News New small (GaN) 300W power brick

While GaN chargers are (very) rare about 65W or so (because there's a 72W cutoff in EU for simple designs) https://www.navitassemi.com/navitas-enables-worlds-smallest-adapter-for-worlds-fastest-laptop/ Navitas just released a 300W GaN laptop brick. Look at these photos: http://www.chargerlab.com/asus-made-the-worlds-first-300w-gan-charger-for-its-monster-laptop/


MOD EDIT: Added photo for News Feed. Image Credit - Autsin Evans

 

[Stevo_]

I've posted a couple of times about that very charger over in the new toys thread - good to see there are more people here discovering it! I'm laughing at that ebay listing though, tacking on the completely unrelated Xiaomi brand for ...SEO? Nonetheless a very good GaN charger

I have a feeling they may ship under that name as well, have seen ZMI too. It appears they are all probably made by gansemi in Shenzhen as they list all those brands.

Finding that adapter cable made the sale for me though.

 

[Valantar]

I have a feeling they may ship under that name as well, have seen ZMI too. It appears they are all probably made by gansemi in Shenzhen as they list all those brands.

Finding that adapter cable made the sale for me though.

I've just bought a bunch of PD negotiator boards off AliExpress so I can roll my own Some fixed voltage (got some 12V and some 20V) and some that let you choose the voltage (5/9/12/15/20V) by pressing a button. Very useful!

 

[chx]

I am mod over at /r/usbchardware and a regular reader of /r/thinkpad and the reports about these noname PD triggers are typically on the negative. Lenovo has https://support.lenovo.com/us/en/accessories/acc500104 search for 4X90U45346 it's now easily available but 45W only.

 

[Stevo_]

I am mod over at /r/usbchardware and a regular reader of /r/thinkpad and the reports about these noname PD triggers are typically on the negative. Lenovo has https://support.lenovo.com/us/en/accessories/acc500104 search for 4X90U45346 it's now easily available but 45W only.

Posted this on my HP thread.

Got one of these USB Type C power meters to check on things, was surprised at less than 20V, so measured at the board and 12.93V there so reading seems reasonable allowing ~1V for 6ft of cable drop. Removed the meter to see if it was interfering with the chip function, but reading at mobo remained at 12.93V. I need to looks at the PD spec, it's possible the higher voltage is a demand type thing. Even at the low voltage I've had no issues yet. Mobo is probably OK at 12V, have seen the power spike to ~30+ W. Meter even has a cumulative mAh reading if your running off a power bank.

 

[Valantar]

Posted this on my HP thread.

Got one of these USB Type C power meters to check on things, was surprised at less than 20V, so measured at the board and 12.93V there so reading seems reasonable allowing ~1V for 6ft of cable drop. Removed the meter to see if it was interfering with the chip function, but reading at mobo remained at 12.93V. I need to looks at the PD spec, it's possible the higher voltage is a demand type thing. Even at the low voltage I've had no issues yet. Mobo is probably OK at 12V, have seen the power spike to ~30+ W. Meter even has a cumulative mAh reading if your running off a power bank.

Are you using one of those type-C PD to barrel jack adapters? AFAIK those should be fixed voltage (unless yours has a voltage selector button like some of my DIY boards). It can't (logically at least) negotiate voltage based on load as that would require a device capable of very wide input voltage range (not a reasonable assumption to make, most laptops and similar devices have a range of a few volts) and also some kind of communication through the barrel jack to ask for an increase/decrease in voltage. USB-C PD does support 5, 9, 12, 15 and 20V, so if I were you I would make sure the adapter you bought isn't a lower voltage model.

My various adapters (some fixed voltage, some variable through a button press) all output the correct voltage even with nothing connected to them (measured at the PCB output with a multimeter).

 

[Stevo_]

Are you using one of those type-C PD to barrel jack adapters? AFAIK those should be fixed voltage (unless yours has a voltage selector button like some of my DIY boards). It can't (logically at least) negotiate voltage based on load as that would require a device capable of very wide input voltage range (not a reasonable assumption to make, most laptops and similar devices have a range of a few volts) and also some kind of communication through the barrel jack to ask for an increase/decrease in voltage. USB-C PD does support 5, 9, 12, 15 and 20V, so if I were you I would make sure the adapter you bought isn't a lower voltage model.

