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.
Yes, it is not possible for a USB-C charger to deliver too much power to a device. You should be able to use any USB-C device with any charger - with three caveats.
Firstly, not all USB-C chargers will go up to the maximum limit of your device. If you have a 5v 2A charger supplying 10Watts - that’s going to take a long time to fill your device.
Secondly, not all USB-C devices support all possible charging profiles. So you may have a charger which can give one device 65W but not another.
Thirdly, the cable matters. A cheap £1 cable isn’t going to be able to to charge at maximum power. Get a cable which is specified for the job.
Here’s my review of a USB-C charger which experienced these problems - https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2020/06/review-ylpower-87w-usb-c-charger-msh-87pd/