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Is there any way to charge a Macbook Pro 16 on a plane socket?

Pangalactic

Pangalactic

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Nov 28, 2016
516
1,443
I've been flying quite a bit for work and wonder if charging an MBP 16 on a plane is an option.

I've tried the regular charger from Apple on Emirates flights recently - it seemed to work somewhat, charging my Macbook by around 20%, but then it stopped and didn't work anymore. So maybe with a lower voltage charge or something similar?

Power bank is obviously another option, but I'm specifically wondering about in-plane charging.
 
I’m flying tomorrow with Emirates and I will try. You flew eco or business? On other airlines I flew, no issues at all, except once the plug was defective. I complained and they gave me miles.

But WiFi speed is so slow, I don’t know why. Like less than 1 Mbps, even for checking websites it’s complicated. I experienced this often with Singapore Airlines.

I also always use the UK plug of the Apple travel kit, it doesn’t wiggle compared to euro plug.
 
Usually the max Wattage is written on the outlet.

a 20W charger is enough to hold the power if u only watch video or office works
 
gigatoaster said:
I’m flying tomorrow with Emirates and I will try. You flew eco or business? On other airlines I flew, no issues at all, except once the plug was defective. I complained and they gave me miles.

But WiFi speed is so slow, I don’t know why. Like less than 1 Mbps, even for checking websites it’s complicated. I experienced this often with Singapore Airlines.

I also always use the UK plug of the Apple travel kit, it doesn’t wiggle compared to euro plug.
Click to expand...
I was flying business on Empirates and on Turkish. On Turkish, I couldn't get it to charge from a regular charger at all. And on Empirates as I've said it sort of worked and then stopped working. I'm thinking if I should by a lower voltage charger just for travelling. Or it is not good for battery health?
 
Pangalactic said:
I'm thinking if I should by a lower voltage charger just for travelling. Or it is not good for battery health?
Click to expand...
I think you mean lower wattage, not voltage.

A lower wattage will not help. The issue is with the outlet on the plane not providing enough current for the charger. The charger will adjust its output to match what is available on the outlet. The problem is with the plane, not your charger. A lower wattage charger will not affect battery life.
 
You do have to worry about the wattage on a plane outlet. Some planes will trip if you try to draw more than ≈100W. I would recommend carrying a lower-power USB-C adapter (18W-35W) and just using that while you are on the plane. I have run my 16" off of an 18W adapter and it has been fine — the battery does still drain while the system is in active use, but very slowly, you can last many hours in that situation as long as you are not doing anything computationally intensive. (And if you put the system to sleep, the battery will charge back up.) A 35W should be able to keep the battery fully charged while you use the system, again as long as you are not doing anything computationally intensive.
 
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raythompsontn said:
I think you mean lower wattage, not voltage.

A lower wattage will not help. The issue is with the outlet on the plane not providing enough current for the charger. The charger will adjust its output to match what is available on the outlet. The problem is with the plane, not your charger. A lower wattage charger will not affect battery life.
Click to expand...
If an attached charger draws more power than the outlet is designed for, the outlet will cut power. So a lower wattage charger might help.

But as there are just so many airplane models with different interiors the best is to ask the stewardess if nothing is written on the outlet.
 
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