The difference between 16-pin and 24-pin for USB type-C

battery-chargingpcb-designpinoutpinsusb

I'm pretty new to PCB design.

I am trying to make a circuit that will take 5V/3A input, charge 3.7V Li-Po battery, give 5V/2A output, and also has a charging protection IC.

For 5V/3A, it seems to me that I need to use USB type-C, even though it has many features that I do not actually need in my design. However, later on I found out that it has 2 different pin sets: 16 and 24.

The question is which one I should choose, or which one is better suited for which application?

Best Answer

24 Pins is the Full Featured version, populating all contacts.

As USB-C has many different usage modes, you don't always need all contacts, they are mostly required for alternate modes like DP and full USB-3-speeds.

The big advantage of the 16 Pin version is that it is better to solder, so if the Pinout hits your needs, there is no reason not to use it.

I just had a look at Hirose CX90M-16P: Hirose CX90M-16P Pinout Drawing

If you compare this to the pin usage in Power Delivery Mode you see that only Pins GND: A+B1, A+B12 Vbus: A+B4, A+B9 CC1/2: A5, B5 are needed, so you are absolutely fine with the reduced version.