New Products · Sourcing brief

Negotiator II Turns USB-C Chargers Into 48 V, 5 A Bench Supplies in a 2 mm Card

An open-source business-card device negotiates USB PD 3.1 up to 48 V, displays live V/I/W, and exposes a browser console for bench use.

Published Updated 4 min read ✓ AI-ready Share

TL;DR — three sentences

  • Anas Malas' Negotiator II negotiates USB PD 3.1 up to 48 V in 0.1 V steps and caps output at 5 A, source-dependent. (S1)
  • Indicators and live readouts distinguish PDO, PPS, SAVS, and EAVS modes; an auto mode picks the highest-current option. (S1)
  • The 0.8 mm four-layer card carries roughly 200 0402 LEDs (10 mcd, <0.2 mA each) and is about 2 mm thick overall. (S1)

Taken from key_takeaways (real field, max 3 entries). Fact and analysis are labelled separately.

Negotiator II Turns USB-C Chargers Into 48 V, 5 A Bench Supplies in a 2 mm Card — New Products news briefEditorial cover for a New Products brief. Power motif; headline "Negotiator II Turns USB-C Chargers Into 48 V, 5 A Bench Supplies in a 2 mm Card". Reported key numbers: 0.1 V. 1 cited source. Static cover (no animation).NEW PRODUCTS · NEWS BRIEFNegotiator II Turns USB-C Chargers Into48 V, 5 A Bench Supplies in a 2 mm CardREPORTED KEY NUMBERS0.1 V1 sourceXAIPART
Cover image generated from data already shown on this page: the category motif, the headline, and reported key numbers. No decorative illustration; no third-party image.

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An AI summary may have dropped the basis for its claims. The original forecast, the affected parts and every citation are on this page, each traceable to its source.

XAIPART forecast

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Affected parts

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Reported by Hackster.io News on 2026-10-08. Summarized and analyzed by XAIPART Editorial.

What happened

Maker Anas Malas has built a USB-PD trigger device called the Negotiator II, described as roughly the size and thickness of a business card.S1 The card negotiates with a USB-C charger or power bank under USB Power Delivery 3.1 and exposes fixed and programmable PD modes for bench use.S1 An LED capability bar indicates which source voltages are available from 5 V up to 48 V, after which onboard buttons step the requested voltage in 0.1 V increments.S1

Output current is listed at up to 5 A, with the article noting the practical ceiling is set by the charger, cable, voltage, and PD mode in use.S1 Separate on-card readouts give live voltage, current, and power, and mode indicators distinguish PDO, PPS, SAVS, and EAVS operation; an automatic mode picks the highest-current option at the selected voltage.S1 A second USB port exposes a browser-based console for charger telemetry, live graphs, diagnostics, and firmware updates, with banana-plug, crocodile-clip, and friction-fit 0.1-inch headers for output, plus a custom "Wire Wedge" terminal.S1

The hardware is a 0.8 mm four-layer PCB carrying roughly 200 LEDs and measuring about 2 mm thick overall.S1 To drive the LED bar from a 48 V rail without a bulky buck converter, Malas used 0402 LEDs rated at 10 mcd and under 0.2 mA each, fed by an LDO with firmware that dims the display on demand for thermal control.S1 Short-circuit protection between the 48 V VBUS line and the adjacent USB-C CC pins is handled with depletion-mode N-channel MOSFETs that cut off the CC path during a fault; the author reports the board survives deliberate 48 V-to-CC shorts and continues negotiating afterward.S1

Key numbers from the source
MetricReported value
USB PD specUSB Power Delivery 3.1
Voltage range5 V to 48 V
Voltage step0.1 V
Max output currentup to 5 A (source-dependent)
PCB stack-up / thickness4-layer, 0.8 mm
Assembled card thicknessabout 2 mm
Onboard LEDsroughly 200
LED rating0402, 10 mcd, under 0.2 mA each
BoM cost (100 qty)about $8 per ENIG board

Background timeline

  1. No prior milestones disclosed by the source.

XAIPART take

Technical impact

The Negotiator II sits in the same category as commercial USB-PD decoy modules (e.g., the CH224K, FUSB302-based triggers, and the AVS-aware offerings from the same hobbyist ecosystem), but it is unusual in surfacing PPS, SAVS, and EAVS mode status through dedicated indicators and pairing that with a 48 V ceiling. XAIPART analysis Hardware designers evaluating the design should treat the published 5 A as the charger-side envelope, not the board-side: the 0402 LEDs and the chosen VBUS-to-CC protection scheme are clever cost moves, but routing 5 A on a 0.8 mm four-layer PCB with 0402 components still demands careful cable and connector selection. XAIPART analysis

Market impact

For sourcing and lab operations, the article's $8 unit cost at 100 quantity and the fact that it turns an existing USB-C charger into an adjustable supply could displace a small slice of low-end bench PSU demand for prototype labs, education, and field service. XAIPART analysis Procurement teams should note that no retail channel, distributor part number, or lead time is given; the article states Malas plans to open-source the design but does not confirm availability today. XAIPART analysis Until a public release, this is best tracked as a reference design rather than a procurement item.

