M1 Air wont charge through Anker USB-C dongle w/ 100W power delivery. Why?

[YeshuaSupreme]

I just ordered this Anker dongle for my new M1 MacBook Air. When I plug the charging cable that came with the Mac into the power delivery USB-C port on the Anker dongle and plug the lot into the MacBook's USB port it does not charge the battery. It simply runs off wall power without charging the battery. This is a name brand USB-C dongle which claims to support the MacBook Air and has 100W power delivery. It should have more than enough chooch to charge this laptop's battery. What gives?

 

[ferrarr]

What size MBP do you have?

That device "charges at up to 85W."

 

[YeshuaSupreme]

What size MBP do you have?

That device "charges at up to 85W."

MBP as in MacBook Pro? I don't have one. I have an M1 MacBook Air.

 

[Lifeisabeach]

Can you post a link to which exact Anker charging brick you have? Also, have you tried a different cable?

EDIT: also, a picture of what you have would help, There's always the off chance you were sent the wrong one. And... where is this charging brick plugged into exactly?

 

[YeshuaSupreme]

Can you post a link to which exact Anker charging brick you have? Also, have you tried a different cable?

EDIT: also, a picture of what you have would help, There's always the off chance you were sent the wrong one. And... where is this charging brick plugged into exactly?

This is the Anker dongle I ordered.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07ZVKTP53?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details

And the charging brick and cable I am using with it are the ones that came from Apple with the MacBook Air.

 

[ferrarr]

And the charging brick and cable I am using with it are the ones that came from Apple with the MacBook Air.

The charging brick for the MacBook Air only supplies 30W, so you would need a brick that supplies the full 100W for it to do what you want.

 

[YeshuaSupreme]

The charger that came with the Mac is obviously strong enough to charge the battery when it is plugged directly in. Why isn't it strong enough to charge it when passing through this Anker dongle? I am confused.

 

[Lifeisabeach]

The charger that came with the Mac is obviously strong enough to charge the battery when it is plugged directly in. Why isn't it strong enough to charge it when passing through this Anker dongle? I am confused.

Ah... you are using a hub, not a brick. So.. it may be losing a percentage of the wattage provided by the 30W brick. If you look at the product photos, it shows that it is taking 100 watts in while passing through only 85 watts. I would expect that a hub needs to reserve some of the incoming power flow to use for the other ports that are available on the hub. So, assuming it needs to reserve 15 watts for this purpose, there are only 15 watts left to use as pass through power to your MacBook. Solution? Get a charging brick with a higher output. I have a 45 watt Anker Nano II and it's great. I don't normally use it with my MacBook (mainly iPad and iPhone when at work), but at 45 watts, you should be getting a full 30 watts passed through to your MacBook if you still need to use the hub. If you don't need to use a hub, then your MBA will charge faster when connected to it directly.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08T5QVTKW/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

You could also look at the 65 watt version of the Nano II, which would allow for more watts to be passed through to your MacBook than what the charging brick that came with it provides.

EDIT: I just took a look at another Anker hub that does 65 watts power delivery, and a product image shows that delivers 53 watts for charging. So yes... there definitely is a percentage of power loss for charging.

 

[YeshuaSupreme]

Ah... you are using a hub, not a brick. So.. it may be losing a percentage of the wattage provided by the 30W brick. If you look at the product photos, it shows that it is taking 100 watts in while passing through only 85 watts. I would expect that a hub needs to reserve some of the incoming power flow to use for the other ports that are available on the hub. So, assuming it needs to reserve 15 watts for this purpose, there are only 15 watts left to use as pass through power to your MacBook. Solution? Get a charging brick with a higher output. I have a 45 watt Anker Nano II and it's great. I don't normally use it with my MacBook (mainly iPad and iPhone when at work), but at 45 watts, you should be getting a full 30 watts passed through to your MacBook if you still need to use the hub. If you don't need to use a hub, then your MBA will charge faster when connected to it directly.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08T5QVTKW/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

You could also look at the 65 watt version of the Nano II, which would allow for more watts to be passed through to your MacBook than what the charging brick that came with it provides.

EDIT: I just took a look at another Anker hub that does 65 watts power delivery, and a product image shows that delivers 53 watts for charging. So yes... there definitely is a percentage of power loss for charging.

Ah, that makes sense. Thank you for the thorough explanation!