Causes
- The cable plugged into the adapter's female end isn't rated for 100W — the AuviPal is a passive pass-through that can only move what the cable supports. A bundled or third-party cable capped at 60W (no 5A e-marker) makes the charger and device negotiate a lower PD level, so your laptop charges at 20–60W or trickle instead of the full 100W the adapter is rated for.
- The 90° head isn't fully seated in the device port — the power (VBUS/CC) pins only make solid contact when the head clicks fully home. A head that looks plugged in but hasn't seated flush connects intermittently, and the device either refuses to charge or charges at 5V/3A because the CC pin can't complete the PD handshake.
- Charger PD negotiation fails through the extra junction — some laptop and phone chargers are sensitive to an additional connector in the chain and fail the e-marker/PD handshake, falling back to a basic 5V profile. The adapter isn't dead; the negotiation just never completes through it.
- Dirty or oxidized power pins in the female socket or device port — the adapter lives permanently between your device and your cable, collecting lint and oxidation. High-resistance contacts at 5A cause voltage sag, so the charger's protection trips and charging slows to near zero or stops entirely.
- The wrong orientation from the 2-pack for your device — the Up and Down adapters seat the male head at different angles. On devices with recessed ports (Steam Deck, ROG Ally, laptops with chamfered edges), one orientation can fail to engage the CC/power pins fully while the other charges normally.
- Damaged power path inside the 90° joint — the VBUS wire makes a sharp turn inside the joint, and repeated bending, crushing, or a hard yank can crack it. A broken or high-resistance power path makes charging stop or disconnect the moment load is applied.
How to Fix
- Isolate the adapter — plug your charger straight into the device with no adapter in the chain. If it charges at full speed, the problem is the adapter or the adapter-plus-cable combo, not your charger or device.
- Use a genuine 100W (5A e-marker) USB-C cable — swap in the cable that came with a 100W laptop charger or an external SSD that supports USB PD. If charging speed jumps back to normal, your original cable was the bottleneck.
- Fully reseat both ends — push the 90° head into the device until the aluminum housing sits flush, then push the cable plug into the adapter's female end until you feel the latch click. A half-seated head is the most common cause of PD failures on angle adapters.
- Try the other adapter from the 2-pack — if your current one sits at the Up angle, swap to the Down. The deeper-seating orientation can restore the CC contact and the full 100W negotiation on recessed ports immediately.
- Clean the contacts — wipe the gold-plated male pins and the inside of the female socket with isopropyl alcohol on a cotton swab, then blow lint out of the device's USB-C port. Focus on the small inner power and CC pins, not just the shell.
- Test with a different charger and port — some chargers negotiate poorly through any extra connector. Try another PD charger (or another USB-C port on the laptop) to confirm the charger, not the adapter, is failing the handshake.
- Remove any case or thick bumper — cases can stop the 90° head from inserting fully, breaking the power connection while the adapter visually looks connected. Retest without the case.
- If it still won't charge, replace it — the power path inside the joint may be physically broken. AuviPal's Amazon listing (B0B8X7FF34) includes after-sales support; request a replacement rather than risking a damaged port from a flaky charger connection.