Kenneth, I can't tell you how useful this video was. You were correct, there's very little clear information about these board on the net, especially on the sellers listings. Your video was well filmed with clear audio and articulate explanation. Thank you very much!
Came here to say this as well. I've had 2 of these little boards for a year or two now and knew about how to program it (and confirmed voltage by using a multimeter) but had no idea what those last 2 modes were, especially the one to negotiate the highest possible voltage, as I didn't think to try it on different USB C power adapters, although appropriately I have the same RAV Power Battery Bank Kenneth has, so I could get a wide variety of voltages from it. Only just came across this video so now I know, thanks!
Since this video the market has started to provided what are often called a "PD/QC Decoy Board", these are fixed voltage boards, with the result that they are a lot cheaper and smaller so work very well for when trying to create a usb to power jack cable solution. The one I ordered even came with a plastic cover for the board/cable as standard.
Thanks for an excellent explanation. Those who don't want to risk the wrong voltage being programmed in for a specific device can get USB-C to barrel connector converters designed for that device's voltage-9 volts, 12 volts or whatever.
Did this with a car stereo. PSP. And a laptop. Have a bunch of triggers.. 5v.9v.12v.15v20v It’s good to have a power bank that charges and gives power at the same time. That way you can use it as a UPS. You can also charge the power bank with solar and keep things running 24/7. Like a mini Tesla Powerball.
Glad to see others excited about this nuanced feature of USB C. I did something similar using a TC66C USB C “tester”. Bonus is that it has an LCD to show voltage/current, minus in that it’s significantly more complicated to use than the single button on your pcb.
I found a different board online that has a set of DIP switches to select the voltage and chose it since it's much more straight forward to program and makes it very hard to accidentally put too much voltage into a device.
What is missing is a 12V home network. Don't know why we have tens of power supply when we could have one central power supply to power all small device, pc monitor, pc, phone charger, modem, router, .... except big appliance almost everything could be powered by 12V. Even modern fan or motor are powered by 12V. Especially wasteful with solar, as we go from low DC, to AC back to DC and loose a lot of power on the way.
Thank you very much for this video, it solved my problem with using my PD Trigger board. I was going crazy trying to figure out whether it was my board, my multifunction charger, or the wrong cable. Turned out, some time ago, when I just got the PD T board, I have put it in permanent 5V mode and forgot about it, so it was always outputting 5V. Only, after I re-watch your video, I figured out how to "handle" this little board. Also learned, that pressing the program switch a little too long (like maybe 1/2 sec instead of 1/4 sec, will not switch to the next voltage output level). That's an excellent video. Thanks again.
I just wanted to add that most of the Linksys blue routers like the WRT54G internally run on 3.3 volts supplied by a buck converter, so it falls under the category that you mentioned where any of the PD voltages should work, or even just plain old non PD 5v USB. Some of the old 3Com network gear was even brave enough to admit this, I have a 5 port 10/100 switch that says right on it that it will take anything from 10-30 volts. In this case I would just choose whichever voltage gives you the least input wattage from the source, IE the best efficiency.
This is so useful for those who want to boost their Bluetooth speaker battery I see myself using this thing on a JBL speaker and play the whole week Non-Stop
These will be super handy to power various 9, 12, and 15V electronic musical instruments/effects. I can imagine this will be very popular with the Digitakt/Digitone crowd.
Not only musical; I am thinking about a variety of electronics projects that need different voltages. This video just assured me that I am on the right track thinking about using the PD Trigger board for this kind of application.
Thanks buddy. Knew something like this would exist and kept googling with different keywords and your video was on top of the search. Needed to power my goto mount scope. Didn't want to purchase a separate powertank with a specific 12v output. I can now re-use my PD portable powerbank. Saved me lots of money, and one less item to carry.
the highest voltage would be good for a multi-voltage device too. a lot of power banks will support more than one voltage via DC in if it doesn't already have a USB C charger mode
It would be even cooler if there were a more complex version of this board that ingested standard PD2/3 PDOs and output PPS at the full allowable range. Sure, there would need to be some DC-DC voltage conversion, but wouldn't that be totally rad?
Great explanation, thanks! This tiny piece seems to be quite useful 😁 However, it would be nice it it also had - like some buck converters - lines that you can solder in order to have permanently 9/12/15/20V etc. On the other hand, we could have it set to 20V and then use the buck converter - just to be sure we won't get anything else than desired voltage. For perfect output, a linerar stabilizer at the end would give us exactly what we want 😎
I'm pretty sure they exist with fixed voltage settings. Adding another buck converter would be kinda unnecessary as the QC power supply can deliver any voltage. There's a mode in which you don't just get a preset value but can ramp up and down in voltage, in steps of like 0.1V. I wouldn't be surprised if boards exist that make use of this to output any desired voltage.
