A sub-module based hybrid converter is provided. By setting a half-controlled charging link of changing full bridge sub-modules from a blocked state to a half-blocked state one by one in a charging process, and raising the voltages of half bridge sub-modules to reach the starting point of a half bridge sub-module based self-powered supply in an uncontrolled stage of the half bridge sub-modules, the starting point of the sub-module based self-powered supply is increased, and the design difficulty of the sub-module based self- powered supply is reduced. The present invention also includes another charging method for a sub-module based hybrid converter.