Librem 14 does not charge from USB C when fully discharged

Hardware
1

As the title says, yesterday I forgot my Librem 14 on suspension and today the battery was dead. Any effort in charging it via USB C has failed, even if it still has enough battery to light the orange led when I trry to power it on. I do not have the original charger anymore unfortunately to test with that, but I am waiting a compatible one that should arrive tomorrow.
I am not sure if this is expected or known behavior, but if it is, the full USB C charging thing is a bit useless is when traveling there could be the need for the other charger.

Did anyone experience the same issue?

2

What are the specifications of the type-C power supply you are trying to use?

PS: Or let’s put it this way, the charger must be able provide at least 19V output voltage and at least 45W, but rather more, like 65W+.

Cheers
nicole

1 Like
3

Hello, thanks for your reply. I read most of previous discussions and bought the charger accordingly.

The charger is 19V 65W. specifically this one https://us.anker.com/products/a2663

The cable is in theory 100W capable, specifically this one https://us.anker.com/products/a8758

Charging was working fine and at normal pace before the full dischareg happened. The charger still succesfully charges other USB C devices of similar power needs.

4

Do you have the latest EC firmware?

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5

It is hard to tell now since the PC is not powering up. Last time I updated was around 3-5 of January.

6

Don’t you have a standard charger as well?

7

Well I lost it and got the USB C one since it is more portable and lighter for traveling. I have ordered a compatible replacement of the classic one now and I hope to be able to get it by tomorrow.

8

“In addition to the PD3.0 fast charging, this power supply also supports common fast charging protocols in the market, such as APPLE2.4A, Samsung 5V2A, DCP, QC2.0, QC3.0, QC4+.” So which one it negotiates with Librem14 when its built-in battery empty we can only guess, but guessing only will not help us to get out of this power supply needed PD coding that provides 20V3.25A (as advertised there), to turn this laptop on? Also as here related power supply doesn’t provide any significant cooling …

… and certainly not supporting recommended power of 90W (or at least more than 65W for six cores) I doubt it is really usable for any prolonged purpose/usage with Librem14 (just another guess of mine here).

Anyway perhaps leaving this Anker power supply connected for more than 30 minutes helps to turn on your laptop afterwards, if and when battery reaches certain/minimal charging level (%)?

9

My understanding was that going over 65W was not really useful at the moment. The EC support fast charge, but it is disabled by default. The standard power supply is 65W too and even if fast charge was available, I never felt the need for it. Plus fast charge on the long term shortens battery life.
I used the Anker charger for a month until now and did not seem slower than the one included with the Librem, but never ran any metrics because I did not care.

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10

Yes, it is: 19.2V/3.42A.

For the fully compatible purpose (even to power on your laptop when its battery at 0%) you’d like to achieve (by preserving optimal/healthier laptop battery charging speed) below USB-C to DC PD cable (as 20V trigger option) should be useful with here mentioned Anker power supply:

11

Thanks, I did not even know those cables existed and could work. I will get one :slight_smile:

Leaving the Librem 14 plugged in all night somehow worked. At power on, the battery was still 0% but got enough seconds to power on and start charging. It is now on and charging normally from 0%. Not sure what changed since yesterday honestly …

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