Found it, it was a video from Andreas Spiess in which he plays around with QC 3.0. There's a "continuous mode" in which the voltage can be stepped up and down with steps of 0.2V. ruclips.net/video/dw3MehLAyWU/видео.html
I've been wanting to do this for years to rid my networking closet of wall warts and just use one USB C PD hub. Just now stumbled on this video. It's time.
Awesome demo there. I was going nuts about how to fix the voltage to a preset and this made it super clear. Very appreciated especially since there isn't really an instruction set coming with these circuit boards
There is something else to remember, if your power supply does not support the current, it will start blinking. Usually only USB c mains power supply do support greater current. For example a given power supply might support 40W by using 2A at 20V, it does not mean it will support 40W at 15 v, which would mean more than 2A.
The spec says it should cut out the device if it asks for 40W at 15v and its rated for 2A. In theory USB-IF has a protection mode to cut power to the mosfet before it burns if you ask more than what it is rated for.
Very cool. Would be nice to have a bin full of these around for projects. Doable if you buy from Ali Express as they're only couple bucks there. I'd like to pair one with a multi-barrel adapter so it can be used to power many different things.
This video is just the right explanation for me on a project I have been working on and keep being confused why I cant power up my device using PD. Thank you.
I have some trigger boards that don't have the LED or the button. It just has 3 sip switches that you set to the desired voltage. I'm making a rack-mounted VU display that will be powered with one of these. I plan on using these bad boys for many, many projects.
I was recently wondering if it were possible to actually select which voltage you wanted, in order to power various devices which do not comply with the PD protocol. Your video was most helpful, thank you.
With a 3v buck converter and a pair of resistors I could use this to power my Resmed S10 CPAP machine (humidifier turned off) from my laptop/phone battery pack when travelling, so this really has my interest. I'll have to check the output levels of my battery and Choetec 240v pack in my bag.
Yes, sometimes these can literally save a day when you have no particular 9/12/15/20V power supply around or original power supply suddenly release magic smoke. Learned about these modules 2 years ago and already used similar modules in some DIY projects.
Really interesting board and thanks for explaining all the modes, but would have been even more helpful if you had shown with a multimeter how stable the voltage output actually is in idle and under load and whether it can actually 5A at any supported voltage.
That is entirely a function of what USB charger you plug this into. All this board does is ask the charger to deliver a certain voltage and expose two solder pads attached to the output bus.
There is one issue that I found with these PD triggers. If you connect the PD trigger to a device that does not constantly draw power, the power bank will reset and switch to 5V despite the setting of the PD trigger. In my application, I was using this to power a device that I would shut off when not in use. When I went to turn on the device, it would not work because it was now getting 5V instead of the selected 12V. I had to unplug the PD trigger and replug it in to the USB C port in order to get it to reset and go back to the desired voltage of 12V. For me, this was too much of a hassle for my application. However, if your device is always on and constantly drawing power, it should not be an issue. (I was using a Ravpower 26000 mah, 30 watt PD power bank)
this explains why in the video his went back to red after a while on the battery bank. I want to use one for some LEDs, so it should go to 12v and stay there as it's a constant load, exactly what I needed to find out!
Kennth, I just found this video. I have a solder station kit I need to put together. It takes between 12 and 20 volts I’m now thinking about adding this as a power option. Thanks for a great video.
Very useful and informative video. One thing I noticed was that you read from your power bank that it supplies 5v 9v 15v and 20v, yet your trigger board seems to manage to negotiate 12v from it. Is that a feature of the board that can be used on any supply that gives more than 12v, or did they just not include 12v in the power bank specs for some reason?
At 3:05 USB-A connector maybe because we have so many micro USB cables lying around that we can re use them for our projects cutting away the micro usb and having some extra flexibility? Thank you for the video!
Thinking about using these in conjunction with a 100 watt or 120 watt multi port usb charger to clean up 4 or 6 power bricks for various devices in my wiring closet.
Was looking for these trigger boards and the description was not clear how it would work when you wanted a fixed voltage. First I found 12v specifik versions, that essentialy does this but without the added option of switching voltage (they go 12v, or the highest available ie 5 or 9). now im gonna order these with the buttons and going to use it specificly for powering 5 or 12v routers, switches and other equipment from either wallwarths or PD power packs!
That's pretty cool, but, for the price of *one* of those you can get *FIVE* boards that don't use a microprocessor. (They just have pairs of solder pads or DIP switches to set the voltage.) I can see having one of those for its convenience, but, in actual use, I'd stick with one of the more basic options.
These are pretty cool. Might be useful for some future project. I came across it cos I was searching for a solution to charge my laptop from a monitor that only has USB-C Display and data transfer. E.g. it only supplies the minimum 5W or so, and was looking for a way to inject power or something. Probably a hub but those are big and bulky and a more compact solution would be nicer, if it was possible to inject power without compromising the display/data throughput
I have a cable that does the same thing. Except i left it connected to the powerbank last night but didn't connect the cable to any device and it still drained the powerbank. I'm guessing via resistors or something. Still the cables are great, I use one to power a 5G modem that I can take on the move.
