Using USB A to C to Charge?

It will work, it'll just be really slow. USB-C is a really flexible port, the voltage will just undergo a conversion which it's designed to do.

USB charging blocks, adapters, cables all come with different amps/volts ratings but ultimately your charge will move at the rate of the slowest link in the chain.

 

I tried this with my previous XPS usb-c port and a 2.1a charger. No joy. I am speculating it's either that the cable was no up to spec or that these usb-c chargeable computers need a minimum amount of power to charge. I haven't tried with my MBP but am interested to know as well.

Edit: I just tried it with a regular 2.1a charger and a usb-c to usb-a cable and holy s**t it works. It is quite slow. I get anywhere from 0 to 4 watts charging, which could take 10 to 40 hours to charge while using. Rough math says it will take 5-10 hours while sleeping or off. It's a far cry from the less than 2 hours the regular brick charges, but hey this will work in a pinch! Man I love usb-c.

 

Now I want a FireWire-to-USBC cable so I can use the leftover iPod charger I still have from 2004.

 

Haha. That's probably a one watt battery (guessing) and would buy you about 15 minutes of usage.

 

I've tried using a number of cables and unfortunately at best you'll get is a trickle charge due to the wattage at least for my 15", the 12" works just fine however.

 

I went ahead and dug out out -- the old charger is rated for 12V and 0.62A per the label, so that's, what, just over six watts?

Should top off a 15" MBP in a couple days.