PPM does not charge with Google Pixel 5V/3A USB-C PD charger

The Philips PPM projector does not charge with a Huawei 5V/3A USB-C PD charger from a Google Pixel 3 XL. Google has led the way in the industry for ensuring that chargers and cables are fully compatible with the PD spec, and they extensively test all devices they release for compatibility with the spec, so if the PPM does not work with this charger, probably the PPM is not compliant with the spec.

Pretty sure it’s not powerful enough though at just 15w. There are a number of threads here that talk about the need for 45w or so.

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Ah, I assumed the power brick in the box was operating at 5V/3A, since that seems to be the most common combination for USB-C devices today. The surprising thing though is that it won’t even charge with this voltage and current. Maybe it only supports power delivery in a higher voltage mode.

Yes, 15W (5V/3A) is pretty low even in Energy Mode.
Power Delivery is a complex technology. There are various watts (W-A) that it supports.
And apparently, not all PD chargers works on PPM. Probably a handshake thing that doesn’t happen.

PPM ignores my 9V2A Google charger as well. We don’t have confirmation of charging voltage requirements yet but my 15V3A Google charger works fine. Presumably it’s picky for the sake of being able to run the actual projection engine off the supplied power.

It is 15V, not 5V input to the PPM. Yes the USB-PD standard should make most adapters compatible but in this case the adapter is simply too small. I can’t charge my MacBookPro with a standard 5V charger either.

The USB-PD doesn’t state that you have to support every charger, even though it’s recommended to support as many as possible. In this case the PPM apparently needs at least 15V (not sure yet why 20V doesn’t seem to be supported), because the battery charger doesn’t seem to include a boost circuitry (only buck) so charging voltage always has to be above the battery charging voltage (13.05V for 3S HV cells).

Edit: I just wanted to add that the 5V/3A mode doesn’t even require PD communication to take place, the 5V/500 or 900mA, 5V/1.5A and 5V/3A are all possible to negotiate using just resistors on the CC pins, no PD modem required.

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Thanks, that’s a very informative answer @wernerj!

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