Hi!
I always swear to myself that I’m going to be more active here, and then fail miserably… I hope that this is a reasonable section to post this in…if not, please move it!
I’m interested in using a 5.25" bay in my case to house some sort of circuitry which would have USB-C ports at the front with USB-PD (I don’t really care about transferring data here), to deliver a significant amount of power (something like 60 watts maximum per port).
However, I have no clue about how to go about this. Looking at eBay UK, it seems as though there are no readily-available solutions.
Running at 5V, it’d make sense to try to find circuitry I could connect to my power supply’s 5V output (it looks like I have 20 amps-ish to play with after drives) to then have ports, but I don’t really know how to find such items (if they even exist). I’m similarly clueless about 12V.
Might someone more knowledgeable point me in the right direction? (:
I back this suggestion, mainly because decent car chargers have safety measures built in so you’re not just relying on your PSU to catch if something is going wrong and power needs to be cut.
Because frying a car’s electronics isn’t a good way to go!
Plus, I guess…this would be a super stable 12v supply compared to what they’re built for, so it’s maybe kinda-sorta better in that regard? (:
Now, time for me to see if I can find one that offers 60w out on the USB-C for future charging of laptops…
Any reason why you want to power it off your computers psu?
Food for thought:
USB-PD actually outputs 20v for the higher wattage charging modes, so running off 12vdc they need to use a buck/boost converter (more complicated/electrically noisy than linear regulators typically found on low power 5v models)
I would worry about a car adapter adding noise to the 12v psu rail since there is relatively little capacitance on a computers psu and anything on a cars 12v system is designed for electrical noise so the adapter mfg probably wouldnt worry as much about adding to it.
The reason is basically that I really want to avoid additional cable clutter, especially should I move into a more cramped environment for my next academic year (if things are back in person).
I absolutely hadn’t considered noise being added – and while I’m sure that’s something I could buy some nice capacitors to smooth out, it’s absolutely a concern, and thanks for making me aware of it!
A more expensive way, (but also one more intended for use with a PC) would be PCIe extension cards.
The Asus and Gigabyte Titan Ridge Thunderbolt Cards support 100W PD (and they have dual-ports, although they probably cannot handle 2x100W at the same time).
You would only have to make due with extension cables or route those extension cables back into the case through a free PCI-Slot and make your own front-panel for them.
With these extension-cables you will loose thunderbolt support, but other than that it should be a relatively reliable solution. If your PC does not support Thunderbolt-Extensions, as far as I know, you will only lose thunderbolt / USB-Data functionality. Other things like Displayport or charging support should still work. (My own thunderbolt card has no PD support, but regular USB-C charging with 15W worked, before I got it working correctly).
So I’ve got this 12v device (well 12 to 24v) that supplies 65w on a single port. It has a usb c and a usb a port, and I have it mounted in my portable 18650 case so I can charge my laptop when the power company decides they don’t want to give us electricity.
You could theoretically 3d print a 5.25 bay bracket for one of two of em, wire it up to a pcie 6 pin and it should work.
It works wonderful with my battery system. Haven’t tried hooking it up to a PCIe 6 pin, but it’s a 75w device, so a 6 pin should have plenty of juice for it.
It’s approx 1in X 2in X 3in not including the mounting ears.
This is the module I bought and use. It does 100W (instead of the 60W that you requested), but it’s very small. Sadly it requires 21v or higher input, to output 20v 5A.
On the positive side, it tells you the output voltage when something is plugged in.
It outputs 20V PD at 12v input. Any input voltage within range will allow it to provide the proper range. Of course, assuming the power supply can provide enough power.
that’s a very nice size. Also liking the 100w capacity. The company that makes the one I have doesn’t have a 100w capable charger. It seems like they focus on more… industrial applications. Multiple sinks, etc…
Moreover, I can’t seem to find many publicly available docs on how these power delivery and negotiation circuits work, nor can I find an IC that can do the job. Although, I haven’t looked in a couple years. I’d really like to design my own PCB for this sort of thing, ~200W in with 3x USB C ports, capable of splitting the 200w however necessary.
