Charging Anker PowerCore 20000 PD with Macbook Pro

The UK version of the PowerCore doesnā€™t come with a wall adaptor, I use my Macbook Proā€™s 87W wall charger to charge it and it is fast! It also supports providing power to the Macbook itself although not charging it.

I would like to charge both the Macbook and the PowerCore together but it seems not possible, when i plug the PowerCore into the Macbook while it is mains powered, the PowerCore still discharges with the steady LED indicator rather than the blinking charging indicator. The PowerCore is not fully charged.

Not sure if @AnkerTechnical or others could help with this please?

This is correct by design, as the powercore does not allow pass through charging. While it is a handy feature to have it ultimately degrades the battery over time

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No not pass through.

I meant charge the battery while charging the laptop using the laptops usb-c port.

As the image above the Battery is still feeding power to the laptop not the other way around I remember the specification of USB-C power delivery supports both ways.

As in this blog post:

The first Battery they tested supports being charged after press a button, not sure if the powerCore can do similar with some settings or button clicks? @AnkerTechnical

My appologies, so in order to utilize the usb c port you have to press the Power button Before plugging in the cable to either device

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Interesting question, and I am confused.

I can imagine this scenario:

  • high power charger (e.g. 87W MacBook charger) output put into device (Macbook) via USB-C port
  • deviceā€™s other USB-C port acting as output, powering something else - specific to Anker is a Powercore USB-C in recharge.
  • the device would obviously have to determine the priorities, it would obviously power its internal non-battery needs 1st priority so it functions, but thenā€¦ would it prioritize power to its own internal cell or the external USB-C?

This decision on priorities is I think the main question - could be handled in software (E.g. MacBook asks do you want to offer maximum power to recharge ā€œmeā€ and whatever is spare goes to output USB-C, or do you want to offer maximum power to USB-C output and whatā€™s spare goes to recharge ā€œmeā€).

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Well just tried it and itā€™s still in the discharge mode.

Hi, I got your point.
First of all, as ANKER is the lead charging brand in charging category, we can make something like this, but weā€™re not going to do that.
According to CC agreement, itā€™s not allowed to drive more than 0.5A from the connected devices by using 56KĪ© A-C cables. And because of that setting, our portable chargers also can not drive more than 0.5A from non-PD devices by using C-C cables. PowerCore/PowerCore+ PD are designed according to the official agreement.
Thatā€™s why weā€™re not going to do that in the future.
Iā€™m sorry that you have to use a PD wall charger to recharge the PowerCore/PowerCore+ pd, but weā€™re now working on the solution with our IC partners.
Any questions else, iā€™m always here to answer. Thanks.:grinning:

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Hi @doris4jin,

Thank you for bringing this issue to our attention via the community. Sorry for our delayed response.

As explained by AnkerTechnical, we regret to inform you that our PD portable charger is unable to be charged from the USB-C port on the MacBook Pro when it is in mains charge.

The good news is that we are just releasing a new PD wall charger which can be used to recharge the PowerCore Speed 20000 PD battery through the USB-C PD port. You can try it if you are interested in it. Here I attach the product link for your reference.

If you need more assistance, please email to support@anker.com for help. Thanks a lot.

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@AnkerTechnical @AnkerSupport many thanks :smile: