Carry Along a Power Bank for Your Nintendo Switch with the Anker PowerCore 20100mAh Nintendo Switch Edition PD Portable Charger

The Nintendo Switch allows using not only its own AC adapter but also third party chargers such as the Anker PowerCore 20100mAh Nintendo Switch Edition PD Portable Charger to keep itself charged. The Anker charger offers the convenience of a power bank which is highly portable to power the Switch on the go. Simply by connecting the Switch console to the Anker USB Type-C charging port, the Switch can be rapidly charged over USB Power Delivery. The Anker USB Type-C charging port can work both ways to allow not only charging out but also charge the Anker portable battery itself through USB Power Delivery.

The Anker PowerCore 20100mAh Nintendo Switch Edition PD Portable Charger states on the back of its packaging to support up to 22.5W for Power Delivery charging out over its USB Type-C port using the following power profiles- 15 watts (5 volts @ 3 amps), 22.5 watts (9 volts @ 2.5 amps) and 22.5 watts (15 volts @ 1.5 amps). For Power Delivery charging in, the charger also claims on its box to support max 22.5W using 15 watts (5 volts @ 3 amps), 22.5 watts (9 volts @ 2.5 amps), 21 watts (15 volts @ 1.4 amps) and 20 watts (20 volts @ 1 amps) power profiles. The charger also includes a standard 7.5W USB Type-A port for charging other USB peripherals. Note that you will actually see different power being advertised on the product page for this charger.

With 22.5W charging, the Anker charger unfortunately fails in comparison with the Nintendo Switch AC Adapter or even other similar alternatives like the Insignia Switch Dock Kit's AC adapter and the AmazonBasics Dual Voltage Switch AC Charger which offer up to 39W charging for the Switch. However 22.5W should still be able to provide sufficient charging to the Switch for mobile gaming.

Since it has been licensed by Nintendo, the Anker PowerCore 20100mAh Nintendo Switch Edition PD Portable Charger should have no issues working with the Switch.

It's nice to also receive a USB Type-C to Type-A cable along with a handy pouch and user manual with the Anker charger. 

Using the USB Power Delivery Compliance C2 Tester from Granite River Labs to run just a subset of the full USB Power Delivery compliance test suite, we can see that the Anker PowerCore 20100mAh Nintendo Switch Edition PD Portable Charger actually supports the following fixed PDO's- 15 watts (5 volts @ 3 amps), 23.4 watts (9 volts @ 2.6 amps), 22.8 watts (12 volts @ 1.9 amps) and 24 watts (15 volts @ 1.6 amps) for charging out. For charging in, the charger can be seen to support a fixed PDO of 5 watts (5 volts @ 1 amps) and variable PDO of 0.45-1.8 watts (5-20 volts @ 0.09 amps). Note some compliance failures were observed.

DUT Information

Manufacturer	Anker
Model Number	Switch Power Bank
Serial Number	Comm

Test Information

Date and Time:

20181001_213014

Controller and Instrument Information

Parameter	Value
GRL USB-PD_C2 Serial No.	117.181.117.091.159.
GRL USB-PD Software Version	1.3.6.4
GRL USB-PD Firmware Version	1.3.6.0.24
GRL USB-PD Eload Firmware Version	9.4/9.4
Board Calibration	Calibration Success.
App Mode	COMMUNICATION_ENGINE_TESTS
Tx Mask	true
Rx Mask	false
RX mask Power selection	Neutral Power
Device Type	DRP
Cable IR drop Imp(R)	0
Cable Type.	GRL-Spl-Cable
COMMUNICATION_ENGINE_TESTS CTS Version	1.09
VIF File name	Provider_On__Port_1.txt
Noise Pattern Generation:	Two-Tone Noise
VIF info	*Since VIF was not loaded below test results are information Only.
Test cases Execution Time:	0h:21m:3s

