More Than 100WDC USB-C Power Delivery

August 21, 20 - Posted in: Tech Talk by Kevin Quinn, Thee DocKtor

The USB-C Power Delivery Specification allows for a maximum of 100WDC Power Delivery over USB Type-C. The Targus DOCK190 supports the maximum wattage allowed by the USB PD specification, the DOCK180 supports up to 60WDC, and the DOCK430 and DOCK221 up to 85WDC These power levels are sufficient for many host devices that may draw more when used with proprietary dock and power supply designs.

Many devices that typically request more power will still contract for these maximum power delivery wattages but may not charge their batteries as fast or may not run at their top operating speeds. For instance, the DOCK190, and even the DOCK180 often supply sufficient power for normal workloads on these hosts. Examples of these devices include some HP Z-Book configurations, Dell Precision and higher-end Latitudes, and Lenovo P-Series workstations in example. For HP ZBooks see https://support.hp.com/bg-en/document/c06473057 .

Please don’t be distracted by input power specification claims; power supply available to the host (DC output power at a given voltage) is the more important specification. The power input to the docking station does take into consideration the total power needed to power not only the host, but the peripherals plugged into the docking station and the dock itself. Targus designs docking station power supplies with all of this in consideration and compliant to applicable specifications, including safety and USB-C.

Any docking station supplying more than the 100WDC on a Type-C connector is operating in a proprietary mode, and not universal. That is, a Dell dock may supply 130WDC to a Dell host but no more than 65WDC to others if it contracts at all.

The Targus DOCK190 will supply up to 100WDC which means that a MBP that wants to operate at 94WDC will, a Surface Book 3 at 94WDC will work, and many workstation PC at that 100WDC mark and at all the various voltages required by many hosts. The Targus DOCK190 supports USB Type-C PD at 5V (phones), 9V (Apple), 12V (some HP), 15V (many Dell, HP, and Lenovo) and 20V (2016 MacBook and higher performance PC) up to 100W. DOCK190 also supports legacy (barrel) 19.VDC power and charging to 90WDC and includes power tips for most of the popular host PCs from Dell, HP, Lenovo (square tip), Asus, Toshiba.

For me information about output power available from Targus docking stations, contact us or check out the articles at:

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More Than 100WDC USB-C Power Delivery

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