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I've got a few USB-C chargers that can deliver power via USB-PD; a 65W charger, a 100W charger, and a hub that advertises "PD Passthrough".

My laptop accepts up to 100W, which is why I'm surprised when I plugged the 100W charger into the hub and try to pass it through, I see this "More Power Required" message:

More Power Required

Is there a way to see what my laptop has "negotiated" the power draw from the device?

matthewsteele
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  • What happens when u use the 100w without the hub? – Moab Feb 13 '21 at 22:54
  • @Moab No warnings, and it seems to power without issue. – matthewsteele Feb 15 '21 at 02:28
  • "PD passthrough" sounds scammy to me. I mean, PD doesn't work in hub in the way like "supported or not". The hub will have maximum ratings. Some might be 100W or above, some might be 60W something, and some might be just even 20W or below. Also usually the hub would consume part of the input. I recall I saw an Anker one with rating like 100W in / 73W (or maybe 87? not sure) out max (it might be referring to the worst case scenario when the hub is attached with a bunch of stuff though). – Tom Yan Feb 23 '23 at 03:58

1 Answers1

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Using a USB type C current meter (like here) between the laptop and it's power cable, you should see the current it's pulling. Multiplying this current by the voltage tells you it's power in watts.

Thats pretty much all you can do on a hardware side to get the actual physical current being pulled by the machine. Software readings can't always be trusted in cases of faulty components (to name one example) where readings might be wrong.

These USB meters are fairly cheap and I got one for about £4 on Aliexpress, at the cost of waiting a while for it.

QuickishFM
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