I’d think, at least for the existing Steam Decks, it would involve some kind of internal modification as well since they don’t do charging like this.
Comment on Valve has plans for a travel case that charges your Steam Deck, leak reveals
Fubarberry@sopuli.xyz 3 weeks ago
Main concern I would have would be thermals while charging. I’ve always avoided charging my deck in the default case because I didn’t want it to heat up too much.
jordanlund@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
ColeSloth@discuss.tchncs.de 3 weeks ago
Thermals wouldn’t get too hot, but wireless charging is terribly inefficient. If using a battery pack that’s say 20,000mah in size, you’ll only normally get about 14,000mah worth of charge into your device going from USB C to USB C (caries with charge speed and efficiency of charge controllers involved). With wireless charging you’re probably looking at 9,000mah.
rowdy@piefed.social 3 weeks ago
I can understand the concern. But a SD at full load would run significantly hotter, even with fan exhaust, than a powered-off SD charging in an enclosed case. It’s a non-issue.
JohnEdwa@sopuli.xyz 3 weeks ago
It’s all about the battery temperature.
Even if you are running the deck with the APU cooking at 80C and fans blasting at full tilt, the battery stays relatively cool. But stuff it in an insulated box and start charging it at 45 watts, and the battery will quickly start heating from the inside over the recommended 30-45C maximum.
rowdy@piefed.social 3 weeks ago
Citation needed - but I suppose you could say the same about my claim.
I’d love to test this properly with an infrared thermometer but I don’t have one. All I have is an anecdote that I’ve been charging my OLED in it’s case since release and have never had an issue - not zipped up given the wire, just the lid flipped over on top.
I guess either way the BMS would prevent any real damage from occurring, which is why I say it’s a non-issue.
Rozz@lemmy.sdf.org 3 weeks ago
I used to charge with the case mostly closed and the SD backwards. Now I have an angled rotating magnetic charger connector that fits in while the case is closed. The only time I’ve had a problem is when I had a bug where the fan would stay stuck on or the time when it stayed on because of a Bluetooth connection bug where it wouldn’t sleep. It has never felt warm while charging and sleeping.