Yo everyone. I’m trying to understand how USB power works with batteries, hopefully this is the correct community to ask. We have so many different devices that can be charged with USB-C, yet all the power bricks and power banks have different voltage, amps, watts. Can I use any USB-C brick or power bank with any device and battery and it must intelligently never draw over the limits of the power source?

I thought that USB-C is made for this yet I can read reports that people damaged their Nintendo Switch because of a power brick. How careful do we have to be when charging our phones, tablets, laptops, gaming devices? What exactly to look out for when deciding what to plug in where? Thank you very much for any replies.

  • CalcProgrammer1@lemmy.ml
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    1 year ago

    USB-C makes something similar to Quick Charge official though, and OP asked about USB-C. USB-C supports USB PD (Power Delivery) in which a device can request up to 20V (or higher in recent updates). Same deal, starts out at 5V, but the devices negotiate for the highest common supported voltage and it starts operating at that voltage. It’s how higher power devices like laptops, gaming systems, mini PCs, etc. are able to use USB for power.

    • huojtkeg@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Thank you for completing my answer. USB is the specification, USB-C is a connector type. The definition of voltages, power, etc is in the specification.