My various adapters (some fixed voltage, some variable through a button press) all output the correct voltage even with nothing connected to them (measured at the PCB output with a multimeter).

Reading some PD info the voltage can depend on the negotiation based on power draw, so if draw is less than 45W the output voltage would be 15V. This is based on the chip at the type-c end of the cable negotiation äs shown in graph. It should, be easy to test by running a high core load task though it may still not exceed 45w, since the cable was meant for a laptop the lowest it'll likely request is 15V.

Edit. Tried Prime95 plus Heaven can only get to something less than 40W output drops slightly to 14.9V occasionally. When the PC is off the meter still shows it requesting 15V so that is definitely the minimum.

 

[Valantar]

Reading some PD info the voltage can depend on the negotiation based on power draw, so if draw is less than 45W the output voltage would be 15V. This is based on the chip at the type-c end of the cable negotiation äs shown in graph. It should, be easy to test by running a high core load task though it may still not exceed 45w, since the cable was meant for a laptop the lowest it'll likely request is 15V.

Edit. Tried Prime95 plus Heaven can only get to something less than 40W output drops slightly to 14.9V occasionally. When the PC is off the meter still shows it requesting 15V so that is definitely the minimum.

That sounds borderline dangerous to me, but I guess 15V is close enough to 19V that most laptops would deal reasonably well with it. I still don't get why they would do this though - maybe it is to improve conversion efficiency at low loads? I get that running 20V at less than 1A probably isn't very efficient, but it seems like a good way to unnecessarily stress the VRM in the receiving device nonetheless.

 

[Stevo_]

That sounds borderline dangerous to me, but I guess 15V is close enough to 19V that most laptops would deal reasonably well with it. I still don't get why they would do this though - maybe it is to improve conversion efficiency at low loads? I get that running 20V at less than 1A probably isn't very efficient, but it seems like a good way to unnecessarily stress the VRM in the receiving device nonetheless.

This PC is only drawing a couple of watts at idle(seeing 0.15A typically). I think as a charger function it probably is more efficient, but using as a main power source not as much maybe.

 

[Valantar]

This PC is only drawing a couple of watts at idle(seeing 0.15A typically). I think as a charger function it probably is more efficient, but using as a main power source not as much maybe.

I would think that regardless of the device connected any efficiency gained in the AC/DC adapter by outputting a higher amperage at a lower voltage would be cancelled out by the voltage converters in the PC having to work outside of their sweet spot. Oh well. As long as nothing dies I guess there's no reason to complain.

 

[Stevo_]

This PC is only drawing a couple of watts at idle(seeing 0.15A typically). I think as a charger function it probably is more efficient, but using as a main power source not as much maybe.

I have one of these IOGEAR docks on the desk for my work laptop used for screen sharing thru the type-c connector plus PD usage gonna try that, it has ability to deliver 85W on the PD passthru, plus can try the raw supply.

https://www.iogear.com/product/GUD3C02B/

EDit: Would need female to female adapter, re-checked cable from sellers site, could be wrong or else the PD negotiation is actually working. May try my i3770K but need to rig that up with a 19v HDPLEX I have, currently using a 12V picopsu

Output voltage: 19V output power: 90W
Fits for HP Laptop, Portable DVD audio/video device etc.

 

[Stevo_]

Finally got a chance to try this setup out on my i3770K system using an old 250W HDplex DCDC, this unit still showed 15.V in off state, but at the same time I hit the power button, the inline meter showed DC dropped to under 9V, PC shutdown and supply came back up to 15.3V. Still waiting on another barrel adapter to try, but I'd say this cable induction chip is setup incorrectly.

Edit: The new adapter came in and I plugged into my Baseus 100W type-C male-male cable, output read 9V before plugging into the HP Prodesk, then went to 15.3V again, adapter has "18.5V" molded right onto it. Will attempt to run cpu/GPU benchmarks but don't think that'll get it up high enough but won't be able to run the i3770K again til after I move.

Edit2: Tried the meter plus adapter setup with my IOGEAR PD unit , oddly that settles in sightly higher on ~15.6V, still no 19V however this PC even running Heaven plus Prime95 simultaneously only has ~15W draw.

Edit3 - Tried my workplace Thinkpad Carbon X1 which draws almost 2A but still get the 15.xV, also tried at owrk from the adaptor that came with the unit. Nice thing was the meter confirmed my Wavtek IO extender is toast 4V output.