Very interesting. It's "talking" to the PS regulators. Power and heat sink etc, is at the PS, not at this pcb. Neat. I wonder if here is a max current draw for these regardless of what the PS can handle?
This is neat for a more universal supply, but I'd personally feel safer if it was a solder pad I bridged or used a jumper on to make sure the voltage doesn't get changed somehow.
Exactly what I was looking for! Thanks. My usecase is, Im trying to live off of my solar system. Since it is producing DC, I need to convert it to AC and back again to DC to power, for example, my desktop monitor. So this would be a neat idea to power a lot of electronics without having the double power loss through converting. I hope this will work :D I have a question though: My powerbrick for the monitor outputs 19.5V, USB-C PD delivers 20V - is that a problem or is the device able to adjust how much it draws?
thank you for this video, I was looking for a way to power some 9V music equipment like pedals and synthesizers using an usb power bank and and your video really gave me the solution, I wonder if anyone as made a 3d printable enclosure
This is awesome. I have never seen anything that can test which voltages a USB can actually use, save for a box I bought some time ago, which reads both voltage and amperage. And, naturally, I keep misplacing this little box. It is also USB-A only. I would love to figure out a HAM radio repeater with this. Honestly, I may try to power a router off of something like this, like you did, too. I would really love to be able to establish off-grid communications and file transfer.
I have a possible project question. I own a MacBook Pro A1502 that has USB 3, Type A sockets (x2) and Thunderbolt 2 socket. Thunderbolt 2 has the faster data speeds, but it does not carry (if I understand correctly) 5v needed to power an external device. I would like to use an external M.2 NVME M-Key 2280 SSD in an enclosure that has a USB Type C socket. The type enclosure can be seen on Amazon .. ORICO 20Gbps M.2 NVME SSD Enclosure Adapter,USB3.2 Gen2 Type-C to NVME PCI-E M-Key Solid State Drive Aluminum External Case for SSD Size 2230/2242/2260/2280, up to 4TB（M2PAC3-G20, Grey). Might it be possible to make a cable with a USB Type C (Male) on one end and two plugs on the other end, a Thunderbolt 2 (male) for the data AND a USB type A (male) for a 5v source? Could this work? Would you know how to wire it?
i have an powerstation that accepts power input for solar charge of around 15v+ all the way up to 25v. I was figuring if i have a extra powerbank that has PD output of 65W and have the triggerboard. Then i can charge my bigger powerstation with some extra 40,000mah on the side (in the case i go camp or so. if i need the extra juice) but it doesn't charge it. it is set to output 20v output (which should be good for 3.25amps for 65W input). it just switches off.
I'm trying to learn some DIY electronics stuff so I can salvage broken electronics instead of recycling/throwing things out. I don't know a lot about components swapping or what's compatible with what, but I was wondering if I could replace the broken 5V DC (5.5mm x 2.1mm) socket on my daughter's rechargeable Bluetooth speaker with one of these. The PCB is marked 5V where the socket is connected, but the included AC/DC power brick is labeled as 4.5V and 0.2 A output. I'm wondering if it was done intentionally to slow charge the 1800 mAh battery, or if that was just the best option they had at the time (newer models of the same speaker replaced the DC socket with micro USB). My guess would be that the 5V mode would work just fine, but like I said, I'm not an electronics expert.
I want this thing but with USB-PD PPS (Programmable Power Supply protocol that allows granular control over VBUS power, allowing a range of 3.3 to 21 V in 20 mV steps).
I'm sold, I want like 10 of them. One to use as a quick tester, one to play with now and 8 to feed the habit while waiting on the slow boat from China to get back with my next fix... wait who said addictive personality? How dear you ... do you know what it's like to be addicted to all things tech... the internet, EE hobby stuff, coding, etc.? Oh wait if your reading this you clicked on this video, if you clicked... yeah yeah okay so you probably can relate lol.
I saw those boards before but hadn't gave it much of a thought. The option to get different voltages looked interesting, but as I dont really do much electronics I haven't look into it in that much detail. Now that I saw your video I will give those boards a try. thanks for the video!
Some oddities using these with Apple devices: 1. the Macbook Pro chargers like the A1719 put out 20.2V instead of 20V, and this results in an LED color of green (indicating 15V), despite putting out 20.2V. Be careful! 2.I tested this with Apple USB-C Digital AV Multiport Adapter (A1621, the USB-C to USB-C PD passthru, HDMI, and USB type A dongle), attached to the A1719 charger (5, 9, 20.2V). It only ever illuminates the red LED when attached to this dongle (I don't have a voltmeter handy at the moment).