Product Capabilities

Parameter	GetCapabilities
SOP_CAPABLE	YES
SOP_P_CAPABLE	YES
SOP_PP_CAPABLE	YES
SOP_P_DEBUG_CAPABLE	NO
SOP_PP_DEBUG_CAPABLE	NO
SECURITY_MSGS_SUPPORTED	NO
MANUFACTURER_INFO_SUPPORTED	NO
USB_COMMS_CAPABLE	NO
DR_SWAP_TO_DFP_SUPPORTED	NO
UNCONSTRAINED_POWER	YES
UNCHUNKED_EXTENDED_MESSAGES_SUPPORTED	NO
ACCEPTS_PR_SWAP_AS_SNK	YES

Power Capabilities

Parameter	GetCapabilities
PD_POWER_AS_SOURCE
USB_SUSPEND_MAY_BE_CLEARED	NO
SENDS_PINGS	NO
Supply Type #1	Fixed
Peak Current #1	0x0(A)
Voltage #1	0x64(5V)
Max Current #1	0x12C(3A)
Supply Type #2	Fixed
Peak Current #2	0x0(A)
Voltage #2	0xB4(9V)
Max Current #2	0x104(2.6A)
Supply Type #3	Fixed
Peak Current #3	0x0(A)
Voltage #3	0xF0(12V)
Max Current #3	0xBE(1.9A)
Supply Type #4	Fixed
Peak Current #4	0x0(A)
Voltage #4	0x12C(15V)
Max Current #4	0xA0(1.6A)
PD_POWER_AS_SINK
NO_USB_SUSPEND_MAY_BE_SET	NO
GIVEBACK_MAY_BE_SET	NO
HIGHER_CAPABILITY_SET	NO
Supply Type #1	Fixed
Voltage #1	0x64(5V)
OP Current #1	0x64(1A)
Supply Type #2	Variable
Min Voltage #2	0x64(5V)
Max Voltage #2	0x190(20V)
Op Current #2	0x9(.09A)

USB-IF High Level Mapping Summary

Sl No	Test Category	Test Group Description	Test Result
1	PHY_PRIMARY_TX	BMC Physical Layer Transmitter	PASS
2	PHY_PRIMARY_RX	BMC Physical Layer Receiver	PASS
3	PHY_PRIMARY_MISC	BMC Phyiscal Layer Miscellaneous	PASS
4	PROT_PRIMARY	Protocol Specific Primary	PASS
5	POWER_PRIMARY	Power Source/Sink Primary	FAIL

Result Summary

Sl No	Test ID	Test Name	Test Result
1	TDA.2.1.1.1	TDA.2.1.1.1 BMC PHY TX EYE	PASS
2	TDA.2.1.1.2	TDA.2.1.1.2 BMC PHY TX BIT	PASS
3	TDA.2.1.2.2	TDA.2.1.2.2 BMC PHY RX INT REJ	PASS
4	TDA.2.1.2.1	TDA.2.1.2.1 BMC PHY RX BUSIDL	PASS
5	TDA.2.1.3.1	TDA.2.1.3.1 BMC PHY TERM	PASS
7	TDA.2.2.1	TDA.2.2.1 BMC PROT SEQ GETCAPS	PASS
8	TDA.2.2.3	TDA.2.2.3 BMC PROT SEQ DRSWAP	PASS
9	TDA.2.2.4	TDA.2.2.4 BMC PROT SEQ VCSWAP DFP	PASS
11	TDA.2.2.6	TDA.2.2.6 BMC PROT SEQ PRSWAP	PASS
12	TDA.2.2.7	TDA.2.2.7 BMC PROT BIST NOT 5V SRC	PASS
13	TDA.2.2.8	TDA.2.2.8 BMC PROT REV NUM	PASS
14	TDA.2.2.9	TDA.2.2.9 BMC PROT GSC REC	PASS
15	TDA.2.2.10	TDA.2.2.10 BMC PROT IGN PPS	PASS
16	TDA.2.3.1.1	TDA.2.3.1.1 POW SRC LOAD P PC	PASS
18	TDA.2.3.2.1	TDA.2.3.2.1 POW SRC TRANS P PC	PASS
20	TDA.2.3.3.2	TDA.2.3.3.2 POW SNK TRANS PC	FAIL

BMC Eye Diagram

The following load trace that was generated using the GRL-USB-PD C2 Compliance Test Solution App also shows that the Anker PowerCore 20100mAh Nintendo Switch Edition PD Portable Charger uses different voltage and current levels for charging.