2 questions..
Mega 2650 power rated as maximum of +12V.
- Are there problems with using 12V ?
- When powered by 12V, is it okay to also have the USB Type C plugged in ?
Not really. But it depends on what you need to power from the 5V and/or 3.3V pins. The 12V goes through a voltage regulator that reduces the voltage to 5V; this regulator can not deliver a lot of current (due to lack of cooling). If you have the option to use 9V (not a PP3 battery), you'll be better off as less heat will be produced.
An original Arduino Mega (and most clones) does not have an USB-C connector but a plain B type connector. For the standard Mega with the B type connector, it is safe.
If your Mega has an USB-C connector, I would advise to find the schematic of that board.
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There can be, it depends on what else is connected to the board.
The USB type C indicates a lot of things but without a schematic I would not use it. There are some china boards that simply changed the connector and nothing else. Here are the specification, it should answer all of your questions. It even gives pinout and wire sizes. https://www.usb.org/sites/default/files/USB%20Type-C%20Spec%20R2.0%20-%20August%202019.pdf
I am not powering much from the +5V, apart from an LCD display module.
I am using +12V to power my circuit board because I have some peripheral
devices (pneumatic solenoids) that require 12V.
The Arduino boards I have with Type C connection, are indeed Chinese in
origin. I have an original genuine Arduino board as well with the old Type B, USB connector. I will give that a try.
I noticed that with the Type C units, if I had that plugged into my laptop USB,
AND also applied +12V to Vin, then the 5V regulator output on the Arduino
would rise above 5V. This makes me think that the regulator is damaged.
Also on a couple of occassions, my Laptop went into an immediate, and complete, shut down. It would not restart. I had to open the back and press
a little switch on the motherboard. Following that, it restarted normally. So I
guess my laptop (Lenovo Thinkpad X1 Carbon), has a protection device.
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