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Charge Your Apple 15-Inch MacBook Pro (Late 2016) Up to Speed with the Henge Docks Stone Over USB Power Delivery

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Other than expanding the interface ports of your Apple 15" MacBook Pro (Late 2016), you can use the Stone by Henge Docks to rapidly charge the Mac using USB Power Delivery technology.

After connecting a Thunderbolt 3 based USB Type-C port of the Apple 15" MacBook Pro (Late 2016) to the USB Type-C port at the side of the Stone, we can see how well they perform over USB Power Delivery using the Granite River Labs GRL-USB-PD-A1 analyzer software. Starting from a 30% battery level on the Mac, the power delivery protocol transactions begin with a soft reset to adjust initial voltage and current. The Stone only then initiates  communication with the Mac by declaring three power profiles: 15 watts (5 volts @ 3 amps), 36 watts (12 volts @ 3 amps), and 87 watts (20 volts @ 4.36 amps).

The Apple 15" MacBook Pro (Late 2016) then requests 87 watts (20 volts @ 4.36 amps) to get maximum charging from the Stone and gets accepted.

We also observe the Mac requesting Sink Capabilities from the dock which it shows to support 7.5 watts (5 volts @ 1.5 amps). The communication next enters an interesting sequence where at first the dock initiates a Data Role Swap which the Mac rejects but when the Mac subsequently triggers another Data Role Swap, the dock is willing to comply. This then leads to exchange of Vendor Defined Messages such as Discover ID as the negotiation continues on.    

From initial plugin, we can see the voltage level starts out at about 20.5 volts over the early protocol transactions including power request, but the Mac doesn't really pull current while 30% charged and turned on. During later in the negotiation as data roles are swapped only the current starts to get pulled which then increases gradually up to around 4.4 amps @ 19.8 volts. While the Mac is being used, it pulls lower current to get around 74 watts (20 volts @ 3.7 amps) charging.      

When inactive, the Apple 15" MacBook Pro (Late 2016) is able to draw up to about 87.1 watts (4.4 amps @ 19.8 volts) to successfully charge with the  Stone as quickly as using the original 87 watts based Apple 87W USB-C Power Adapter (as seen here) through USB Power Delivery. You can also use the Stone to easily add Ethernet, USB, mini-DisplayPort, and audio ports while charging the Apple 15" MacBook Pro (Late 2016).

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