This is an older post which may contain outdated information. Our newest laptop battery, the V88 can be charged via USB-C.

When a customer pointed us to this USB 5V to 15V boost circuit on eBay as a way to charge our V60 laptop battery, we were a bit skeptical whether it would really work. We received it in the mail today and it does work if you have some patience and be careful.

5 Volt to 15 Volt Boost USB to 15 Volt Boost circuit closeup

To build it, we simply cut one of our 5.5×2.5mm laptop output wires in half and connected red to the positive, black to the negative. Then we connected up to our V15 battery. We found that we were getting 12.5V, 0.33A into the V60 or around 4 Watts vs 5 Watts output from the V15 from USB (~80% efficiency). So expect 15 +hours to charge your V60 from a 1A source.

A couple important caveats:
– the spec on the circuit specifies <2A – that means if you plug it into your 2A USB charger to speed things up, you could damage the circuit or potentially worse. We found it got really hot to the touch at 2A
– even at 1A, the circuit gets warm. I wouldn’t leave this thing unattended for long periods of time until you gain some confidence

We will keep looking for one that works well at 2A send one to the customer who suggested it to us to test. Thanks Walter!

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