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OSHE Magnetic Charging Card

The OSHE Magnetic Charging Card is a community-developed MagSafe-style magnetic charging expansion card, announced by the Open Source Hardware Enterprise (OSHE) at Michigan Technological University on April 13, 20261. It brings breakaway magnetic charging to Framework laptops via a custom two-part PCB design with ESD protection.

Design​

The electrical design is essentially a USB-C 2.0 port in a different form factor, with ESD protection diodes on the VBus and data lines to prevent damage from electrostatic discharge during plugging and unplugging1.

The card is designed in two parts1:

  • One PCB for the expansion bay (the magnetic connector side)
  • One adapter PCB for converting existing USB-C cables to the new connector

The adapter approach was chosen over a hardwired design to make the card compatible with virtually any USB-C cable setup1. The boards use castellated edges for the connector, which raises manufacturing cost; OSHE planned to package both boards in a single PCB file with mouse bites to halve per-person cost1.

Power Delivery​

100W power delivery was tested and works perfectly on the card1. 240W PD could not be tested over long periods because the OSHE team does not own a Framework 16 or any 240W PD device1. Brief testing was done on a Framework 16, but long-term reliability at 240W is not guaranteed1.

Framework contributed a Framework 13 motherboard and Cooler Master case to support OSHE's development and validation work2.

Specifications​

SpecificationDetails
TypeMagSafe-style magnetic charging card1
ElectricalUSB-C 2.0 (repackaged form factor)1
ESD protectionDiodes on VBus and data lines1
DesignTwo-part PCB (expansion bay + cable adapter)1
ConnectorCastellated edges1
PD tested100W (working)1
PD untested240W (no FW16 available for testing)1
OrganizationMichigan Technological University — OSHE1
LicenseOpen source1
RepositoryOSHE-Github/OSHE-Framework (GitHub)1
ProjectDescription
Full Power Magnetic Charging CardEarlier MagSafe-style charging card by Sean Nagle (2021)
OSHE I2C/UART CardI2C/UART expansion card — another OSHE project
OSHE Mouse Dongle Hiding CardRecessed USB-A card — another OSHE project

Footnotes​

  1. OSHE Framework Magnetic Charging Connector Card — Framework Community (OSHE_Framework, April 2026) ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7 ↩8 ↩9 ↩10 ↩11 ↩12 ↩13 ↩14 ↩15 ↩16 ↩17 ↩18

  2. OSHE Framework Magnetic Charging Connector Card — Framework support — Framework Community (OSHE_Framework, April 2026) ↩