So I was thinking of adding USBC PD to my ender 3v2 for a off grid setup. Is it possible or have I gone mad with USBC? I know it’s possible with my old monoprice select mini because of its low power requirements.
I would not trust a USB-C cable initially or over time for anything like this. Maybe if you had a very special USB-C connector on the board that is only made for power, but you’ll still have the tiny pin and spacing on the cable side.
The pin pitch for a full USB-C connector is ridiculously small. Like I need to do photolithography to etch that small of a pin pitch reliably near the edge of a board design. The connector pin and pitch is so small it will cost extra from most of the cheap board houses because they have to use a higher precision process too.
Why does it matter? You are wanting to put a ton of power through a tiny wire pin that is super close to other stuff with a solder connection to a tiny sliver of copper. The wire in the cable may or may not be larger, and the trace can get much larger with an infilled pad against the pinned area. Still, no matter what you do, there will always be that tiny pin soldered to a tiny sliver of copper. It is an excellent fuse design.
I wouldn’t do it. I won’t trust any consumer cable either. You need a 5+ digit DMM that has a low enough range to really test what is inside. Don’t trust the feel, stiffness, cable size, branding, or source. You need to know the real DC resistance and calculate how much power it will be dissipating.
What about using a 12v barrel jack with a 12v to 24v step up converter. If I remember properly, I think the ender3 v2 requires 24v to the main board. I might be wrong, it could be 12v.
The main thing to worry about is powering the two heaters. You need to power the bed properly. You can screw around with pretty much everything else. The power needed for the bed is too much to screw around with hacks unless you have a good understand of Maxwell’s equations… IMO.