So, I was looking for a solution to power my HX Stomp - a digital Guitar/Bass Effect modeler. It needs 9V but much higher Amps than the usual effect Pedals used. Happens to be, that there is little to none inexpensive solution...until now.
I'm doing something similar to this and I'm wondering what I can do to protect my 20V device from being served 5V, 9V or 12V if my charger doesn't support 20V.
any comment if you PD requirement is ~ 60W PD (20v 3amp) and you used a lesser power source like the 30w PD of the Rav Power bank its more rabbit hole question about PD but you might know the answer thank you your video explained this seemingly wonderful board very well
Can make your own dc ups for hone network. Use a battery pack that allows charge and draw at same time. Hook your modem and router into it with that board. Bam.
I’m wondering if this would be useful for a project I have in mind to eliminate all those wallwarts that have infested my office. I could see having several of these, each programmed for a common voltage (5, 12, etc.) and then paralleling the barrel jacks for the each device that uses that voltage (being mindful of total current) and then using a single, high current switching USB adapter to power the whole thing.
How about the another way around?i… I need usb-c out… connect 12V DC and deliver 5V for iPhone (build a eBike charger using the internal 12v for the light)
Did I hear it right that if the negotiation fails, it'll output 5 volts to the terminals? Seems potentially hazardous in that the attached device might be held in a bad state by underpowering. (I have a "PD Buddy Sink" board which I believe has its own output switch to handle this case, but I haven't actually gotten to using it in a project…)
Everything you can buy will see 5V and will either adjust to use it or will block it off safely. Good example some Chromebook will not charge from a 5v 1A chargers. Because it needs more amps it won't charge at all and will switch off. Some can and will just charge slowly... painfully slowly but safe.
Hi... My device don't do like yours... The LED become the colors that you show in the video, but, the voltages don't change, the led start to blink blue when I reconect the device...
It's nice if I can use a power bank to power up a tablet display like the one from Wacom, Huion, and XP-Pen. I want a monitor to be portable and powered up off-grid too.
Hi...i recently purchased an electronic scoreboard (uses 12 volts and 5.5 watts) about 2 feet long and 8 inches tall, with 3 inch numerals... just large enough to be useful. However, it only works with a 4 ft power cable with a small wall transformer with barrel connector. I want to power it with a power bank with usb-c. Do i need a trigger board? Does the scoreboard itself need to have the ability to negotiate power? Can i just get any USB-c power cable with barrel connector? Or do i need a 'special' cable, like a USB-C PD cable specifically rated for 12 volts? sorry for all the questions!
Hi, sorry maybe for a dumb question, but I got a Bluetti EB3A power station. It has a 12V DC input for charging from solar panels. Can I modify my cable with this board to give my Bluetti an additional source of power such as 20000mAh powerbank?
Kenneth, I can't tell you how useful this video was. You were correct, there's very little clear information about these board on the net, especially on the sellers listings. Your video was well filmed with clear audio and articulate explanation. Thank you very much!
Yes!
Came here to say this as well. I've had 2 of these little boards for a year or two now and knew about how to program it (and confirmed voltage by using a multimeter) but had no idea what those last 2 modes were, especially the one to negotiate the highest possible voltage, as I didn't think to try it on different USB C power adapters, although appropriately I have the same RAV Power Battery Bank Kenneth has, so I could get a wide variety of voltages from it. Only just came across this video so now I know, thanks!
Agreed. I see different voltages on charger supplies, but never understood how they were selected. Very educational. Thanks
Since this video the market has started to provided what are often called a "PD/QC Decoy Board", these are fixed voltage boards, with the result that they are a lot cheaper and smaller so work very well for when trying to create a usb to power jack cable solution. The one I ordered even came with a plastic cover for the board/cable as standard.
Thanks for an excellent explanation. Those who don't want to risk the wrong voltage being programmed in for a specific device can get USB-C to barrel connector converters designed for that device's voltage-9 volts, 12 volts or whatever.
Did this with a car stereo. PSP. And a laptop. Have a bunch of triggers.. 5v.9v.12v.15v20v It’s good to have a power bank that charges and gives power at the same time. That way you can use it as a UPS. You can also charge the power bank with solar and keep things running 24/7. Like a mini Tesla Powerball.
Glad to see others excited about this nuanced feature of USB C. I did something similar using a TC66C USB C “tester”. Bonus is that it has an LCD to show voltage/current, minus in that it’s significantly more complicated to use than the single button on your pcb.
I found a different board online that has a set of DIP switches to select the voltage and chose it since it's much more straight forward to program and makes it very hard to accidentally put too much voltage into a device.
Would you please give us a model name. Sounds great.
These will be great for charging ham radios that have barrel plugs. Ordered a couple today to give them a shot, thank you for the video!
What is missing is a 12V home network.
Don't know why we have tens of power supply when we could have one central power supply to power all small device, pc monitor, pc, phone charger, modem, router, .... except big appliance almost everything could be powered by 12V.
