Can confirm they work very well, used one to extend the battery life of a PartyBox 100 (see https://www.reddit.com/r/JBL/comments/ivdkrg/jbl_partybox_10...).

The new USB Power Delivery 3.0 PPS (Programmable Power Supply) standard even supports requesting arbitrary voltages, but I haven't yet found an adapter that is programmable and supports this.

This one does: https://m.aliexpress.com/item/4001219988981.html

I didn't mean an AC charger, but a PD trigger that I can program to request any voltage I want. Currently only fixed voltages (5V/12V/20V) are available.

I think that's because PD spec is only those voltages (5,9,15 and 20 volts). You'll have to use a regulator or buck converter to get other voltages.

PPS extension allows for arbitrary voltages

Interesting, those PartyBox 100's have very good reviews and I've been considering getting one. How much play time do you get with that power bank?

With the power bank plus the internal battery, it plays for at least 10 hours on full volume, probably 12.

Also the sound is better with the external power bank, as the DSP limits volume and bass response when running on internal power. The PB100 is good value for the money, but don’t expect hifi quality. Its currently the best off-the-shelf solution for something you can still stuff in a backpack, unless you spend the big bucks and go with a Soundboks.

They really half-assed it tho:

- the LED lights are erratic and don't look that great

- the BT range is crap

- no built-in connector to connect external DC power like in the PB300

- internal battery life is not great, just 2400mAh, also not swappable

- no second set of tweeters like in the PB300

- takes a long time to boot (~20secs)

- no app to adjust the DSP or disable the startup sound

I just imported a bunch of them to launch on ebay/amazon/etc. Should be similarly inexpensive.

A showstopper here: some of them use PPS, and some use fixed 20V code.

Very, very few USB PD power supplies support PPS 20V at full 5A.

And even fewer power banks. Until recently not a single one existed that could put out 100W over the whole battery charge, they all switched to 50-60W for the last 50%, which also means they couldn't fully charge laptops like the larger Macbook Pros. But now there is the Zendure SuperTank Pro:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/zendure/supertank-pro-t...

And a lot of 65W rated tagged cables tend to melt under full load, and one of which was bundled by one quite major hardware brand whose name starts with "A."

This is why a lot of charger makers went for "workarounds" for 5A cables rather than risk being blamed for setting mismarked cables on fire.

Their cable marked "65W" did not actually work on 5A 15V, but on 3A 20V where it is not the issue, but will melt when used by actual 5A 15V.

Oh that is good to know! I measured 20V/3,?A on my barrel jack adaptor, now wondering if it can actually do 5A as advertised. Is there a way to query the cable for what it will actually report as supported voltages / current?

Easiest way is to get a PD tester. The hard way: page 363 https://usb.org/sites/default/files/USB%20Type-C%20Spec%20R2...

Did some more research. I don't have a linux system with usb-c rn, but one can maybe query the emarker VDO in sysfs: https://people.kernel.org/bleung/

On windows there are the MUTT tools, but looks cumbersome: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-hardware/drivers/us...

Found a hardware thingy that can display CC1/CC2 emarker info.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hMlySYTHbyk

https://www.banggood.com/POWER-Z-PD3_0-QC4_0-USB-Tester-Volt...

The 5A modules / cables are advertised as having an e-marker chip, at least in China.