Why can't we just utilize laying around USB-C wall plugs to prototype higher voltage devices? How about unlocking 5A at 5V on your PD3.1 charger?

PicoPD will help you negotiate the voltage from your USB PD wall plug/power bank while still retaining the full functionality of RP2040. It will be a good candidate to USB-C PD your motor control board, controllable power supply, LED driver, custom battery charger, and more!

Premade units:  Elecrow - PicoPD

Demo

Pinout

Key player

The key player that enables the PD ability is the AP33772 IC from Diodes Incorporated. This is a relatively new IC that has an integrated USB PD controller with PPS capability. Power selection and power rail status checks can be done over I2C. All of the PD negotiation, refresh, and timing are done by the AP33772 IC. The microcontroller after making its power request in Setup(), is free to perform another task. This also simplified the code in comparison to the good old FUS302B which requires the microcontroller to do the heavy lifting.

The typical circuit utilizes a back-to-back NMOS configuration to create a bidirectional power switch. The switch remains open until the PD power negotiation is complete. My design omitted the NMOS switch so that the RP2040 can be powered as soon as the USB-C is plugged in.

Schematic