Even modern fan or motor are powered by 12V.
Especially wasteful with solar, as we go from low DC, to AC back to DC and loose a lot of power on the way.
Thank you very much for this video, it solved my problem with using my PD Trigger board. I was going crazy trying to figure out whether it was my board, my multifunction charger, or the wrong cable.
Turned out, some time ago, when I just got the PD T board, I have put it in permanent 5V mode and forgot about it, so it was always outputting 5V. Only, after I re-watch your video, I figured out how to "handle" this little board. Also learned, that pressing the program switch a little too long (like maybe 1/2 sec instead of 1/4 sec, will not switch to the next voltage output level). That's an excellent video. Thanks again.
I just wanted to add that most of the Linksys blue routers like the WRT54G internally run on 3.3 volts supplied by a buck converter, so it falls under the category that you mentioned where any of the PD voltages should work, or even just plain old non PD 5v USB. Some of the old 3Com network gear was even brave enough to admit this, I have a 5 port 10/100 switch that says right on it that it will take anything from 10-30 volts.
In this case I would just choose whichever voltage gives you the least input wattage from the source, IE the best efficiency.
This is so useful for those who want to boost their Bluetooth speaker battery I see myself using this thing on a JBL speaker and play the whole week Non-Stop
These will be super handy to power various 9, 12, and 15V electronic musical instruments/effects. I can imagine this will be very popular with the Digitakt/Digitone crowd.
Not only musical; I am thinking about a variety of electronics projects that need different voltages. This video just assured me that I am on the right track thinking about using the PD Trigger board for this kind of application.
This is SUPER useful! Wonder how many of my retro computers I'd be able to convert over to running off these?
Thanks buddy. Knew something like this would exist and kept googling with different keywords and your video was on top of the search.
Needed to power my goto mount scope. Didn't want to purchase a separate powertank with a specific 12v output.
I can now re-use my PD portable powerbank.
Saved me lots of money, and one less item to carry.
the highest voltage would be good for a multi-voltage device too. a lot of power banks will support more than one voltage via DC in if it doesn't already have a USB C charger mode
Great video, didn't know about the mode that will negotiate for the highest voltage the supply can provide, it's just what I needed for a project.
It would be even cooler if there were a more complex version of this board that ingested standard PD2/3 PDOs and output PPS at the full allowable range. Sure, there would need to be some DC-DC voltage conversion, but wouldn't that be totally rad?
Great explanation, thanks! This tiny piece seems to be quite useful 😁
However, it would be nice it it also had - like some buck converters - lines that you can solder in order to have permanently 9/12/15/20V etc. On the other hand, we could have it set to 20V and then use the buck converter - just to be sure we won't get anything else than desired voltage. For perfect output, a linerar stabilizer at the end would give us exactly what we want 😎
I'm pretty sure they exist with fixed voltage settings. Adding another buck converter would be kinda unnecessary as the QC power supply can deliver any voltage. There's a mode in which you don't just get a preset value but can ramp up and down in voltage, in steps of like 0.1V. I wouldn't be surprised if boards exist that make use of this to output any desired voltage.
Found it, it was a video from Andreas Spiess in which he plays around with QC 3.0. There's a "continuous mode" in which the voltage can be stepped up and down with steps of 0.2V.
ruclips.net/video/dw3MehLAyWU/видео.html
@@jaromy03 thanks brother
See this for other boards that can be set via soldering ruclips.net/video/gRcRFjUl_Gk/видео.html
I've been wanting to do this for years to rid my networking closet of wall warts and just use one USB C PD hub. Just now stumbled on this video. It's time.
Awesome demo there. I was going nuts about how to fix the voltage to a preset and this made it super clear. Very appreciated especially since there isn't really an instruction set coming with these circuit boards
There is something else to remember, if your power supply does not support the current, it will start blinking. Usually only USB c mains power supply do support greater current. For example a given power supply might support 40W by using 2A at 20V, it does not mean it will support 40W at 15 v, which would mean more than 2A.
The spec says it should cut out the device if it asks for 40W at 15v and its rated for 2A.
In theory USB-IF has a protection mode to cut power to the mosfet before it burns if you ask more than what it is rated for.
Very cool. Would be nice to have a bin full of these around for projects. Doable if you buy from Ali Express as they're only couple bucks there.
I'd like to pair one with a multi-barrel adapter so it can be used to power many different things.
This video is just the right explanation for me on a project I have been working on and keep being confused why I cant power up my device using PD. Thank you.
I have some trigger boards that don't have the LED or the button. It just has 3 sip switches that you set to the desired voltage. I'm making a rack-mounted VU display that will be powered with one of these. I plan on using these bad boys for many, many projects.
How important is AMPERAGE in this equation I'm wondering...
Super helpful. I full-time RV and want to move many of my electric devices to DC from AC. To make use of my solar setup.
Awesome! Glad I could help. I've been meaning to actually mount a few of these inside devices so it really just looks like they're powered by USB
I was recently wondering if it were possible to actually select which voltage you wanted, in order to power various devices which do not comply with the PD protocol. Your video was most helpful, thank you.
With a 3v buck converter and a pair of resistors I could use this to power my Resmed S10 CPAP machine (humidifier turned off) from my laptop/phone battery pack when travelling, so this really has my interest. I'll have to check the output levels of my battery and Choetec 240v pack in my bag.
Wow!!! So helpful. Thank you very much. I really didn’t understand this aspect of the world of USB-C. Very helpful.
Sweet! I've been looking for a new power source for my smelting factory. The energy bills are outrageous! This will help a lot!
THANK YOU for giving the full explanation of the modes, and most importantly, the model number!
Didn't know these existed. Gonna buy one. Thanks for letting us know how to set it!
Yes, sometimes these can literally save a day when you have no particular 9/12/15/20V power supply around or original power supply suddenly release magic smoke. Learned about these modules 2 years ago and already used similar modules in some DIY projects.
Great idea. Sidenote some of those wifi routers run internally at 3.3v, so they already ran off 5v usb powerbanks.
I was looking exactly for such a board and couldn't find it. Thanks a lot!
I love it!
I have been looking for a solution like this FOR A YEAR. Thanks you so much. I'm really excited to try this.
This video couldn't have been better! Thank you for answering all the lingering questions one might have when looking to buy one of these.
Really interesting board and thanks for explaining all the modes, but would have been even more helpful if you had shown with a multimeter how stable the voltage output actually is in idle and under load and whether it can actually 5A at any supported voltage.
That is entirely a function of what USB charger you plug this into. All this board does is ask the charger to deliver a certain voltage and expose two solder pads attached to the output bus.
@@KennethFinnegan Thanks, you're right. For some reason I thought it would come with a voltage converter built in. But of course there's none visible.
This seems to be the solution to turn pretty much any device into a USB-C device, make them portable and powered by batteries.
i hope they dont make lap tops with usb power i have nothing but bad luck with usb technology. the old school ones work fine thanks.
There is one issue that I found with these PD triggers. If you connect the PD trigger to a device that does not constantly draw power, the power bank will reset and switch to 5V despite the setting of the PD trigger. In my application, I was using this to power a device that I would shut off when not in use. When I went to turn on the device, it would not work because it was now getting 5V instead of the selected 12V. I had to unplug the PD trigger and replug it in to the USB C port in order to get it to reset and go back to the desired voltage of 12V. For me, this was too much of a hassle for my application. However, if your device is always on and constantly drawing power, it should not be an issue. (I was using a Ravpower 26000 mah, 30 watt PD power bank)
Have you tried one of those fixed voltage PD triggers that don't need/support programming? They might be the solution for you.
this explains why in the video his went back to red after a while on the battery bank. I want to use one for some LEDs, so it should go to 12v and stay there as it's a constant load, exactly what I needed to find out!
Kennth, I just found this video. I have a solder station kit I need to put together. It takes between 12 and 20 volts I’m now thinking about adding this as a power option. Thanks for a great video.
Very useful and informative video. One thing I noticed was that you read from your power bank that it supplies 5v 9v 15v and 20v, yet your trigger board seems to manage to negotiate 12v from it. Is that a feature of the board that can be used on any supply that gives more than 12v, or did they just not include 12v in the power bank specs for some reason?
I'm going to use this for a mini pc, just waiting for my GMK NucBox, but I might get a slim one in the future.
And thanks for the programming tips.
Thanks for this! Very informative. You are a gifted teacher!
At 3:05 USB-A connector maybe because we have so many micro USB cables lying around that we can re use them for our projects cutting away the micro usb and having some extra flexibility? Thank you for the video!
Thinking about using these in conjunction with a 100 watt or 120 watt multi port usb charger to clean up 4 or 6 power bricks for various devices in my wiring closet.
Was looking for these trigger boards and the description was not clear how it would work when you wanted a fixed voltage. First I found 12v specifik versions, that essentialy does this but without the added option of switching voltage (they go 12v, or the highest available ie 5 or 9).
now im gonna order these with the buttons and going to use it specificly for powering 5 or 12v routers, switches and other equipment from either wallwarths or PD power packs!
That's pretty cool, but, for the price of *one* of those you can get *FIVE* boards that don't use a microprocessor. (They just have pairs of solder pads or DIP switches to set the voltage.) I can see having one of those for its convenience, but, in actual use, I'd stick with one of the more basic options.
