Hi! I’m a new Plugable user. I am just wondering, is it possible to use Plugable Thunderbold 3 Docking Station without charging the host? I understand that this is one of its best features but I am afraid that it might affect my laptop and its battery if it’s just charging.
Thanks!
Hello,
Thank you for posting!
I can see that you have also reached out to us directly via support@plugable.com with the same question, and I have just sent my direct reply.
I am including the relevant portions of my direct reply below for the benefit of anyone else following this thread.
Thank you,
Bob
Plugable Technologies
Relevant information from our direct reply:
"The Plugable TBT3-UDV docking station → https://plugable.com/products/tbt3-udv has two Thunderbolt 3 ports located on the back of the unit.
The Thunderbolt 3 port with the small laptop icon above it can provide up to 60W of power to external peripherals or to a host laptop.
The ‘other’ Thunderbolt 3 port can provide up to 15W of power to external peripherals or to a host laptop.
The power from either Thunderbolt 3 port is provided only if the connected external peripheral or the host laptop requests it, and this behavior cannot be changed. To put that another way, it is not possible to disable the power output capabilities of the Thunderbolt 3 ports within the dock. The power consumption behavior is controlled entirely by the connected peripheral or host laptop.
To the best of our knowledge, all Thunderbolt 3 docking stations will function in a similar manner given that a small amount of power delivery to power external Thunderbolt or USB-C peripherals is part of the Thunderbolt standard.
Thunderbolt 3 laptops have sophisticated power management capabilities built-in that manage their battery condition, so this type of functionality should not be a cause for any type of concern."