Action

Bookmark the source article and watch for the open-source release if you want a reference PD3.1 trigger; in the meantime, verify any 48 V / 5 A path on existing lab supplies against your cable and connector ratings rather than assuming a USB-C brick will deliver that combination safely. XAIPART analysis For immediate procurement, stay on established USB-PD trigger ICs and finished modules with published datasheets and traceable supply. XAIPART analysis

XAIPART Forecast

XAIPART expects that within 9 months of the article date (by 2027-07-08), if the Negotiator II design files are released as planned, completed-module listings on at least one hobbyist marketplace (Tindie, GroupGets, or Crowd Supply) will appear with a published single-unit price below $50 USD; if no such listing exists at or below $50 by that date, this forecast is wrong. XAIPART analysis

Facts are as reported by the cited source. The design-in, sourcing and forward-looking statements above are XAIPART's analysis, not the source's claims. Uncertainty: the article is a single hackster.io write-up; no independent confirmation of measured efficiency, thermal behavior, or sustained 5 A capability has been cited, and the planned open-source release date is not disclosed.

Corrections: none at publication. This brief will be updated with a timestamp if the source corrects its report.

Alternatives and lifecycle

Alternatives on file — catalog scope, not a market ranking
PartRelationLifecycleBasis
— No alternative on file NEEDS DATA — Requires match_type before any predecessor label may appear

“Predecessor” and “alternative” labels come only from a recorded match type, a lifecycle status, or the source text. Where no match is recorded, no label is shown. Our own listings are not a market reference.

What to watch

Falsifiable forecast — threshold, window and current status. Disproved forecasts stay visible.
ClaimThresholdByStatus
XAIPART expects that within 9 months of the article date (by 2027-07-08), if the Negotiator II design files are released as planned, completed-module listings on at least one hobbyist marketplace (Tindie, GroupGets, o... no such listing exists at or below $50 by that date Pending

Forecasts that turn out wrong are kept visible and marked. We do not delete them.

Affected parts

No catalog match. This story does not map to any part currently listed on XAIPART. We do not infer matches, and we do not show a placeholder list.

Cost pressure by dimension

Source: FRED · Generated · reference output z and composite are algorithm outputs, not a fetch snapshot

Cost pressure by dimension — composite stateDiverging bars for three dimensions around a zero midpoint. Input Cost has no reading; Supply Demand z -1.4711, notable; Fx Energy z 0.4541, neutral. Composite index -7.6, band neutral.0Input costno readingSupply/demandz −1.4711 · notable46 dFX & energyz +0.4541 · neutral6 dcomposite −7.6 · neutral−100 · −40 · −15 · 0 · +15 · +40 · +100
Underlying values — copyable for verification.
DimensionFRED series IDUnitLagAs of
Input costPCOPPUSDM, PALUMUSDM, PNICKUSDMUSD/mt96 d
Supply/demandPCU334413334413, IPG3344Sindex(1982=100) / index(2017=100)46 d
FX & energyDEXCHUS, DCOILBRENTEU, DHHNGSPrate / USD/bbl / USD/MMBtu6 d

No free authoritative interface for: gold · silver · rare earth · polysilicon · lithium carbonate · market share — listed rather than approximated.

How this was produced

Process evidence — fetch, source sanity, model and gate
Audit trail for this brief
Source fetched Hackster.io News · www.hackster.io · 3,014 chars · fetch status success
Source sanity (S1) ok — passed before any model call (no s1_ block recorded)
Model / prompt MiniMax-M3 · prompt Blog Agent - News Summary (v2.8-final) · 6,816 tokens · 26.9s · run completed
Gate verdict pass · 6/6 applicable checks passed · spec v2.9 · C10 ratio 0.015813 · C10 rounds 0

Every row above is produced by the pipeline, not written by hand.

Editorial score

Deterministic gate result — pure PHP, no model involvement in the verdict
Gate score breakdown 6 applicable checks, 6 passed: 100 percent. No hold items or mandatory failures. Gate spec: v2.9 (S0 + S1 + C1–C20) · Source affinity (C20): 0.5746. Applicable checks passed 6 / 6 = 100% · verdict: pass No hold items or mandatory failures Gate spec: v2.9 (S0 + S1 + C1–C20) · Source affinity (C20): 0.5746 The gate decides publication. The independent audit score is advisory only.

Related coverage

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Sources

  1. Turn Almost Any USB-C Charger Into a Portable Bench Power Supply — https://www.hackster.io/news/turn-almost-any-usb-c-charger-into-a-portable-bench-power-supply-8ec45816ebe7 · rss · accessed

Facts are marked S1/S2 and trace to the linked source. Passages labelled analysis are XAIPART's own reasoning, kept separate from reported facts. Source links are followed rather than nofollow — attribution is intentional.