MyVolts Step Up compatibility

Elektron Gear Other Elektron Gear
1

I recently got myself a few MyVolts Step Up adapters to cut down the amount of things I needed to take with me when I was away from home and wanted to use my Digi boxes.

This one: myVolts USB-C PD Step Up Tip, 12V c+ve 2.1mm/2.5mm

These tips don’t do any voltage conversion, instead they tell the power source how many volts to send.

The Digi boxes need 12 volts.

Well, turns out that none of my power banks and power bricks work with this thing because they cannot output 12 volts via Type-C.

I have two power banks and two power bricks from Anker. That usually end up in my backpack.

At some point 12V was removed from the USB Power Delivery standard so not every charger/power bank has support for it.

The funny part is that my Anker gear can output 12 volts but only via the USB A port. I stopped using A-to-C cables because everything uses Type-C nowadays, am I right?

I tested a few power sources that I had access to and below are the results.

:x: - cannot output 12 volts at the given port
:white_check_mark: - can output 12 volts at the given port

Device Type A Type C
Anker PowerCore III 10K Wireless Power Bank :white_check_mark: :x:
Anker PowerCore III Elite 26K 87W Power Bank :white_check_mark: :x:
Anker 735 Charger :white_check_mark: :x:
Anker Nano II 65W Charger N/A :x:
Samsung Power Adapter Trio 65 W :x: :x:
Steam Deck charger N/A :x:
IKEA SKOTAT N/A :white_check_mark:
Small IKEA SJÖSS N/A :white_check_mark:
UGREEN Nexode Power Bank 25000mAh :white_check_mark: :white_check_mark:

One interesting thing is that my Anker devices support PPS, which would allow a device to ask for a specific voltage from a voltage range instead of a predefined fixed voltage, but the plug still doesn’t work, so I’m thinking that the plug has no support for it.

My go-to choice for charger stuff was Anker for many years but it looks like none of their stuff has support for 12V via Type-C.

I plan on testing more things when I get home but it seems that at least on paper, the following devices should support the 12V PD profile:

  • UGREEN chargers and power banks
  • both IKEA SJÖSS adapters (the small one I could test)
  • the larger IKEA VARMFRONT power bank (but not the smaller one)

What external battery are you using together with the MyVolts Step Up tips? Also, which case? Pictures are appreciated!

1 Like
2

I use Baseus power brixks. I’ve had the same 65W model twice. It’s dependable and will support 12v PD. Birdcord, the main competitor to myVolts for the PD adaptors, recommend Baseus, so I just followed their advice.

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Nice, I didn’t know they existed. They seem to have an EU store which is nice

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I’ve been using a Anker 737 with the Adafruit USB-C -> barrel jack 12V cable and it’s been absolutely flawless. Getting 10-12h of juice on my Digitone 2.

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Interesting. Would you mind posting a picture of the power bank where all the voltage ratings are readable?

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I second Baseus. Have two powerbanks from that brand and both work.

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Here it is, only the USB-A output can negotiate 12V but the Adafruit cable probably steps down from the 15V USB-C output.

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I don’t think the cable is doing any stepping to be honest. Adafruit does have a cable that can do that but it has a rather large enclosure for the buck-boost converter.

If you have a voltmeter, it would be nice if you could measure the output voltage on the barrel jack.

I have a few theories:

  1. The cable outputs 15 volts instead of 12
  2. Somehow your Digi box works with 9 volts (mine does start up but then it gets stuck on the logo)
  3. Both the cable and the power bank supports PPS. This would allow the charger to support a volt range instead of fixed voltages and it would also allow the cable to negotiate any voltage between the upper and lower limits in 20 millivolt increments.
9

I can’t find my multmeter/voltmeter but I believe it’s your point 3., the powerbank supports PPS and the cable has a PD sink negotiation chip.

