Hacker Newsnew | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submitlogin

However much current you can draw over your USB socket, it's still only 5V. Many devices want a (far) higher voltage than that for charging or powering themselves. A quick glance at my laptop PSU shows 20V, presumably related to the voltage of several Lithium Ion cells in series.

Yes, a given psu could transform the voltage back up with switchmode, but then you've got the horrible transformation inefficiency twice! I wonder how many devices there are out there that actually want that much current at 5V.



Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: