charging or just maintaining.
 

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rahulr said:
I'm charging using a newer tech wall charger to charge my macbook along with a USB C to USB cable I got from Amazon. I'm not sure I'm killing my MB or not, but so far it's working perfectly. My battery has not run down at all. I don't know if it's truly charging or just maintaining.
Click to expand...

Beautiful setup you have going there! I'm thinking of installing a few of these charging plates as well.

I'm curious about whether it is going to hurt my battery or not too. I hope if it does, it does it within the first year - so applecare can cover it. "Of course i was only using the charger that came from apple.... ;)"
 
jashworth03 said:
Beautiful setup you have going there! I'm thinking of installing a few of these charging plates as well.

I'm curious about whether it is going to hurt my battery or not too. I hope if it does, it does it within the first year - so applecare can cover it. "Of course i was only using the charger that came from apple.... ;)"
Click to expand...

Thanks very much! It's working quite well using the Apple TV and airplay mirroring to do my daily work stuffs. But the picture is not great. I have a USB C AV adapter on order and will use HDMI when that comes in (in 4-6 weeks :mad:)

But other than that, my only wish was that the Apple BT keyboard had the same feel as the retina keyboard. Also, wish the trackpad was force touch. I've become so damned spoiled in a week :)
 
I've been charging the Macbook at night off my Anker 5-port charger. In light use, the battery will increase its charge, and it certainly charges overnight.

Net-net, in normal use, it seems that a regular iPad class USB port is perfectly adequate for the rMB. Which is great news, because it means that all the existing battery packs and such will work fine for it.

Edit: To be clear, I'm not claiming that an iPad charger will be adequate in *all* circumstances, however, it seems to work quite well in most. You will definitely get meaningfully faster charging off the correct full voltage charger. (Given the size and specs, it seems pretty clear that they basically just changed the voltage regulator in the iPad brick: 2.4A*12V=28.8W.)
 
Last edited:
nrubenstein said:
I've been charging the Macbook at night off my Anker 5-port charger. In light use, the battery will increase its charge, and it certainly charges overnight.

Net-net, in normal use, it seems that a regular iPad class USB port is perfectly adequate for the rMB. Which is great news, because it means that all the existing battery packs and such will work fine for it.

Edit: To be clear, I'm not claiming that an iPad charger will be adequate in *all* circumstances, however, it seems to work quite well in most. You will definitely get meaningfully faster charging off the correct full voltage charger. (Given the size and specs, it seems pretty clear that they basically just changed the voltage regulator in the iPad brick: 2.4A*12V=28.8W.)
Click to expand...

I'm seeing the same things. In my wall USB port the Macbook retains its charge but charges very slowly, so in my daily office setting, it's perfect.
 
So.... it seems that I can actually charge my macbook from office iMac lol


what will happen if if plug two macbook together? power equilibrium? @@
 
plugged it in regular phone wall charger, it shows charging logo. but when you click on it, it says "battery is not charging"

so, it's a no go
 
*correctly on what I said*

when the lid is closed and computer in sleep. it does charge even with the cellphone charger.

I'm a happy camper
 
headcase said:
Anyone feeling up for trying a 60W charger from Google?
https://store.google.com/product/universal_type_c_60w_charger
Click to expand...

Looking at the specs it won't charge the rMB any faster. Reason being is that the rMB will likely only charge at 5V or 12V. The stock charger has 5/12V output at 29 watts max for 12V. The Google charger only puts out 3A max at 12 V so this translates to 36 watts max. It only puts out the full 60 watts at 20V which AFAIK, the rMB won't accept.
 
usernames.taken said:
That's a useful answer. I'm a little sad to hear something more interesting doesn't happen.
Click to expand...

so heres come to another interesting thing:
What if, when iPhone finally goes to USB-C, and people plug in iPhone first and plug to macbook.... so it probably will become a battery pack for macbook ? It will be interesting, and the iPad will become a big battery pack for iPhone and macbook.
 
magbarn said:
Looking at the specs it won't charge the rMB any faster. Reason being is that the rMB will likely only charge at 5V or 12V. The stock charger has 5/12V output at 29 watts max for 12V. The Google charger only puts out 3A max at 12 V so this translates to 36 watts max. It only puts out the full 60 watts at 20V which AFAIK, the rMB won't accept.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the breakdown -- makes sense. That said, I'm curious to see if any 3rd party chargers will charge the rMB and faster down the road. But I do love how small & compact Apple's 29W charger is -- no more big honking chargers for me with this puppy.
 
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