Charging through USB on a flight

[aviography]

Many airplanes have an USB port on the back of the seat now although not all airplanes have the plug-in for the A/C adaptor.

I've seen people using the USB port to connect to their Blackberry, presumably to charge the Blackberry, and I've been told the iPod can be charged through this USB port on the seat back as well.

Can the T60 be charged through this USB port? Or the USB provides very low current and would not be able to keep up with the consumption rate? Although any charging is better than no charging at all!

Thanks

[rkawakami]

I don't know of any laptop that is able to be charged through the USB port. USB provides a small amount of power (5V, 500mA) to the devices that are connected to it; cell phones, MP3 players, mouse, keyboards, etc. It's not meant to receive power.

[aviography]

Good point! I had not realized the USB is only 5V, which is unsuitable to charge laptop battery pack.

[eyestrain]

hmmm, it might be possible to make a device to convert the 5v to 12v, and from the usb shape into the car cig lighter shape. Then, you plug in a travel charger. Might not be enough current for that to work. If the travel charger is willing to charge very slowly when given extremely low current, and the battery is willing to accept that, then it could work. Maybe. Or if the airplane plugs are willing to provide high current, such as for those who use hubs... unlikely.

[rkawakami]

Here's a good resource for the next time you are planning that long flight: http://www.seatguru.com/articles/in-sea ... _power.php

Click the name of the airline in the left column of that page and you will get a listing of the type(s) of aircraft they fly and whether or not they have EmPower, AC outlets or DC outlets. Then it's a matter of figuring out which plane is being used on your flight. For that, check: http://flightaware.com/

[aviography]

rkawakami

Very cool link, thanks!

[bill bolton]

Can the T60 be charged through this USB port?

No, you can't charge a ThinkPad from any USB outlet, anywhere.

In any case you will find that most airlines specifically state that you should not charge batteries from their onboard power outlets.

Cheers,

Bill B.

[GrandMasterKhan]

Lenovo sells the thin adaptor for travel so can charge just about anywhere. But it seemed to be as heavy as an ordinary ThinkPad adaptor.

[aviography]

No, you can't charge a ThinkPad from any USB outlet, anywhere.

In any case you will find that most airlines specifically state that you should not charge batteries from their onboard power outlets.

Cheers,

Bill B.

So I wonder what the USB connector on the seat-back is used for then?

[qviri]

.

[GrandMasterKhan]

No notebook currently in production or for the foresseable future can be charged via USB. It simply is not available.

[systemBuilder]

It is possible to *build* a voltage upconverter and charge the laptop via a USB port. However, a 5v 500 ma curnt is only 2.5w. Today's thinkpad adapters are 20v 65w so they provide ~3A of current. So it would take about 26x longer to charge your laptop through a USB than with the ultra-small, slow, 65w charger.

[JaneL]

No notebook currently in production or for the foresseable future can be charged via USB. It simply is not available.

Yoga 3 Pro

[ajkula66]

No notebook currently in production or for the foresseable future can be charged via USB. It simply is not available.

Yoga 3 Pro

That one wasn't around when he posted back in 2010...

[JaneL]

True, I didn't notice the date!


Sent from my iPhone 5S using Tapatalk

[packman274]

No, you can't charge a ThinkPad from any USB outlet, anywhere.

In any case you will find that most airlines specifically state that you should not charge batteries from their onboard power outlets.

Cheers,

Bill B.

So I wonder what the USB connector on the seat-back is used for then?

I can charge my iPhone from a powered USB port.
Do it all the time.
Definitely not rocket science.