USB C Charging Question

Agileduck on 03/07/2025 - 16:14

Hello bargainers, I wanted to relay a bad experience I had this morning while charging a laptop. I really want to learn from this in case I did anything wrong.

TLDR; charger went caput!

The charger was a near new Anker PowerPort 3 65w. It has IQ branding on it. I had used this charger a few times on a low power Chromebook. Today I connected for the first time to a used MacBook Pro I just purchased (no charger). The laptop had about 50% battery and I was only doing light web browsing. After about 30 mins the burning smell and circuit breaker tripped together. The charger is dead, luckily the MacBook seems fine.

So yes the MacBook needs a 100w charger to charge properly, andI think for whatever reason took that from the charger. However I was under the impression from prior research that the charger would just supply its 65w and the MacBook would slowly lose power but still get some charge.

So I’m not sure if I did the wrong thing or the charger was faulty. Please help me understand what happened as I’m pretty scared of doing any charging now!!

Computing Anker USB Charger

Comments

  • mskeggs on 03/07/2025 - 16:39
    +2

    It sounds like the charger was faulty. You should return it for a refund or replacement.
    I probably wouldn’t get too scared about charging.

    • Agileduck on 04/07/2025 - 14:38

      Thank you, yes I’m thinking it was faulty now.

  • Ynk on 03/07/2025 - 16:52
    +1

    You did nothing wrong, faulty charger. You can even use a 20W USB-C charger with the MacBook Pro (it will charge if it's not in use very slowly or reduce the rate the battery drains if in use). I use a 65W Anker with mine when travelling due to the form factor.

    • Agileduck on 04/07/2025 - 14:38

      Thank you, yes I think I’ll just use 100w from now on just to be sure :)

  • n3ck3ntry8bort0rgasm on 03/07/2025 - 20:38

    what cable did you use?

    • Agileduck on 04/07/2025 - 14:38

      I bought a 100w one. But yes with the wrong one it could have caused a problem.

      • n3ck3ntry8bort0rgasm on 04/07/2025 - 19:02

        tbh I'm not an expert, but I read something about some cheap USB-C cables sending power over data lines, as well as power lines. as a cost saving way of only needing to use thinner wires for the power lines.

        some devices are fine with this, but I also heard more premium devices actually use data lines to communicate with charger. maybe apple is one of those brands. tbh if I had a macbook I would use the included cable and charger only, or take the cable everywhere at least.

        seems like the macbook had some kind of protection inside, to prevent damage. but I would be worried about both cheap cables and chargers.

        also look up "E marker chip". 60W max cables and under are all dumb cables, they don't need any communication. but above 60W (as you said you have, starting with 100W) cables need a special chip inside called E marker. this allows communication and proper negotiation of 100W. if it doesn't have this chip, or they claim to have it, but cable uses some cheap workaround, could cause problems.

  • BewareOfThe Dog on 03/07/2025 - 21:38
    +1

    Definitly issue with the charger.

    Where did you get it from?

    I purchased a 'genuine Asus' charger 12 years ago off Ebay. After 3/4 weeks I could smell it burning and it melted. Another time, I had 2 x 'genuine HP' chargers. One died, however the serial number was the same as the other one.
    Also, you can't trust Amazon. I've had 2 products turn up with non-insulated pins on the cord, which has been illegal in
    Australia for 20 years.

    • Agileduck on 04/07/2025 - 14:37

      I got it from Anker eBay store. I’m not sure if it’s the real one but it looks real.

  • Potatohead82 on 04/07/2025 - 08:41

    Funny enough, used a similar charger to charge my macbook pro, and it doesn't charge, and the charger gets really hot. I gave up on the idea to use it for my laptop, and only use official charger. Did you get the charger from Amazon? ebay? Can you return it?

    • Agileduck on 04/07/2025 - 14:36
      +1

      I would avoid using that one :D it was from Anker eBay, but looking back bought in 2022. So maybe no warranty

      • BewareOfThe Dog on 04/07/2025 - 19:26

        Maybe best to buy a genuine one, or an equivalent Belkin from a Bricks and Mortar store, to play safe.

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