Universal QC and PD Protocol Trigger (Dummy Load)

A while ago, I reviewed a universal trigger board that promised convenient controls and Power Delivery support, but it turned out to be pretty mediocre. This time I bought a few simple, compact models, and they turned out to be surprisingly good.

As usual, a reminder: to keep up with new posts on the blog, I recommend following me on Instagram. I’ll post notifications about new articles there, and might also write about something interesting - link to my account

You can also subscribe to updates and new articles on the Telegram channel - https://t.me/KirichBlog

Today’s review is just as compact as the device itself. There’s really not much to write about :)

I ordered five of them. Each one came in its own little bag, and all the bags were stapled together.


The board is relatively small, measuring 23x12x5 mm.


There are very few components: a connector, an 8-pin chip, an LED, a few resistors, a capacitor, and a Zener diode.
I do have a couple of complaints here, one subjective and one objective.
Subjective: I’d like the same board with a plug instead of a socket.
Objective: the connector isn’t flush with the edge of the board, which can get in the way in some situations. It’s better when the connector sticks out past the edge of the board.


There are no buttons or switches here. You select the voltage by bridging the corresponding pads on the board with a drop of solder. Nothing extra, and I really like that.


Testing it out. The jumper is set to 20 V.
1, 2. Power Delivery mode. Note that some devices are picky about which way the cable is plugged in, but this trigger works either way. And yes, some devices behave exactly like that with this cable: they work in only one orientation.
3. Quick Charge mode. I wanted to find a power supply with a 20 V output, but I don’t have one handy, and the power bank that supports it won’t respond when I connect this board through a reverse adapter.
4. Just a warning, and a note to myself. If you test a trigger after another device, such as a USB tester, then when you disconnect it, the power supply stays in the mode it was in. If the trigger is connected directly to the power supply, then disconnecting it makes the power supply return to 5 V. Be careful. I was testing something with a tester connected and didn’t notice that the power supply was still outputting 20 V, so I plugged in a smartphone. It survived, though.


A quick explanation.
The jumpers let you select the voltage you want, but if your power supply or power bank can’t provide it, you’ll get the highest voltage it can manage.
For example, the trigger is set to 20 V, but the power supply can only provide 12 V, so the output will be 12 V.
Another example: the trigger is set to 12 V, and the power supply can provide 20 V. The output will still be 12 V.
A third example: the trigger is set to 15 V, and the power supply can provide up to 15 V. The output will be 15 V.

So if you need exactly 12 V, select 12 V, even if your power supply can only provide 12 V. If you select 20 V and accidentally connect it to a power supply that can also provide 20 V, you’ll get 20 V.


But a trigger doesn’t just determine the voltage; it also affects the power. I’ve explained before that a power supply operating under the Power Delivery protocol normally provides no more than 60-65 W. To get more, the trigger has to authorize it, and you also need a suitable cable that allows it.
So, to get 100 W at the output, the whole chain has to support it: the power supply, the cable, and the trigger. For the test, I used a power bank capable of delivering up to 100 W, a cable rated for 240 W, the trigger under review, and an electronic load, and connected them all together.


Everything worked without a hitch, and I got the expected 100 W output at 20 V over the Power Delivery protocol.


Just for the sake of experiment, I decided to see how the trigger would handle a sustained load. Since the power bank limits the power in this mode, I set the current to 4.5 A, or 90 W, and ran it for a couple of hours. The trigger performed just as well under this load.
Everything should be fine here, since the trigger doesn’t switch anything; it simply passes power from input to output. Most of the heat comes from the connector, and even there, things looked good to me. The thermal image was taken earlier, but the temperature didn’t exceed 45-47 degrees even at the end of the test.

Along the way, I noticed something odd. When I previously tried the same test with an FNB-48 USB tester acting as the trigger and another trigger connected to its output (just as an adapter), I could only get 65-70 W for an extended period. At higher power, the continuous operating time decreased linearly. Roughly speaking, at 5 A it shut off after 7 minutes, at 4.5 A after 20 minutes, at 4 A after 30 minutes, and so on. Can anyone explain this?


That’s all for now. As I’ve already mentioned, I’d personally find a plug more convenient, but if you look around, you can find one with a plug. The board sticking out beyond the socket, though, could be inconvenient, and in some situations you may have to shorten it.

Otherwise, it’s great: it supports up to 100 W, you can set a fixed voltage, it’s compact, and it supports both PD and QC. What more could you want for a bit of happiness—and to add PD power to your devices?