These are pretty cool. Might be useful for some future project. I came across it cos I was searching for a solution to charge my laptop from a monitor that only has USB-C Display and data transfer. E.g. it only supplies the minimum 5W or so, and was looking for a way to inject power or something. Probably a hub but those are big and bulky and a more compact solution would be nicer, if it was possible to inject power without compromising the display/data throughput
I have a TEC in need of this. Nice little board.
Somebody watches AVe LOL. Thank you! Just starting a project and saw these boards. eBay to english translation no bueno. Much appreciated.
I have a cable that does the same thing. Except i left it connected to the powerbank last night but didn't connect the cable to any device and it still drained the powerbank. I'm guessing via resistors or something. Still the cables are great, I use one to power a 5G modem that I can take on the move.
Very interesting. It's "talking" to the PS regulators. Power and heat sink etc, is at the PS, not at this pcb. Neat. I wonder if here is a max current draw for these regardless of what the PS can handle?
This is neat for a more universal supply, but I'd personally feel safer if it was a solder pad I bridged or used a jumper on to make sure the voltage doesn't get changed somehow.
Exactly what I was looking for! Thanks. My usecase is, Im trying to live off of my solar system. Since it is producing DC, I need to convert it to AC and back again to DC to power, for example, my desktop monitor. So this would be a neat idea to power a lot of electronics without having the double power loss through converting. I hope this will work :D
I have a question though: My powerbrick for the monitor outputs 19.5V, USB-C PD delivers 20V - is that a problem or is the device able to adjust how much it draws?
thank you for this video, I was looking for a way to power some 9V music equipment like pedals and synthesizers using an usb power bank and and your video really gave me the solution, I wonder if anyone as made a 3d printable enclosure
Thank you for introducing a useful module.
This is awesome.
I have never seen anything that can test which voltages a USB can actually use, save for a box I bought some time ago, which reads both voltage and amperage. And, naturally, I keep misplacing this little box. It is also USB-A only.
I would love to figure out a HAM radio repeater with this. Honestly, I may try to power a router off of something like this, like you did, too. I would really love to be able to establish off-grid communications and file transfer.
I have a possible project question.
I own a MacBook Pro A1502 that has USB 3, Type A sockets (x2) and Thunderbolt 2 socket. Thunderbolt 2 has the faster data speeds, but it does not carry (if I understand correctly) 5v needed to power an external device. I would like to use an external M.2 NVME M-Key 2280 SSD in an enclosure that has a USB Type C socket. The type enclosure can be seen on Amazon .. ORICO 20Gbps M.2 NVME SSD Enclosure Adapter,USB3.2 Gen2 Type-C to NVME PCI-E M-Key Solid State Drive Aluminum External Case for SSD Size 2230/2242/2260/2280, up to 4TB（M2PAC3-G20, Grey).
Might it be possible to make a cable with a USB Type C (Male) on one end and two plugs on the other end, a Thunderbolt 2 (male) for the data AND a USB type A (male) for a 5v source? Could this work? Would you know how to wire it?
Very nice video Kenneth, clear and detailed.
i have an powerstation that accepts power input for solar charge of around 15v+ all the way up to 25v. I was figuring if i have a extra powerbank that has PD output of 65W and have the triggerboard. Then i can charge my bigger powerstation with some extra 40,000mah on the side (in the case i go camp or so. if i need the extra juice) but it doesn't charge it. it is set to output 20v output (which should be good for 3.25amps for 65W input). it just switches off.
I'm trying to learn some DIY electronics stuff so I can salvage broken electronics instead of recycling/throwing things out.
I don't know a lot about components swapping or what's compatible with what, but I was wondering if I could replace the broken 5V DC (5.5mm x 2.1mm) socket on my daughter's rechargeable Bluetooth speaker with one of these. The PCB is marked 5V where the socket is connected, but the included AC/DC power brick is labeled as 4.5V and 0.2 A output. I'm wondering if it was done intentionally to slow charge the 1800 mAh battery, or if that was just the best option they had at the time (newer models of the same speaker replaced the DC socket with micro USB).
My guess would be that the 5V mode would work just fine, but like I said, I'm not an electronics expert.
I want this thing but with USB-PD PPS (Programmable Power Supply protocol that allows granular control over VBUS power, allowing a range of 3.3 to 21 V in 20 mV steps).
I'm sold, I want like 10 of them. One to use as a quick tester, one to play with now and 8 to feed the habit while waiting on the slow boat from China to get back with my next fix... wait who said addictive personality? How dear you ... do you know what it's like to be addicted to all things tech... the internet, EE hobby stuff, coding, etc.? Oh wait if your reading this you clicked on this video, if you clicked... yeah yeah okay so you probably can relate lol.
I saw those boards before but hadn't gave it much of a thought. The option to get different voltages looked interesting, but as I dont really do much electronics I haven't look into it in that much detail. Now that I saw your video I will give those boards a try. thanks for the video!
Awesome explanation! Thank you, Kenneth! Happy I found your video, I've been wondering about this for ages!
