USB Power Delivery (USB-PD) is a specification for high-power charging of phones, tablets and laptop computers. Conventional USB power adapters of yesteryear could slowly trickle charge at a few Watts, while USB-PD can potentially deliver up to 100 Watts (and up to 240W in the latest revision).

What makes this a “hacks” guide is that we’d like to use this for more than powering phones and computers. Inexpensive and ubiquitous USB-A chargers and power banks have proven useful for powering small DIY electronic projects, and USB-PD allows us to take these ideas to the next level.

Some unconventional uses for USB-PD have included:

• Retrofitting vintage computers and A/V gear — substituting bulky or hard-to-find wall-wart power supplies with USB-PD equivalents, and/or replacing lead-acid or NiCd batteries with long-running alternatives.
• Large-scale portable NeoPixel projects, such as Burning Man art bikes and increasingly elaborate costumes.
• Offbeat projects — cyberdecks, social robots and so forth.
• Portable fans for travel and camping.

There are other solutions for each of these, either ready-made or custom. One might delve into the incendiary world of RC batteries…which are usually designed for competitive racing and may lack even basic safety features. Working with an established standard and off-the-shelf products can make things safer, more economical, interchangeable, and still be a useful thing for charging phones and tablets.

To the average consumer for the average use case, USB-PD is simple: plug in phone and it charges quickly. Easy!

Behind the scenes though, for the unconventional uses we’d like to try, USB-PD is full of special cases and “gotchas.” That’s what this guide is about.

Simpler Alternatives

Before we go off in the weeds, not every offbeat project requires USB-PD. For smaller tasks requiring less current, simple and inexpensive DC booster cables operate from ubiquitous USB-A ports, with a DC barrel jack at the business end. Plug, play, done!