For those of us that do a lot of field mapping, keeping all our devices charged is required. Luckily solar power systems have become inexpensive enough and flexible enough to easily mount on vehicles. As charging technology keeps changing, so do the charging technologies and connectors. Everything is compatible, so adapters can be used when you have a mix of old and new devices.
I've written other docs on power and charging issues while field mapping for more detail. This is a short tech doc on solar charging.
It used to be much easier to charge devices off of a 12VDC battery. Charging was slow though, so the urge for faster charging and more voltage and current was a wish-list item. At one point a few years ago I could charge a laptop with a 60W charger, it just took hours. I often just let it charge all night while I was sleeping, knowing I could recharge the truck battery when the sun came out.
Older chargers may only put out enough power to charge a laptop that is turned off. If you want to work on your laptop while charging, you need more power. I found even with a 90W charger I had this problem. If you are just web surfing or doing email, power requirements are lower. Computationally intensive tasks require more power. I’m often compiling software, and with a 90W charger charging blinks on and off the entire time which gets irritating.
Chargers that plug into your vehicles hard-wired cigarette lighter socket are common, and have the advantage of being able to charge off your vehicle when it’s running. These are usually a power brick with a male plug on both ends. I recently had the experience of this type of socket melting with the higher power needs of my somewhat newer laptop. Course then I had no power to charge anything… Luckily it was the last day of the field mapping trip. Most campers have cigarette sockets for DC device.
Or you can use an adapter with USB outputs. Older chargers were power limited, and even with a 90W charger I had issues charging my laptop. It would only charge when turned off, so if I wanted to work, I was on laptop battery power.
Another issue I discovered was that some of the 3rd market cigarette panel mount sockets for RVs use really small gauge wire. I had to rewire my old one with heavier gauge wire to handle even a 90W charge.
There are unfortunately several type of USB connectors. The original form factor is USB-A, which is the wide slot in most desktops and many laptops. Then there was the smaller USB connector shaped like a trapezoid. Most older phones and tablets used this connector. Then USB-C came around, so now we don’t have to pay attention to the proper orientation to plug in the cable. Adapters can be used between the various connectors with functionality limited to the older device.
Laptops used barrel connectors until USB started to be used for charging instead of just a communication cable. Not all laptops will charge off a USB cable, but it's getting more common. Another issue is that not all USB cables can handle the higher power requirements. You want a USB cable that can handle 100W, these days cables that support PD3.1 can handle 240W.
Many of the after market chargers support both Quick Charge (QC), with a USB-A connector, and Power Delivery (PD) with a USB-C connector. Most devices that charge off a USB-C support PD, QC is limited to devices with a Qualcomm chipset. And many devices support using either. The nice part is you can get a full charge in a few hours, or a quick partial charge in under an hour.
PD is a standard used by multiple manufacturers, and is only supported by USB-C. This can output up to 20VDC-100W (@3A), decreasing the time it takes to charge a device. PD 3.0 can provide enough power to charge and use my laptop. I've replaced most of the panel mounted cigarette sockets in my camper with PD3.x sockets.
This is a newer standard for faster charging, and yet more power. Chargers that support PD 3.1 are not yet widely available. These up the power output to 20VDC-240W (@5A), and you'll need a USB cable that supports 240W.
QC is a Qualcomm feature for fast charging. It uses a USB-A connector. This is supported by any device using a Qualcomm chipset, for example Samsung devices.
QC 4.0 is compatible with PD, so will work with any device. I haven't yet seen any QC 4.0 chargers yet, but I'm sure that will change.