Car charging (12V) a MacBook Pro 16" M1

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Level 1

64 points

Car charging (12V) a MacBook Pro 16" M1

I spend half of the year traveling in my RV and the other half sailing the "Out Islands" of the Bahamas. It's easy enough to find a place to find a 120v connection to charge my MBP16 M1 while in the RV, but it's a little less convenient to do so while in the totally 12v system of my boat. I can, of course use my 1500w pure sine inverter and the Apple MagSafe charge that comes with computer. But a direct 12v connection to a MagSafe is much more efficient and greatly preferred. I have such an adapter for my previous MacBooks with MagSafe 2, but not for the newest MagSafe on the 2021 MBP16 M1.

I suppose I could use the inverter for fast charging and simply a USB-C port (with a 12v USB-C adapter) for maintaining a charge. But is anyone aware of a better option?

Thanks for any suggestions.

MacBook Pro 16″, macOS 12.0

Posted on Dec 26, 2021 7:03 AM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

Grant Bennet-Alder

Level 10

140,159 points

Dec 26, 2021 8:41 AM in response to svdrifter

You can not charge a Mac simply by asserting a DC voltage at the power adapter connection. Your 12 volts DC is useless.

Both USB-C charging and MagSafe charging on the most recent MacBook Pro models use USB Power Delivery Protocol.

The smart power adapter and the computer negotiate a charging voltage and current, typically 28 Volts DC (and for the 16-in model up to 100 Watts) and only when they agree, charging can begin.

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Answer 2

ku4hx

Level 7

23,688 points

Dec 26, 2021 7:48 AM in response to svdrifter

What other option could there be? You need to convert 12 VDC to 120 VAC and you're bumping up against electrical theory. The process requires an inverter at present unless you know of a more recent invention.

Macs don't run on 120 VAC, they run on something else. I suspect a DC current, but I really don't know. If you're brave enough to hook a rather expensive notebook up directly to a source of Apple-required electricity, I guess that would work. The problem I see there is exactly how stable is your boat's electrical system? It's one thing to run a marine radio system, another thing entirely to power a notebook.

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Car charging (12V) a MacBook Pro 16" M1

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