Everything I've tried from 3 ACDC Type-C supplies seems to confirm the PD negotiation is taking place, the meter supports 5-30V up to 5A, GC2.0 and QC3.0.

 

[Mackan]

No further development or news about a 300W GaN hitting the market?

 

[Analogue Blacksheep]

Ditto, any more developments? There is this 300W brick here from Adapter Tech which seems to be much smaller than my Dell 330W one.

 

[REVOCCASES]

Ditto, any more developments? There is this 300W brick here from Adapter Tech which seems to be much smaller than my Dell 330W one.

Only found this, with MOQ 500 pcs.

Medical Power Supply With Regulated Output And Low Ripple Noise - Buy 医用电源、高质量的医疗，gan Fet电源 Product on Alibaba.com

Medical Power Supply With Regulated Output And Low Ripple Noise , Find Complete Details about Medical Power Supply With Regulated Output And Low Ripple Noise,医用电源、高质量的医疗，gan Fet电源 from Power Adapters Supplier or Manufacturer-IKANO INTERNATIONAL CO., LTD.

chinese.alibaba.com

This seems to be the older version without GaN

ATM300T-P120

The compact medical grade AC/DC desktop adapter is characterized by an excellent price-performance ratio, high energy efficiency according to current standards (CEC Level VI) and extensive international medical approvals. The isolation...

www.bicker.de

If you need something smaller than DELL you might also have a look to Gurys slim brick or my BRICKMOD500.

 

[chx]

I found something that suspiciously looks like the brick in question https://www.ipc-computer.de/notebook-ersatzteile/netzteile/-0a001-00960000 with a delivery time approx. 3–8 weeks and it only costs 670 EUR, a basement bargain. The price precluded me from enquiring further.

 

[Stevo_]

I found something that suspiciously looks like the brick in question https://www.ipc-computer.de/notebook-ersatzteile/netzteile/-0a001-00960000 with a delivery time approx. 3–8 weeks and it only costs 670 EUR, a basement bargain. The price precluded me from enquiring further.

48V too. Only flex size supplies I've are 48V as apparently the network gear is going that way for more efficient power distribution.

On another note the Baseus brick I bought has a quirk when using the highest power type-c usb where it charges unit connected to 100% then proceeds to completely drain it.

 

[Valantar]

48V too. Only flex size supplies I've are 48V as apparently the network gear is going that way for more efficient power distribution.

On another note the Baseus brick I bought has a quirk when using the highest power type-c usb where it charges unit connected to 100% then proceeds to completely drain it.

It says Asus, and IIRC Asus uses a compact 48V brick for one of their Zephyrus laptops to make it more portable.

 

[Analogue Blacksheep]

Of interest: https://www.navitassemi.com/navitas-enables-worlds-smallest-adapter-for-worlds-fastest-laptop/

Seems like the company who made the original GaN Asus charger is called Navitas.

 

[REVOCCASES]

the 300W 19V eval board is already available for some time. Just need to put it in a nice small enclosure to turn it into a brick ...

https://www.mouser.de/ProductDetail/GaN-Systems/GS-EVB-ACDC-300W-ON?qs=vHuUswq2%252BszROsOn4Vtozg%3D%3D

Also here is the 24V from adapter-tech which should work with HDplex

300watt 24v GaN Switching Power Adapter

300watt 24v GaN Switching Power Adapter What is GaN? Gallium Nitride is a stable wide bandgap semiconductor material with high heat capacity and thermal conductivity, Gallium nitride has demonstrated the capability to be the displacement technology for silicon semiconductors in power conversion...

www.coolgear.com

The company MEGA Electronics is also working on some gan bricks:

MEGA Electronics is pleased to announce the launch of GaN FET power supplies | MEGA ELECTRONICS, INC.

megaelectronics.com

 

[MartinE]

Of interest: https://www.navitassemi.com/navitas-enables-worlds-smallest-adapter-for-worlds-fastest-laptop/

Seems like the company who made the original GaN Asus charger is called Navitas.

This is incorrect, Navitas is fabless, they only design and sell the GaN chips. The press release says that Navitas and nVidia made the reference design for the charger. Navitas helps customers design products with their chips, and the customers manufacture the end-products. Just like intel doesn't make the "intel inside" PCs.

There is also a 200W dual rail USB-C wallwart charger on kickstarter with Navitas GaN chips: