[Closed] USB-C Charging docks, monitors, power what am in missing?

That dock won't power the laptop.

What make/model of Laptop do you have?

You plug a USB-C charging cable into the USB-C (Power Delivery) port visible on the right there. Then the hub puts that power into the laptop over the same USB-C connection it uses for everything else.
You need a compatible laptop (i.e. one which will take a charge like that) and a suitable power supply for the hub to do this.

I think it will power the laptop, assuming that your laptop supports being powered via its USB-C port.

You plug a USB-C power supply into the USB-C port on the dongle - in fact, that's all you can use the USB-C port on the dock for.

Yep, even little docks like that will do power passthrough but some laptops can be really finicky about it, my Lenovo won't even charge on many generic USB-C PD mains adaptors.

Cheaper ones will be plain USB-C and have limitations on monitor resolution (normally one screen, 4k 30hz), not a big issue in most setups.

Expensive ones will usually be Thunderbolt 3 and support more quicker ports, multiple monitors and high resolutions.

The cheap ones are fine for most people, just make sure it has all the ports you need.

I use this one:

https://www.megamac.com/products/owc-usb-c-travel-dock-100w-space-grey-owctcdk5p2sg

£50... does everything you need using just one USB-C port on your laptop. The power comes from plugging your existing power supply into the diddy dock.

thanks all,

I've got a Dell Latitude 5500 which supports USB-C charging. It should in theory work as long as what goes into the dock is >65w as Dell's wont draw more than 65w from non Dell kit (If it's Dell they will draw >90w)

My laptop is currently powered by a Barrel power pack, so i will need to find a USBc power adaptor to fit into the Dock in this case!

Mine has an external power supply rather than taking usb-c power inputs - if this is the case you need to make sure it delivers enough power. A colleague had one with an underpowered PSU which when the laptop was busy was unable to provide enough power leading to the battery level to drop. This leads to more charging cycles shortening the batteries life...

If it has a Thunderbolt port, get a Thunderbolt dock.

If the laptop does video out over the USB-C then you don't need the dock, just bite the bullet and spend a bit more on the monitor, eg., this was about the best when I was looking for 24" recently;
https://business.currys.co.uk/catalogue/computing/pc-monitors/dell-p2419hc-led-monitor-full-hd-1080p-24/P261283P?from=category

Plug the keyboard/mouse wireless dongle (or USB cable) into a USB port on the monitor and you are all done with one cable, no need for a dock.

I have a Latitude 5300 connected solely via USB-C to a Dell D6000 dock that supplies power, has a multitude of USB connected devices, plus the monitor via DisplayPort (but also has HDMI).

So you could get a D6000 (or similar Dell offering) or try and find something that matches it from a compatibility point of view. I have power going into the dock using a standard Dell power brick (older one with blue light on the cord) - not sure what power rating it is but it works fine. Note some docks (from both Dell and others) won't charge the laptop, and the laptop itself needs to be able to take charge via the USB-C port which the Latitude 5500 very likely does.

https://www.dell.com/en-uk/work/shop/dell-universal-dock-d6000/apd/452-bcyj/pc-accessories

I've got a Latitude 5590 connected to a Dell WD15 dock, which works well (the only cable going into my laptop is the USB-C cable from the dock, everything else plugs into the dock). The only crap thing is it's very limited on the external display resolution support, with two monitors you're limited to 1080p (via the dock at least). I have 2 x Dell 27" monitors (chained using displayport, one connects into the other and that monitor connects to the dock) - I really wanted to switch at least one of them to a 34" ultrawide but can't (at least without changing the dock but even then I'm not sure as I think it's more a limitation of the single display over USB-C port on the laptop).

just a little update.. All seemed to be going quite well with the dock set up, until it all freaked out and the usbc port kept on dissasociating itself from the laptop -as in would cut out in some LSD trippy way, then not work at all. As soon as i plugged the power back to the laptop and took power out of the dock, it all seemed to work - but it's not doing what it shoudl do now.. grrrr.

Also, i've now found out the BT dongles that you commonly use with keyboard and mice setups don't like going through USB-C docks - they lag horrendously..

@kelvin - what laptop do you have??

16” MacBook Pro - everything working with that OWC travel dock. Someone mentioned getting a Thunderbolt dock instead… but I wanted cheap.

All seemed to be going quite well with the dock set up, until it all freaked out and the usbc port kept on dissasociating itself from the laptop

Maybe not enough power to do the dock and the laptop? What's the wattage of your power brick?

Someone mentioned getting a Thunderbolt dock instead… but I wanted cheap.

Yeah, but using displaylink is hateful when you can use native graphics.

I think the incompatibility with keyboard/mouse dongles depends on the dock. Bad ones suffer from interference but good ones don't seem to.

I resolved that very issue accidentally when I...returned a cheap dock because of other issues (drop outs, display responsiveness) and got a nicer one. I had been tolerating keyboard/mouse dropouts until then but the new dock doesn't have that problem at all.

cheers Chaps. The brick (universal charger) is 65w which is more than enough - the laptop will draw 90W with a dell brick, but onyl 65w with non dell but read this should be enough to power the laptop but maybe not charge it at it's normal rate.. I might try another dock..

this is the charger i bought;

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07QPVSVCW/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o05_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1

The brick (universal charger) is 65w which is more than enough

I'm not sure it is. I had a Lenovo one that complained bitterly with a 65W PSU, but was fine with the 130W that it came with.

Remember the dock draws power too.

My work's Lenovo uses a Lenovo Pro USB-C docking station at work. Power supply to dock thich in turn powers the laptop via the USB-C.

At home, I bought the Lenovo Pro USB 3.0 dock off ebay, with power for £35. All I needed to do was get our works IT to let me install the display driver for the hub and I was off. I still have to use the laptop power supply with it being only USBC, but I'm only plugging in two connectors each morning when I go out to the shed with the laptop.

It's also compatible with my other laptops being USB 3.0 as they don't have USB C

The down side, is the work dock costs about £150. The one I have at home, used to cost £150, but second hand £35.

I use a Dell USB-C docking station with my work PC. Works great.

For our home PCs, I looked at this recently, and there seemed to be two main variations. Those with power delivery via the USB-C and those without. In the end I bought two of these for a couple of places in the house. I only wanted a single monitor connection, and it has power delivery.

Plugable USB-C Docking Station

This is what I got.

Most are missing the power supply, which is needed. Works wth any laptop.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Lenovo-ThinkPad-USB-3-0-Pro-Dock-Port-Replicator-03X6897-40A7004-5UK-w-PSU/274435949986?hash=item3fe5a845a2:g:KrAAAOSwbYdasETM