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.

  • edent@lemmy.oneEnglish
    1·
    1 year ago

    If a device needs 65W and you give it 22W one of two things will happen

    1. It will charge very slowly
    2. It will not charge at all

    There is no risks of overheating.

    • octoffsetOPEnglish
      1·
      1 year ago

      That’s very cool. I checked my laptop and it has USB-C Power Delivery, does that mean I can try to charge it with my Switch charger? That one gets 39W on its 15V output which my laptop has to support as well, being PD compliant?

      • edent@lemmy.oneEnglish
        1·
        1 year ago

        Yes, it should work fine. I usually charge my devices with whichever plug is nearest.

    • larvydeEnglish
      1·
      1 year ago

      Yes, I had to at one point charge a macbook with a samsung tablet charger (because I left the mac brick at work). I had to shut down the mac every hour or so to let the battery get some charge in, but both the mac and the samsung plug are still working fine to this day.