If I manage to find my multimeter I will measure the voltage on the barrel jack and report back :slight_smile:

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Out of curiosity, how do you know this? Did you find it out through testing after you already purchased the device? Neither the product page nor the manual mentions it…

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It’s mentioned in the support page here: Anker Support

Anker Powerbank 737 is equipped with Anker in-house PIQ3.0 technology (QC, PPS, and PD).

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Hi all!

Two questions:

First:
Did you figure this out/make it work?

I recently got an “Anker Prime 20,000mAh Power Bank (200W)” power bank intending to use it with Birdcord or MyVolts on Digitakt II/Syntakt.
This thread made me a bit uncertain…

This is a different power bank (I believe newer?) than the 737 you mention, and the manual (link below) does indicate 1.5 A at 12V on the USB C ports.

If I understand correctly, my setup should be directly supported, right?

Anker manual, see top right of the manual for output specs: https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0517/6767/3016/files/A1336_Anker_Prime_20000mAh_Power_Bank_200W_QSG.pdf?

Second:
Does anyone know if the Birdcord PD and MyVolts StepUp are suitable solutions for a permanent setup?

Is the setup as reliable as the power supplies that come with the Elektron devices, or is there a risk of blowing up some electrical circuits?

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According to the manual it should work.

I bet that Birdcord and/or MyVolts does.

It would be as reliable as the power supply used is. Vague answer but the plugs really just tell the power supply how many volts to send. The rest is entirely on the power supply.

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I ended up testing a UGREEN Nexode 25000mAh power bank and both the Type-A and Type-C ports can output 12 volts.

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Energizer:

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The UGREEN power bank has a quirk: the high-power output doesn’t turn on reliably with the step up tip, probably because it is expecting a larger load (or any load).

You need to press the button to activate the output and then eventually the Step Up tip comes on.

This doesn’t seem to happen if there is something connected to the lower powered Type-C outlet, or if I connect the straight into the lower powered outlet.

My phone doesn’t seem to care about it.

17

After not even using it for that long, my StepUp adapter ended up being loose on most Type-C cables, so I’m not fond of them. I’d much rather use a dedicated 12V PD-trigger cable.

I also found that it would still light up green even when it’s not delivering 12V (e.g. the power bank only supports 9V).

Anker 533 (PowerCore 30W)

  • Supports 12V over USB-A or USB-C.
  • When more than one device is connected, the output is limited to 5V.
  • Connecting multiple devices causes a temporary outage on the ports (devices will restart).
  • The USB-A port is reliable for 12V, the USB-C port had a habit of getting locked to 5V until the bank was hard reset by shorting it out with a C-to-C cable (a process I do not like).

Belkin BoostCharge 26K (4-port)

  • Supports 12V over USB-C, but not USB-A
  • Connecting multiple type-C devices limits the output to 5V.
  • Can support one 12V device via USB-C, and two low-power 5V devices on the type-A ports, if current limits permit.
  • Can support 12V on USB-C and a 12V Ripcord on one type-A port (e.g. Syntakt + Digitakt/tone).
  • Does not cut power when connecting multiple devices.

If you’re looking for more detail about those two, see this thread.

I’ve been wanting to test the newer Belkin BoostCharge 20K (3-port) bank, as it looks like that one might support 12V over USB-A.
I don’t know whether it’s capable of 12V over multiple ports at once though. That seems to be rare.

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Try to find a review on YouTube. What you want to see is the label that is printed on the power bank itself or maybe the packaging. The input/output voltages should be documented there. If you’re lucky then the manufacturer lists them on the product page but that is not always a given.

19

Yeah, Amazon/YouTube reviews are often the easiest way to find out whether something supports 12V at all, as manufacturers are terrible about listing the specs.

But I’ve yet to find anyone testing to see whether they can output more than 5V to multiple devices, or whether power is cut as you connect/remove devices, etc.

I have an older Anker power bank here that only does 9V/15V over USB-C, but is supposed to support 12V QC over its type-A port; however I’ve yet to find anything that can actually trigger it to work.
I only get 5V out of it with cables that work at 12V on other power banks.