Now if only there was a list somewhere of USB power banks and supplies which actually support different voltage levels (12V seems to be rare).
love that old WRT router :) I got 3 of them here somewhere
Some oddities using these with Apple devices:
1. the Macbook Pro chargers like the A1719 put out 20.2V instead of 20V, and this results in an LED color of green (indicating 15V), despite putting out 20.2V. Be careful!
2.I tested this with Apple USB-C Digital AV Multiport Adapter (A1621, the USB-C to USB-C PD passthru, HDMI, and USB type A dongle), attached to the A1719 charger (5, 9, 20.2V). It only ever illuminates the red LED when attached to this dongle (I don't have a voltmeter handy at the moment).
Thank you soo much for this video. I didn't understand how to set it to primary 12v.
I was wondering for so long and stumbled on this video
Sounds like a good idea for multi-device UPS...
Would this work for a 6 volt tape recorder? I need to check the amps, but it takes 4 C batteries. Off the top of my head
So, I was looking for a solution to power my HX Stomp - a digital Guitar/Bass Effect modeler. It needs 9V but much higher Amps than the usual effect Pedals used. Happens to be, that there is little to none inexpensive solution...until now.
A really great video and product but as the new normal is with Amazon this product is currently unavailable (or indefinite backlogged)
I'm doing something similar to this and I'm wondering what I can do to protect my 20V device from being served 5V, 9V or 12V if my charger doesn't support 20V.
Kenneth, nice explanation and yes, looking forward to more implementation ideas
This looks cool. I'm gonna try and power heated jacket like this...
any comment if you PD requirement is ~ 60W PD (20v 3amp) and you used a lesser power source like the 30w PD of the Rav Power bank
its more rabbit hole question about PD but you might know the answer
thank you your video explained this seemingly wonderful board very well
Can make your own dc ups for hone network.
Use a battery pack that allows charge and draw at same time.
Hook your modem and router into it with that board.
Bam.
Guitar effects pedals are a great use-case example too :)
I’m wondering if this would be useful for a project I have in mind to eliminate all those wallwarts that have infested my office. I could see having several of these, each programmed for a common voltage (5, 12, etc.) and then paralleling the barrel jacks for the each device that uses that voltage (being mindful of total current) and then using a single, high current switching USB adapter to power the whole thing.
I wonder if there's a module that combines what this one does plus serial communication, like the FTDI232.
Nice, this is super useful to know... Thanks a ton for finding and letting us know about this!
How about the another way around?i… I need usb-c out… connect 12V DC and deliver 5V for iPhone (build a eBike charger using the internal 12v for the light)
Pretty cool, at current time, 251k views with only 8.75k subscribers.
Can you still use an USB-A output while using the USB-C output at 12V (only for the example) with this battery ?
Did I hear it right that if the negotiation fails, it'll output 5 volts to the terminals? Seems potentially hazardous in that the attached device might be held in a bad state by underpowering. (I have a "PD Buddy Sink" board which I believe has its own output switch to handle this case, but I haven't actually gotten to using it in a project…)
Everything you can buy will see 5V and will either adjust to use it or will block it off safely. Good example some Chromebook will not charge from a 5v 1A chargers. Because it needs more amps it won't charge at all and will switch off. Some can and will just charge slowly... painfully slowly but safe.
Hi... My device don't do like yours... The LED become the colors that you show in the video, but, the voltages don't change, the led start to blink blue when I reconect the device...
It's nice if I can use a power bank to power up a tablet display like the one from Wacom, Huion, and XP-Pen. I want a monitor to be portable and powered up off-grid too.
I would be good if it had a "get highest voltage available" mode. ...also how can you tell what the current limit is?
Amazing!. Thank you for this demo and introducing with this resource!
Great introduction video for very nice boards. I was exactly looking for something like this! But why did it flip back to red shortly in 8:19 ?
Which battery pack is that? My anker supports everything but 12V which is what I need.
Hi...i recently purchased an electronic scoreboard (uses 12 volts and 5.5 watts) about 2 feet long and 8 inches tall, with 3 inch numerals... just large enough to be useful. However, it only works with a 4 ft power cable with a small wall transformer with barrel connector. I want to power it with a power bank with usb-c. Do i need a trigger board? Does the scoreboard itself need to have the ability to negotiate power? Can i just get any USB-c power cable with barrel connector? Or do i need a 'special' cable, like a USB-C PD cable specifically rated for 12 volts? sorry for all the questions!
I can this as a great way to make a UPS for your router. Thanks!
Nice but how do I make this device only output 5V? There appears that there is no mode for 5V only.
superb video! have you crafted a 3d printed case for this?
Hi, sorry maybe for a dumb question, but I got a Bluetti EB3A power station. It has a 12V DC input for charging from solar panels. Can I modify my cable with this board to give my Bluetti an additional source of power such as 20000mAh powerbank?