Has Anyone Managed to Run Their Mini PC From a Power Bank?

[Marko]

The charger on my AM06 PRO is 65W (real consumption is 15W, with spikes at start up up to 38W), so I bought a power bank capable of outputting 65W, but the mini PC wouldn't start when connected to the power bank.

I think it may be because the AMO6 demands 19V (what its charger is rated at), but the power bank is only capable of outputting modes that are standard for USB Type-C, which are 5V, 9V, 12V, 15V and 20V.

So the power bank is strong enough (capable of 65W and 20V) but the PC only works on 19V.

I was thinking if there is some way to convert the 20V power bank output to 19V before feeding it to the PC. But I'm not sure that would work either. The power bank has 5 different modes it can output, how would it know that it needs to output 20V for me to convert to 19V?

Bottom line: Has anyone been able to run their mini PC From a power bank, and how did you do it? What kind of power bank did you use? Did you need to use any converters?

[cackletinkle]

i know it's not the same mini pc but i think it uses the same 19V brick. I was trying to get the USB-c power to work on my AMR5/5800U and it was running at 19.64-20.16V. Although i didn't try with a power bank, i tried 2 GaN PD chargers rated for 65W but they only worked temporarily and then the device powered off.

Can your power bank actually deliver 3.25A+ @ 20V? I did see my mini PC peak at 65-70W so that could be why your mini PC won't start..

[Marko]

Can your power bank actually deliver 3.25A+ @ 20V?

Yes, it can.

[Marko]

I asked the same question on Reddit and a small discussion was started:



Bottom line is if you're hoping to run a mini PC from a power bank in an emergency you're much better of getting one that runs on 20 or 12V.

Mini PC Union shaping the power input connector in the shape of a USB C is deceptive. It's not an actual USB C PD connector and internally and lacks ANY of the standard USB C PD modes (5V, 9V, 12V, 15V and 20V). It's just a regular 19V (and 19V ISN'T a USB C standard) laptop connector shaped as a USB C. Even your USB C GaN charger won't work.

[barry777]

If you want to maintain continuous power supply, it is recommended to use the original power adapter; specifications: input 100~240V 50/60Hz; output 19V/3.42A

[hsehestedt]

20V is not the problem. That is close enough to 19V that it will work just fine. The problem is this:

Most power banks don't have a setup amount of current that they can supply to any one given port. They can change the amount of power that is distributed between the various outputs.

Let's use an example:

I have one power bank that can output a total of 100W. If I plug in a device to only one of the USB-C ports, it can output that full 100W to that port. If I now plug in another device to a second port on the power bank, then it will limit that USB-C port to 65W.

The power bank will check connected devices on a regular basis. With the particular power bank that I am using, it makes adjustments at one minute after I plug0in my mini-PC and for a brief moment this cuts power to the mini PC cause a shutdown. On a laptop this would be no problem because the battery in the laptop will kick in for that brief moment, but the mini PC hates this .

The same thing is often true for multi-port USB power supplies.

As a result, I have found that the best results are obtained when using either a USB power supply (charger) or power bank that has a SINGLE output port, thus eliminating the need for any attempts to redistribute power between ports.

NOTE: You can sometimes find weird workarounds. Again, as an example, if I take my power bank, and plug in the mini-pc and another device. Power on the second device but leave the mini PC OFF for a minimum of 1 minute, then the power bank already has the USB-C port limited to 65W and won't try to redistribute power later. So, now I can turn on the mini PC and it will work just fine. It's awkward and not something I would normally want to deal with, but I guess in an emergency it could be done.

[Marko]

20V is not the problem. That is close enough to 19V that it will work just fine. The problem is this:

Most power banks don't have a setup amount of current that they can supply to any one given port. They can change the amount of power that is distributed between the various outputs.

Let's use an example:

I have one power bank that can output a total of 100W. If I plug in a device to only one of the USB-C ports, it can output that full 100W to that port. If I now plug in another device to a second port on the power bank, then it will limit that USB-C port to 65W.

The power bank will check connected devices on a regular basis. With the particular power bank that I am using, it makes adjustments at one minute after I plug0in my mini-PC and for a brief moment this cuts power to the mini PC cause a shutdown. On a laptop this would be no problem because the battery in the laptop will kick in for that brief moment, but the mini PC hates this .

The same thing is often true for multi-port USB power supplies.

As a result, I have found that the best results are obtained when using either a USB power supply (charger) or power bank that has a SINGLE output port, thus eliminating the need for any attempts to redistribute power between ports.

NOTE: You can sometimes find weird workarounds. Again, as an example, if I take my power bank, and plug in the mini-pc and another device. Power on the second device but leave the mini PC OFF for a minimum of 1 minute, then the power bank already has the USB-C port limited to 65W and won't try to redistribute power later. So, now I can turn on the mini PC and it will work just fine. It's awkward and not something I would normally want to deal with, but I guess in an emergency it could be done.

No that is not the problem. The power bank is perfectly capable outputting 65W through the USB C if nothing else is plugged in, which was the case. The PC only draws 15W, with a 2-second surge to just 38W during start up.

The problem is actually that the AM06 has a USB C shaped power input, but doesn't have any USB C negotiation to tell the power bank that it desires 19V. When that is the case the battery is set up to output power at its lowest possible voltage mode of 5V (for safety reasons so as not to accidentally fry electronics that can not handle higher voltages), which of course is not nearly enough to start up AM06.

This will also prevent the PC from working with GaN USB C chargers. The only possibility would be finding a battery that can be set to output 19-20V manually, and doesn't rely on USB C communication protocols.

Accidentally this also means that the fact that the power input is USB C shaped is useless. In fact it is worse than useless, since it is much easier to find a 19V replacement adapter with a DC jack output rather than one that is a DC jack output mechanically but is USB C shaped as in the case of AM06. It's a poor design choice and arguably misleading to the consumer.

[hsehestedt]

Something else to look for: I am not certain about the AM06 in particular, but several of the Mini PCs actually use 12V, not 19V. 12V is not a common voltage that many USC-C adapters or power banks will negotiate. For example, I have about 15 different models of power banks and USB-C chargers and only 2 of them are capable of negotiating 12V.

[barry777]

The power interface of AM06 Pro is a USB-C type interface and does not support the PD protocol. Recommended power link: https://a.co/d/1v9Jbjh

[smldmr]

I had the sameissue with AM6pro when I used my displays UCB-C port to power it. The display can handle 65W but the PC randomly powered off. Now I'm using the original PSU for power and the front USB-C for display