Originally Posted by
Polytonic
Picked up the Razer 130W GaN charger, mainly planning on using it to power an iPhone and iPad.
Has anyone given much thought into the cables situation at all?
My portable battery charges over MicroUSB with a regular USB output, iPhone over Lightning, iPad Pro over USB-C/Thunderbolt. So at a minimum, I'd need at least 3 cables:
- USB-C to USB-C (iPad) (preferably Thunderbolt)
- USB-A to Lightning (iPhone)
- USB-A to MicroUSB (Battery)
The Razer (and many other) charger(s) offer USB-A/C ports, higher power on the USB-C ones presumably. I've seen various reversible/3-in-1 cables out there (e.g. Anker makes one) but I've read they charge very slowly. I don't care about data transfer, but I do care about fast(er) charging without having to carry a million different cables. What are people using to solve the cables problem?
As StuckInYYZ mentioned, native USB-C cables have a number of wires within: each USB-C port has 24 pins on it, though the cable may not use all of them - e.g. USB 2.0 + USB-C cables will normally have only ~6 wires inside (the other wires are indeed for USB 3.x+ speeds)
However, older USB ports & cables (USB A, USB micro B, etc) only have 4 wires within them. The additional 2 wires in native USB 2.0+ USB-C cables are used to negotiate the charging voltage. Without negotiation, charging will be
stuck at 5V, which is what happens to any cable with an older USB male connector on it plugged into an adapter on either end (e.g an adapter for
or for
). The 3-in-1 cables are just that, older cables with 2 female USB mini to USB-C / Lightning adapters permanently attached so they don’t get lost - they can only charge at 5V.
Another reason that charging may be slow is that the cable may not be able to handle 3A charging now the minimum standard for USB-C (but which can go to 5A). If an older USB-C cable, it might only be able to push 1.1A, which means charging is limited to 5.5W (@5V).
Finally, the device itself may not be able to charge faster: older iPhones could only pull 10W, though that is now 18W (9V*3A) for newer phones, same with iPads (and iPad Pros will apparently charge at >30W).
Note, however: as you use a USB-A to Lightning cable, you iPhone is limited to ~12W max charging. A USB-C to lightning cable will move that to 18W max (
[EDIT] oops, or 27W for the 13 Pro Max). You can see the practical speed difference in the first image in this article here:
https://www.macrumors.com/guide/ipho...eeds-compared/
(To be clear, to preserve battery health, most devices charge at their highest capability when the battery is near empty, but slow as it gets 50%-80% full.)
One other option is to buy a USB-C battery pack. Depending on what you’re looking for, there are some out there - I picked up one of NiteCore’s NB series. You could then drop your USB micro cord. You’re stuck with the Lightning cord for iPhone, however; thank Apple for that.
(And I guess you’re planning on using the Razer for laptop charging as well? Else, it’s massive overkill for your current travel tech: iPad Pro’s max ~36W + the iPhone’s ~12W + battery likely similar.
Also, Thunderbolt charging = USB-PD. TB3/TB4 cables are more likely to support 5A charging, though USB-only cables can offer 5A too. In either case, your iPad Pro will max out its charging speed on a 3A cable.)