p.1 #1 · Limitation with Sony's new BC-ZD1 dual battery charger
This charger is designed to be powered with a USB charger block that supports Power Delivery. While that works, I can not power the charger using a Thunderbolt port (I tried both Thunderbolt 3 and 5 and two different Macs). I thought that Thunderbolt supports Power Delivery and the the Mac Thunderbolt ports are supposed to be compatible with USB, but it does not work. You get a blinking led on the charger indicating an error. I have other 3rd party Sony battery chargers that can be powered via the Thunderbolt port on my laptop so this in unfortunate as I'll have to carry an additional charging block if I want to use the Sony charger. Just an FYI for folks.
p.1 #2 · Limitation with Sony's new BC-ZD1 dual battery charger
The minimum power delivery required for Thunderbolt 4 and 5 ports is 15W which is less than the 18W needed by the BC-ZD1 to charge a single battery. Thunderbolt 3 ports only needed to supply 7.5W of power.
p.1 #3 · Limitation with Sony's new BC-ZD1 dual battery charger
You need 30W from PD to charge two batteries at full power. One battery can be charged with 18W. However, you can find plenty of much cheaper 10W chargers and even some 18W chargers, so there is little value in using the BC-ZD1 unless you have adequate power available.
1 Battery: Approx. 155 minutes (18 W (9 V/2 A) or more)
2 Batteries: Approx. 155 minutes (30 W (15 V/2 A) or more)
p.1 #5 · Limitation with Sony's new BC-ZD1 dual battery charger
QuietOC wrote:
The minimum power delivery required for Thunderbolt 4 and 5 ports is 15W which is less than the 18W needed by the BC-ZD1 to charge a single battery. Thunderbolt 3 ports only needed to supply 7.5W of power.
Well this is probably the issue. I can't find any Apple spec that states how much power they provide on the Thunderbolt ports so I guess it's the bare minimum of the spec (15W). Unfortunately that makes the BC-ZD1 useless when directly connecting to the Mac as it won't charge even one battery at all...bummer.
p.1 #6 · Limitation with Sony's new BC-ZD1 dual battery charger
EB-1 wrote:
You need 30W from PD to charge two batteries at full power. One battery can be charged with 18W. However, you can find plenty of much cheaper 10W chargers and even some 18W chargers, so there is little value in using the BC-ZD1 unless you have adequate power available.
1 Battery: Approx. 155 minutes (18 W (9 V/2 A) or more)
2 Batteries: Approx. 155 minutes (30 W (15 V/2 A) or more)
EBH
Yep so I guess I won't necessarily use it for travel. The charger came with my camera and I thought it would make a nice compact travel charger.
p.1 #7 · Limitation with Sony's new BC-ZD1 dual battery charger
It does. All you need is a small PD charger, the same can be used for laptop, phones, Canon/Sony/Nikon battery chargers, tablets, power banks, etc. 2-3 chargers are enough for several devices.
p.1 #8 · Limitation with Sony's new BC-ZD1 dual battery charger
EB-1 wrote:
It does. All you need is a small PD charger, the same can be used for laptop, phones, Canon/Sony/Nikon battery chargers, tablets, power banks, etc. 2-3 chargers are enough for several devices.
Thanks, I have a couple of the Anker PD chargers which are small and work great. I was just trying to minimize all the crap I carry. I also have the isdt NP2 Air dual Sony battery charger which works great and will run off the laptop.
p.1 #9 · Limitation with Sony's new BC-ZD1 dual battery charger
The answer is that Mac ports are not high powered chargers. You need to use a 65 to 100 watt power supply. Yet you already have one. So, why are we talking about this?
p.1 #10 · Limitation with Sony's new BC-ZD1 dual battery charger
amv8 wrote:
Yep so I guess I won't necessarily use it for travel. The charger came with my camera and I thought it would make a nice compact travel charger.
Surely you must take other USB chargers when you travel? How do you charge your phone or tablet or laptop? I find the new charger immensely useful because all my other gadgets charge via USB-C so I always have a charger on hand wherever I go. And 18+W PD chargers cost about $10 these days.
p.1 #11 · Limitation with Sony's new BC-ZD1 dual battery charger
wordfool wrote:
Surely you must take other USB chargers when you travel? How do you charge your phone or tablet or laptop? I find the new charger immensely useful because all my other gadgets charge via USB-C so I always have a charger on hand wherever I go. And 18+W PD chargers cost about $10 these days.
Historically, I had been powering my phone and camera battery chargers off the Thunderbolt ports of my MBP when I travel. I just purchased, received, and tested the 45w unit recommended by @EB-1; the unit is quite small and should work great. I also bought the new Anker 100W version which powers my MBP and also obviously can power the battery chargers; hopefully alleviating the need to carry the monster Apple white power brick when traveling.
Bottom line, most of themarketing material for Thunderbolt touts how much power gets passed through for charging. I was taken by surprise to learn that Apple only bothered to provide the bare minimum spec of 15W on an MBP or Mac Studio (and I couldn't find any official Apple spec that stated the power output on these ports). Thanks for all the info!
p.1 #12 · Limitation with Sony's new BC-ZD1 dual battery charger
It would require more cost and components to have a larger power supply for higher PD power on the TB ports. There would be a domino effect with the laptop and PS becoming larger and heavier.
p.1 #14 · Limitation with Sony's new BC-ZD1 dual battery charger
TimMunsey wrote:
You can charge the battery in camera with a usbc cable to the Mac.
Thanks, I realize this and occasionally charge my batteries that way. I feel that I've created more discussion on this topic than I originally intended so I apologize for that. There was a bit of a backstory that led to the original post...
I was on vacation with my family and told them that I was going to check out a historical site/museum (aka brick and mortar camera store) and directed them to a neighboring coffee shop. I met up with them about 30 minutes later and said that I picked up a little souvenir at the museum gift shop (A1 II) :-). When we got back to the hotel, I realized that it came with the new Sony dual battery charger and plugged it in to the laptop and it didn't work...
