Hello,
I am working on a project that requires 12V (steppers) and a USB connection for my arduino...
Do you know of any breakout board that will have a USB-C connector on one end, and 12V + 5V + USB on the other hand?
The aim here, of course is to be able to power my project with a single USB-C cable from the computer instead of a separate power cable + USB cable to computer.
Thanks,
Cyrille
Depending on the size of your motor (and USB output) you may not be able to power it from the USB.
Search on boost converter for converting from +5 to +12.
Hello,
Unfortunately, my Nema 17 needs around 5W per phase, and I have 2 of them. So 20W...
Normal USB is limited to 900mA@5V = 4.5W.
Charger USB tend to go up to 1.5~2A@5V = 7.5~10W
So, I want to use USB-C where I can "ask" for 20W @ 12V...
However, the "boards" that I find "take" the USB-C connecter and just return 12V... No data...
I am looking for a breakout board that is, in essence a small USB-C hub with 12V + 5V out + data (if possible one USB3 and 1 or 2 USB 2)...
Basically the "inside" of something like this: https://fr.aliexpress.com/item/1005005859606670.html
but with an extra 12V output..
Are you looking for a creative way to roast your laptop?
Hello,
Frying my PC? No, why would I 
This is what I need to do...
One "box" with one USB-C in, one USB3 out and an arduino
There is no reason why this would not work....
The issue is to find breakout boards that would allow to do it...
Cyrille
hi,
It looks like you are trying to achieve something that can't be done this simple. You can use a step up module to get 12 volts, but getting 20 watts of power might not be doable with only a USB type C cable. I would suggest using a different power source if you need this much power
Hello,
Using a step up module assumes that I am getting power from USB 5V, which, with USB3.0 is limited to 0.9A@5V...
One of the advantages of USB-C is it's Power Delivery protocol which will allow a device to negotiate with the computer how much power it want, and how it will be delivered...
My Laptop will happily deliver 35W @ 15V if you ask him...
One could use a CH224K chip to request said 35W...
BUT, the breakout boards that have such chip are "power only"... They do not include a "passthrough" on the USB...
So, I am looking for something with:
The circuit is VERY simple in theory. But doing it on a breadboard is unrealistic as the high speed USB will not work well in these cases..
Making my own PCB is in theory possible... But it's 5 parts MOQ with a significant cost 
Plus it would probably take a couple of iterations to make it work properly... HW is not that easy!
In essence, I disagree with you when you say "it can't be done that simply"... I think that it is simple... But it's technically not possible to do it as a hobyist "on the cheap" for a one off...
BTW, USB-C (with the proper cable) can deliver 120W, and the next gen is 240W! (My laptop charges with a 120W USB-C adapter)...
Cyrille
Hi,
I wasn't aware of the fact that you could use higher voltages on the USB type C. if you can make your laptop deliver enough power and send data, than it could be possible.
you can use a usb c breakout board and use a step down module to get 5 volts. you can probably find a usb hub module somewhere and hook it up to the data wires and to the 5 volts.
Waht about tis one?
Hello,
Yep, I already have such cables...
My issue is that I need power AND data at the same time...
They are tons of sollution for each, but no solutions that provide both at the same time
With regard to sending power and data at the same time, USB-C docking station, which typically use USB-C from computer to station will deliver power to the computer and allow the computer to connect to screens (up to 3) and various USB 3 devices... So here is a typical example of power + data on the same USB cable... However, the power, in this case, flows the other way around (from hub to PC)... but it does not change anything from an electronic interference point of view.
Cyrille
I don't think that such kind of product is sold anywhere. You can make a pretty cheap PCB in China and let them place the components. It would be about as expensive as a similair 5V usb hub. You just need to have the time and knowledge to make a PCB
I don't think the laptop has a PD-OUT. It might have PD-IN.
If his laptop can deliver the power like he stated here, it should be possible
Hello,
Most PC (laptops or other) will have PD in and out (out being used for things like charging mobile phones)... How much power they can deliver is quite variable... But I have a PD interrogater tool that tells me...
"You can make a pretty cheap PCB in China and let them place the components. It would be about as expensive as a similair 5V usb hub. You just need to have the time and knowledge to make a PCB"
And here lies the problem... We are talking here about 2 difficult items: Power electronics and high speed data trails...
