USB-C Charging for ThinkPad T450s

by duc1607

3.4K01

Intro: USB-C Charging for ThinkPad T450s

Saw a post on Reddit of someone modded his T450s to use USB-C charging port instead of the original slimport. I decided to do that too.

You can do the same thing with T440, T440s and T450 since they all share the same charging cable/port thingy.

You can read the original post here: https://www.reddit.com/r/thinkpad/comments/eehsm9/...

STEP 1: Go Shopping

For this you'll need:

  1. A USB-C PD 20v trigger. You can find these on Aliexpress for rather cheap. The one I'm using only handle the maximum of 65w power.
  2. 280 ohm resistor. I can't find any in my country so I used 270 ohm one, which works fine
  3. 3D printed bracket. You can use the one in the original post or use mine. My version can be printed easier than the one from Reddit. Link: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4619906/files
  4. Screws, soldering station, tin, ...

The reason for that resistor is for your ThinkPad to sense the proper charger. 280 ohm will be 65w charger, if you have the 90W square charger you'll need a 540 ohm resistor and also a different chip.

ThinkWiki has already made a infomative site about signal pin and appropriate resistor value here, scroll down to signal pin section: http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/Power_Connector

If you're worried about killing your laptop you could just order another port/wiring connector thing and work with that.

STEP 2: Soldering and Soldering

Open up the laptop, unscrew the little metal bracket holding down the existing charge port, and cut off the wiring next to the port. If you're worried about killing your laptop you could just order another port/wiring connector thing and work with that.

You should be left with 5 wires: 2 red, 2 black, and 1 white. Solder the 2 red wires to the + side of the usb connector chip. Solder the 2 black ones to the - side. Solder the resistor to the white wire and then to the - side of the usb chip.

Snug the chip into the bracket and screw things back in. Make sure to isolate the chip properly with shrinking tubes, electrical tape or hot glue.

(yeah I'm too lazy so I copied from Reddit)

STEP 3: Tadaaaaa

Basicly it's done!

Reassemble your ThinkPad and plug the charger in.

I'm using Xiaomi 65w PD Charger btw.

After plugging in for about 2 hours, the cable didn't get hot and the charger only warmed up a bit.

So yeah, SUCCESS!!!

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