iPad Pro iPad Pro Magic Keyboard Charging from Smart Connector and Charging Speed?

[sjm88]

Mine doesn't arrive until tomorrow, but it seems others will disagree with you so far.

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1252244227813068800

These guys say up to 22W, which is a little less than the 30W max it can charge, but shouldn't drain while plugged in, and shouldn't really be slow.

iPad Pro Magic Keyboard USB-C Passthrough Port Allows Charging Speeds of up to 22W

The Magic Keyboard for iPad Pro features a USB-C passthrough port and it allows you to charge the tablet at a fairly respectable 22 watts.

wccftech.com

It definitely does drain while plugged in for high-load activities - and charge relatively slowly if the brightness is high. Also some chargers that do deliver power via the main USB-C port (eg my Anker power bank) do not via the case (says “not charging” when plugged in).

22W is 25% less... not exactly what I would call “a little”. I think people’s fears were it would be like that Logitech dock that was 5W - which it is definitely not, mercifully! - but if you’re really using the iPad, it’s still not enough to maintain battery level. As I said before, it must be a smart connector limitation - I’ll just have to deal!

 

[Lobwedgephil]

It definitely does drain while plugged in for high-load activities - and charge relatively slowly if the brightness is high. Also some chargers that do deliver power via the main USB-C port (eg my Anker power bank) do not via the case (says “not charging” when plugged in).

22W is 25% less... not exactly what I would call “a little”. I think people’s fears were it would be like that Logitech dock that was 5W - which it is definitely not, mercifully! - but if you’re really using the iPad, it’s still not enough to maintain battery level. As I said before, it must be a smart connector limitation - I’ll just have to deal!

Interesting, will have to play around and see. I have played a few games, test edited a video, and it didn't seem to drain while doing those tasks, but you have had yours longer, so I will need to try more things.

I don't have a Anker power bank, I have a Satachi USB C one with 4 ports, 2 USB C, and it charges from both of those, but that is all I have to test on mine.

 

[giggles]

Wait, are we sure that what’s drawed at the port is actually what’s being passed 100% to the iPad? What if some power is lost “along the way“ to the keyboard, backlight and touchpad? Are we sure it’s passed to the smart connector “as is” and not converted by some inefficient circuit?

About the Logi Base, this old article shows it drawing 12.5W at the plug, even if we account for inefficiency, doesn’t look like the actual draw at the port was 5W

Test du Logi BASE, un support pour iPad Pro utilisant le Smart Connector (+ vidéo)

Quelques semaines après la commercialisation de l'iPad Pro 9,7", Logitech propose -non pas un clavier- mais bien un support pour la tablette, un modèle…

www.mac4ever.com

That said, whatever the actual rate, the MK has undoubtedly unexpectedly fast charging given the low expectations people had (or I had) based on the Logi Base...hopefully somebody will go scientific about this with real time comparison of charging via MK+18W vs MK+30W vs straight 18W vs straight 30W..

 

[EugW]

It definitely does drain while plugged in for high-load activities - and charge relatively slowly if the brightness is high. Also some chargers that do deliver power via the main USB-C port (eg my Anker power bank) do not via the case (says “not charging” when plugged in).

22W is 25% less... not exactly what I would call “a little”. I think people’s fears were it would be like that Logitech dock that was 5W - which it is definitely not, mercifully! - but if you’re really using the iPad, it’s still not enough to maintain battery level. As I said before, it must be a smart connector limitation - I’ll just have to deal!

His test shows 25.4 W by the regular iPad Pro port and 21.3 W by the keyboard port. So, 16% slower. However, 21.3 W is more than the maximum of the included 18 W charger, so presumably he’s using a 29/30 W (or bigger) charger.

It would be interesting to take the same measurements with the 18 W charger.

 

[Jukens]

I am experiencing extremely slow charging through my keyboard and i have tried a couple different USB C cables. I may be having power pass-through issues....

 

[Debi Martocci]

This was using the 29W Apple USB-C charger - which charges very quickly directly plugged in the to the iPad. The use case for draining whilst plugged in was playing Civ VI - which is about as taxing as anything you’re likely to throw at it. I’m hopeful that editing in LumaFusion might not drain!

Ok but what about when using the 18 watt adapter? Has there been any changes? Maybe a firmware update rolled out that addressed what you saw?

 

[Techwatcher]

What would happen if you plugged power into both the magic keyboard and the usbc port? What would take precedence? What about hubs, would the iPad try to take power from the hub as a priority?

I guess it just charges from whatever was plugged in first? I just tried this where I pulled out one of the cables and it continued to charge. I'm sure it's not "double" charging or whatever. Anyone knows what's happening exactly?