March 123, 2020
I bought VAVA USB-C multi-port hub to use with my MacBook Pro. The ports are PD (Power Delivery); USB 3 x 2; USB 2; HDMI; Gigabit Ethernet; SD & micro SD card slots.
With a USB-C to USB-A adapter plugged into a Lightning/USB adapter and the MacBook Pro’s power supply connected to the PD port, the hub will work with an iOS device, by directly powering peripherals that would otherwise draw too much power for said iOS jigger.
I have some ordinary USB sticks that “draw too much power” when connected directly to my iPad Mini. These sticks show up in the Files app when connected to this powered hub.
There’s a disadvantage to using this hub with a Mac laptop: any peripherals connected while the power cable is in the PD slot will be getting their power directly from outside. The connection to the Mac is then power in and data in & out. Should the power cable become dislodged, then those peripherals are suddenly unmounted.
So when I use it with the Mac, I only connect the power directly to one of the Mac’s two Thunderbolt 3 ports. The hub gets connected to the other port.