Homelab

371 readers

9 users here now

Rules

Be Civil.
Post about your homelab, discussion of your homelab, questions you may have, or general discussion about transition your skill from the homelab to the workplace.
No memes or potato images.
We love detailed homelab builds, especially network diagrams!
Report any posts that you feel should be brought to our attention.
Please no shitposting or blogspam.
No Referral Linking.
Keep piracy discussion off of this community

founded 11 months ago

MODERATORS

[email protected]

Anyone had any luck with USB-C to DC Connectors? (alien.top)

submitted 10 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

14 comments fedilink hide all child comments

I'm looking at clearing down some of the power bricks that are in my homelab along with plug requirements. There's 3 devices that run off of 12v, so the current idea is to buy something like this:

https://uk.ugreen.com/products/ugreen-nexode-200w-usb-c-gan-charger-6-port-desktop-charge

And then this: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0B9FDZX7P

With the aim of powering:

Beelink Mini-S12
Virgin Media Hub 3 (this is the worst power brick)
asus dsl-ax82u
Raspberry Pi 4 (no converter needed, but will eliminate a plug)

I'm aware this is a single point of failure, it will be plugged into a UPS. I'm just wondering on the viability of it all.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Yeah just reading up on it. I'm wondering if there's a USB-C device which has zero negotiation time? At the worst case, I may just get a dedicated USB-C charger for the Router as that has the most obnoxiously large power brick.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago

That’s not physically possible, negotiation is required for voltages over 5V. And the voltage may not be within the spec of the device. USB-PD provides higher voltages in order to push more power through a USB cable. Higher voltage means higher wattage for the same amps, meaning less power lost due to cable resistance. You can’t just push 5V 10A through a USB cable or it would melt, but you could push 20V 2.5A, for the same 50W total but with a non-melty cable. So the voltage may not be precise and is usually used to drive a buck converter at the other end to drop it down to a usable voltage again. All this requires expensive components and complex firmware.

What you’re probably looking for is a regular 12V DC power supply. There’s just no need for all the expensive USB-PD negotiation for your use case.

Plus, as others have said, USB-PD chargers will disconnect all devices whenever power requirements change. This can happen at any time even without the devices being unplugged-re-plugged, it happens whenever the power needs dictate a switch to a new USB-PD mode.