Is the Toprock charging port USB-A or USB-C?

[bwehman]

The quick shot it got on the promo video looked like USB-A, but that would be odd so wanted to double check before ordering one. Super cool add-on to the Systainer stack, but sort of a deal breaker for me if it's not USB-C. Haven't owned a USB-A charging cable in years.

 

[Cheese]

The TOPROCK manual states this:

"The USB port [1-2] can only supply power to devices with a maximum input voltage of 5 V/1 A. The USB port does not support any external hard drives and mobile devices with higher requirements."

Here's a screen shot of the USB port from the manual.

[attachimg=1]

 

[squall_line]

I don't think I've had a phone that runs off a 1A USB in over 5 years...  That's pretty sad, honestly.

 

[FestitaMakool]

If it is some sort of consolation? - the sound get good critics, more towards HiFi than most other toolmakers speakers. And you get and empty systainer.

If it was offered with a line input and a FM + DAB+ radio it may had caught greater interest.
It’s what I judge to be one of these:

[attachimg=1]

 

[Coen]

I don't think I've had a phone that runs off a 1A USB in over 5 years...  That's pretty sad, honestly.

Lol. The obsession with quick charge these days...

Every phone runs just fine on 1A

I have a cheap Ikea charger near by bed. If I get up and my phone is not fully charged yet... I've slept too short.

 

[Cheese]

Lol. The obsession with quick charge these days...

Every phone runs just fine on 1A

I have a cheap Ikea charger near by bed. If I get up and my phone is not fully charged yet... I've slept too short.

Funny…so true…faster…shorter…sooner...RFN, a sign of the times.  [smile]

 

[squall_line]

Lol. The obsession with quick charge these days...

Every phone runs just fine on 1A

I have a cheap Ikea charger near by bed. If I get up and my phone is not fully charged yet... I've slept too short.

Funny…so true…faster…shorter…sooner...RFN, a sign of the times.  [smile]

My Android would never charge off of the USB socket in my wife's RAV4; it would start and stop in 10 second intervals.  I had to use an aftermarket charger plugged into the 12V socket to get it to hold the current high enough to stay charging.  It may be the data connection was interfering and causing it to bounce back and forth between charging and not charging, but it never worked.

A lot of the USB-C phones nowadays will negotiate with the charging source and step up/down the amperage to condition batteries better and prevent over-charging.  I don't use quick charge often, but when I do, I have alerts set to disconnect at 95% to preserve battery life.

 

[Cheese]

My Android would never charge off of the USB socket in my wife's RAV4; it would start and stop in 10 second intervals.  I had to use an aftermarket charger plugged into the 12V socket to get it to hold the current high enough to stay charging.  It may be the data connection was interfering and causing it to bounce back and forth between charging and not charging, but it never worked.

I was just introduced to USB-C recently when I purchased one of these.https://www.thermoworks.com/signals/

I thought what kind of a weird connection is this? That quickly introduced me to USB-C and it's idiosyncrasies. Like using a USB wall outlet and a USB cable with a USB-C adapter to charge the Thermoworks item. It doesn't work...it needs its own separate power supply probably because of the higher current draws.

Phones were never an issue because iPhones have their own little weird connector.  [smile]

 

[squall_line]

My Android would never charge off of the USB socket in my wife's RAV4; it would start and stop in 10 second intervals.  I had to use an aftermarket charger plugged into the 12V socket to get it to hold the current high enough to stay charging.  It may be the data connection was interfering and causing it to bounce back and forth between charging and not charging, but it never worked.

I was just introduced to USB-C recently when I purchased one of these.https://www.thermoworks.com/signals/

I thought what kind of a weird connection is this? That quickly introduced me to USB-C and it's idiosyncrasies. Like using a USB wall outlet and a USB cable with a USB-C adapter to charge the Thermoworks item. It doesn't work...it needs its own separate power supply probably because of the higher current draws.

Phones were never an issue because iPhones have their own little weird connector.  [smile]

Good point on iPhones.  I found out a number of years ago when I built a charging stand for work that the same didn't apply to iPads; they have a much higher current draw requirement and could not use an Android tablet charger or have more than 5 units plugged into a 6-unit charging block at the same time.

 

[Coen]

iStuff in general is the problem as it's often supplied with an underdimensioned power supply and doesn't use industry standards.

