Which power brick rating for HP Elite Thunderbolt 3 dock (HP ZBook Thunderbolt 3 dock)?

[EliotCole]

Hello

I have an inherited HP Elite Thunderbolt 3 dock (HP ZBook Thunderbolt 3 dock) with no power supply (PSU) because life is pain (jokes). So I'm curious which power supply brick I should purchase and, as I understand it, there's three options:

• 65W
• 90W
• 120W

The bottom of the dock offers three (unclear if they're related) amperage input/output levels, too:

• 4.62A
• 7.7A
• 103A

I have the following two laptops which will use it, but I'll be getting/using more HP laptops with it in the future.

• HP EliteBook x360 1030 G3
• HP EliteBook 840 G5

I've tested the device as working with two display-port monitors (3 display config), and gigabit Ethernet connectivity. Plus I have also checked the support pages over the past couple of weeks finding numerous pages that mention these laptops as working with the device. So, please, do not post any "this is not compatible" conversations, thank you. 🙂

I just need to know which rating power brick I should be purchasing to ensure that an effective docked power supply is passed to the laptop at full load. and that the device increases its charge, and doesn't either drop or stay level. That is, of course, unless it's at full charge already, but it still shouldn't drop without being able to recover. "Quick charge" would also be great. As I understand (for example) the x360 comes with a 65w brick, however this brick will need to push the dock and attached peripherals, too, so that won't be enough.

If anyone could help if be much obliged, I'm assuming the 90W as that's rated for the x360 G2, but would like to get this right first time and not under-power or over-power anything, and ensure the right amperage is handled correctly.

best

Eliot

[EliotCole]

Thought I would come back to this with some fresh information a few months later.

Firstly, the wattage isn't something that we should really need to worry about. As long as we're providing as much as the provided PSU gives out, we're good, however, with a dock, I'd say go beyond, in case you're wanting to provide more power to other devices, or the dock has usb ports specifically marked for charging.

Secondly, and put super simply; I believe that USB-C with Power Delivery (wikipedia) shold negotiate the right charging protocol for the laptop, all that remains to be seen is:

1. Do the laptops concerned have a USB-C port that works with USB Power Delivery?
2. Does the HP Elite Thunderbolt 3 dock operate with full USB Power Delivery?

So, hopefully HP's specifications pages can answer these questions, yes? Let's see.

First up, specs pages links:

• EliteBook x360 1030 G3 - Specifications on HP.com
• EliteBook 840 G5 - Specifications on HP.com
• Elite Thunderbolt 3 dock - Specifications on HP.com

The x360 1030 G3 lists:

• It has "(2) USB 3.1 Type-C with Thunderbolt" - Which would seem to comply with power delivery.
  
  The PSU is a 65 W USB Type-C AC adapter - This powers via the Thunderbolt 3 infrastructure only.
• The battery "Supports battery fast charge" and has "power management settings" - So looking good?

The 840 G5 lists:

• (1) Thunderbolt (USB Type-C connector)
• Choice of power over 65watt USB-C or conventional PSU (blue)
• Battery is "HP 3-cell 50 Wh Long Life Li-ion " with no note of fast charging.

The dock lists ...

• ...

Well, it doesn't list much, plus it looks a little obfuscatory, in that the device is (I think) the same device for all of the three listed on that page, just supplied with a different power supply. Other sites only seem to carry the same, limited, information on this dock (Bechtle, and a longer hp pdf, for example).

Digging a bit deeper, the x360 1030 g2 supported the dock, as per this HP document. That was a laptop that actually needed more power, so hopefully that bodes well here for the G3. The indian site lists the following ports, which would also indicate that it's up to the most recent power delivery state, as well as saying "Rapidly replenish your HP EliteBook’s power after a demanding day with an impressive charging station that passes power directly through a Thunderbolt™ 3 power cable.":

• 1 USB Type-C™
• 1 powered USB 3.0
• 1 Thunderbolt™/Power cable connector
• 1 Smart AC power port

So, I guess the only two questions that I'm left with, are:

1. When the power delivery handshake is done with the laptops and the dock, is the amperage set, too? (I think it is)...
   and ...
2. Does the HP Elite Thunderbolt 3 dock feature USB Power Delivery revision 2.0 (USB PD Rev. 2.0), a specification defined in 2012? (I would assume that it does since it was released a number of years later)

E

By the way, anyone looking for the impossible to find 4AA6-5088ENW.pdf document, it can be found in the google cache of "http://forum.notebookreview.com/attachments/4aa6-5088enw-pdf.135987/", here:

https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:OlZWo-Hh9hQJ:forum.notebookreview.com/attachme...