Why does the Type-C docking station get hot?

The heating problem of electronic equipment has always been a problem that plagues many customers, in most circumstances, when you connect a USB Type C docking station or USB Type C hub to a computer, you can feel the heat of the hub/docking station.

The heating is fine. We’re most worried about is the USB Type C docking station/hub is feverish and hurting the computer? Will the Type C hub/docking station break due to heat?

First, we need to talk about Why does the Type-c docking station/hub gets hot?

The docking station/hub has its own chip, which can convert multiple interfaces of different natures such as video, audio, and file transfer.

There is a heating problem if there is a chip, and the more docking docks that convert the interface type and number, the stronger the chip processing ability, and the more serious the heating.

The computer chip also has a cooling fan, so we don’t feel the heat problem deeply. But the docking station/hub is so small that it is difficult to plug in a fan. How to solve the fever?

At this time, the shell comes in handy, so most of the docking stations/hubs we see are made of metal shells, that is wear-resistant and have good heat dissipation performance, which can quickly dissipate the heat inside the docking station/hub.

It is precise because the outer shell radiates heat that we feel warm when we touch the docking station. Otherwise, the chip temperature is too high, it will be unstable in use, and the file will be disconnected.

So for Mattzon’s USB hub series, most of the case is metal or aluminum, not only good-looking but also good for heat dissipation.

Second, you may be curious about does the hub heat up the computer? Will it damage the laptop?

The docking station and our laptop are mostly connected by USB cables. If they don’t directly touch the computer, the high temperature of the docking station will not be transmitted to the laptop, and the computer has a fan, so this heat can still handle it.

What needs to be worried about is: the overheating of the docking station shell is the reason for the excessive heat generation, or the heat conduction design is better.

If the internal heat is too large, we have to consider that the performance of the docking station will be affected. Just like a normal laptop, it will become stuck when it is too hot, and a cooling fan must be added.

There is also a kind of heat conduction that is very good, and the heat of the docking station chip can be quickly conducted to the shell and dissipated. This docking station is more conscientious.

The most worrying thing is “smoldering”. The internal heat generation of the docking station is large. In order to show that the heat generation is small, the heat dissipation design is deliberately poor. When you encounter this kind of docking station, you will sigh:

“This docking station doesn’t get very hot, so how can it be disconnected at every turn?”

“How come I use this docking station to connect the monitor to the screen, and I haven’t seen it getting hot!”

In a word, heating will not damage the computer/laptop, but hubs with poor heat dissipation will have poor performance and many quality problems like black screen, flicker, unstable data transfer. So when you choose a reliable USB hub or docking station, remember to choose the metal case and the qualified factory.