A Software-Defined USB PD Charger (ESP32, FPGA, Open Source Hardware)
We built a multi-port USB-C PD3.2 system that treats power delivery as a software-defined problem rather than fixed-function silicon. This started as our internal R&D platform while developing a consumer charger. We were uncomfortable with the typical “the FAE handles the firmware, you just build the hardware” model that dominates the PD ecosystem. In that model, key behavior lives in vendor-controlled binaries, arbitration rules are opaque, and meaningful customization is either discouraged or impossible. We wanted full ownership of the system — from power stage to protocol logic — and we…
A Software-Defined USB PD Charger (ESP32, FPGA, Open Source Hardware) launched on March 2, 2026 with 6 votes, #1,631 of 23,380 launches that month and more than 75% of that year's launches.
What it does
A software-defined charger and open USB Power Delivery development platform
HummingKit is a professional-grade, software-defined power platform that ditches the "black box" of USB Type-C charging in favor of a transparent, programmable approach. This approach aligns with the Software-Defined Charger (SDC) concept, where power hardware is decoupled from control logic, allowing charging behavior to be defined, inspected, and iterated on with software rather than fixed hardware rules. It combines an industrial AC-DC core with an FPGA-driven architecture to provide five independent, high-power USB Power Delivery 3.2 ports, each exposed through a feature-rich set of open APIs. By integrating an ESP32-C3 for Wi-Fi/BLE connectivity and a dedicated Amlogic SALELF2 FPGA for…from crowdsupply.com
In the maker’s words, at launch
We built a multi-port USB-C PD3.2 system that treats power delivery as a software-defined problem rather than fixed-function silicon. This started as our internal R&D platform while developing a consumer charger. We were uncomfortable with the typical “the FAE handles the firmware, you just build the hardware” model…
Does a similar job
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