Anyway, the communication between phone and charger predates USB-C by a lot.

Phones not charging is usually a cable problem on a 5V charger. USB by default is 5V, but there exist 9V, 12V etc protocols. The phone battery is 4.2V when full, but losing 1V in the cable isn't uncommon and then current goes down.

USB-A and it's cabling was never designed for anything above 5V 0.5A but USB C was designed for 20V 5A from the start. Non-conpliant cabling is however omni-present.
And then there is of course also Apple's "fail by design" stuff.

 

[bwehman]

Welp, bummer about the charging port. Hate to say it, but that silly little detail is going to kill the purchase. Really like the idea of a systainer speaker, but it would've been a pretty no-brainer addition if that port could charge USB-C devices. I don't even need them to charge quickly, I just need them to connect and really don't want to waste money on a new USB-A cable for just this one task.

 

[Willy Eckerslike]

I have a myriad of usb connector/charging ports in my works vehicle, at least half a dozen or so of my Milwaukee 12v and 18v tools/adapters provide the facility as do some of my other tools/worklights/chargers. 

I don't use any of them (unless I'm using it in the vehicle as a sat nav)

I use my mobile/cellphone to listen to music via Bluetooth (often all day long), send and receive emails/messages, keep up to date with the news and my stock portfolio/finances during my breaks, take, store and send pictures and somewhat unusually, as a telephone!  I don't use 40% of the battery during a hard day.

Plug it in to the wall charger at night - good to go in the morning.  It wouldn't even occur to me to look at what type of usb port anything has especially given that there are several because that means there are equally several workaround solutions.

 

[Coen]

Welp, bummer about the charging port. Hate to say it, but that silly little detail is going to kill the purchase. Really like the idea of a systainer speaker, but it would've been a pretty no-brainer addition if that port could charge USB-C devices. I don't even need them to charge quickly, I just need them to connect and really don't want to waste money on a new USB-A cable for just this one task.

You don't already have a USB-C USB-A cable?  [huh]

But yeah, like some powerbanks out there they could have given it both, then have the USB-C port function also as input to charge the Toprock itself.

But if they did that you would still probably say it should have run on Festool's 18V batteries, and if it did, you would complain that it didn't take 14.4V batteries etc.

 

[Spandex]

The vast majority of usb chargers out there (in general, not just for phones) are usb-a, which means most people have a usb-a to usb-micro/usb-c/lightning cable kicking around somewhere. And given that this one only supports 5v1a charging, it seems pointless for it to have a usb-c connector.

I think people sometimes get a little bit hung up on the idea that the connector on their phone has some bearing on what connector the charger should have.

Tbh, I think the lack of radio on the Toprock is the strangest omission. It really does seem like an odd decision.

 

[Coen]

Well, some people (can't say I'm not at some times part of that group) want newer stuff to be rolled out faster instead of manufacturers staying by an older standard "because everyone has that".

Mini-USB was lucky quickly deprecated as the lousy connector that it was.

 

[squall_line]

Tbh, I think the lack of radio on the Toprock is the strangest omission. It really does seem like an odd decision.

That's the only reason I got a Sys-Rock and use it more than any of the four UE Boom speakers that I accumulated a number of years ago.  I listen to the radio a lot more than I listen to streaming music if I'm away from WiFi (I refuse to spend money on a large data plan).

 

[Coen]

You can just store music locally on your phone...

 

[squall_line]

You can just store music locally on your phone...

My music taste changes too frequently to bother trying to manage swapping out any of the myriad songs I have on any sort of regular basis.  Also, I'm stingy on the use of my phone's battery.

The times that I'm away from friendly WiFi are pretty small and far between nowadays, but I still haven't installed my outdoor antenna for the front or back yards yet.

 

[Spandex]

Well, some people (can't say I'm not at some times part of that group) want newer stuff to be rolled out faster instead of manufacturers staying by an older standard "because everyone has that".

Mini-USB was lucky quickly deprecated as the lousy connector that it was.

I’m as nerdy as they come and I’m all for new technology, but I also think a bit of pragmatism is needed. When it comes to power only (no data) the usb version is pretty irrelevant. Usb-c wouldn’t do anything (useful) that can’t be done with usb-a, so it makes sense to go with the connector that’s most prevalent.

Change for the sake of it only benefits accessory makers.

 

[Coen]

In some aspects USB-C is easier to plug into