Both require more than just electronic "architecture" knowledge... They require PCB design knowledge as you don't just throw the components on the PCB just like that...
And I do NOT have that knowlege I have enough knowledge to know that I don't know Hence asking in a group like this...
I could "TRY", and it would cost me around 50€ for 5 PCB (after fees for extended components, shipping...) and the first version would most likely not work correctly... needing a 2nd version for another 50...
Hence tring to find a breakout board that will do it for me
If it does not exist, someone out to make one!
Cyrille
Is this what you need? I may take a look into it this is possible.
Hello,
Verry close. I am looking at this (at least as I understand)...
As far as I can can tell, after opening a hub like this one: https://fr.aliexpress.com/item/1005005859606670.html you can connect a "hub" in series between a USB-3 in and USB3 out port this way... which is prety cool...
The chip that they are using in this hub is a 16 pin chip, but I can not read the marking on it
The CH224K connects directly to the USB-C PD pins of the USB-C connector
One issue is that the v-bus from the USB C starts at 5V, and then, after PD (if successful) will jump to 12 or 15V depending on the setting (12 is an optional, 15 is normally everywhere, so 15 is better)...
But what happen when the voltage is only 5V will the 15->5V regulator drop the voltage under 5V at this point? does it need a bypass until this happens?
Anyhow, I hope this makes sense and if you do indeed end up creating a PCB for it (for which I would be VERY gratefull!) I will definitely buy you a beer
Cyrille
Hi,
i've taken a look and I might be able to design this kind of circuit, but it will be more difficult than it looks. I can't use that the CH224K, because that IC uses a USB2.0 dataline, which need to come through the USB hub, which won't be powered when the CH224K doesn't have that powerline connected. There are multiple different options, but it becomes more difficult with either ICs that need a microcontroller or ICs that are out-of-stock everywhere. I will take a more indepth look into it tomorrow.
Hello,
Looking briefly at the CH224K, it seems that the Data lines are not compulsory...
Alternatively the CH221K does not require them at all.
I do not know why the CH224K needs the data lines, as far as I know PD only needs the 2 dedicated PD lines...
I will have to read more to understand..
I found this page to be very interesting as a beginner : All About USB-C: Power Delivery | Hackaday
Cyrille
Hi,
I totally missed this part in the datasheet
The D+ and D- can be just be shorted together.
Is there any reason why you need the USB3.0? From a design perspective, this is way more difficult to make than just USB2.0. I can do USB2.0 just on a 2 layer PCB, but with USB 3.0 I need to go with a 4 layer board, what will be more expensive.
And maybe the most important question, do you need more than 1 USB outputs, because not having a USB hub makes the problem way easier.
Hello,
Well, yes, I do need a USB3 port.
I want to replace/simplify my telescope control system...
This is my V1...
In the more general picture of the setup a little lower on the page, you can see the whole setup.
There is a camera (red stuff), connected to the computer using a back USB3 cable (with a red scribely highlight). This is USB3 as there is quite some data going through...
The arduino board is also connected to the PC using a USB2 cable (blue scribely here).
And has an external 12V power (brown scribely, in fact a USB charger to 12V converter)...
All this is in mouvement... And with this many cables... it's not great!
So the aim is to have the camera connected to the arduino system using the bold red line. and the arduino system to the PC using USB-C in the bold blue line and have the other cables disapear...
So, do I need USB3? yes in order to get the camera throughput...
Do I need an extra USB2? Yes, for the arduino...
I hope this makes sense..
Now, looking at this USB 3 -> USB-3+4*USB-2 hub (2 layer PCB BTW), you can see that the setup has the USB3 lines going directly from input to the USB3 output and the chip takes the 2 USB2 lines from input and generates 4 USB2 lines which are used for the 3 USB2 port and the USB2 lines on the USB3 port...
The information on the net is non-conclusive, BUT, knowing that I will be using ONLY USB3 items on the USB output and ONLY USB2 for the arduino, it is possible that the inbound USB3 dataline might be able to be sent to the outbound USB3 and the 2 USB2 data line used by arduino without the need for a hub chip... This would need to be tested... and I don't really know how to do it (hacking a USB3 extention is my plan A)...
But if this worked, it would help implement a simpler system without the hub!
