I'm hoping we'll see most e-bikes at least use 240W usb-c pd charging (I figure I have about a decade until I will wish I had some assist and buy one, so probably by then, they'll have gotten there...)

I also have assorted products that won't charge c-to-c (some from respectable manufacturers even, like Philips), but I see you can get little adapters with 5.1K resistor you plug into said crappy devices to cover that, I will have to try some out.

Same!

I've also returned a few USB devices that ship with a USB-A to USB-C cable and ONLY charge in that mode, they also MUST charge with USB-C PD.

The two so far were a therapy light and some Zippo hand warmers. Like, who in the hell would design a device that has a USB-C port on it where only a fraction of chargers will work on it. It feels even worse than proprietary charges, because you see a USB-C port on it and think, oh I have a plug that fits it, and then it doesn't F**ing work. Idiot engineering/product teams, making the world suck with their falsely advertised USB-C ports. If anyone of you are on a team that ever makes this decision, just know that it is a stupid decision, and jump ship when you can.

I'll bite. What type of watch do you have that has a direct USB-C port on it?

I think you are confusing the devices with USB-C that require USB-A, and devices that charge the standard USB-C 5V/3A/15W. The USB-A ones cheaped out in including the resistors that signal legacy USB mode, they work with the ones in the cable or adapter.

Lots of people assume that USB-C always uses USB-PD, but the basic signalling is done with resistors. Lots of devices only need 15W, and it is better than USB-A charging. If you want faster charging, buy more powerful chargers.

For travel I have a bunch of cables with adapters on the end (choose usb-c, lightning, micro-usb). Can use usb-c, but have the ability to use the others.

It has helped out in a bunch of unexpected situations (usually someone else's device)

You can always use a „PD Decoy“ if the voltage is USB compatible. A 5 / 9 / 12 / 15 / 20 Volt barrel plug is trivially USB powerable.

That's only a single ampre at standard European mains voltage. It's still a lot of power for those tiny connectors and insulation, but an order of magnitude insufficient for those appliances.

I bet that cable gets plenty hot at 200+ watts.

I remember scoffing years ago at USB powered coffee warmers. Maybe the situation has changed.

I mean my electric Fan and standing lamp are both powered by USB-C.

There are things that shouldn't be powered by USB-C. But there are plenty of sub 100W consumer electronics devices that really should be USB-C. I waited years before Panasonic released their lamdash shavers using USB-C.

The issue is that a USB charger is not a USB power supply. A charger does its best, but makes no guarantee of constant power delivery or duty cycle. The power supply absolutely must provide its rated output at 100% duty cycle.

> And if USB-C could somehow provide a range of voltages to the motherboard, SFFPC's could be downsized even more

You reeeeeeally don't want to do that. Cable inductance is a big deal, among other issues. You want the main DC-DC regulators on the board, usually right at the load, for the main loads. Most of the PSU bulk is for dealing with mains itself: handling 50/60Hz or mains isolation is just physically large. Getting in secondary 20V DC (or so) from a single connector and then regulating it down on board is pretty much the ideal solution.

(I can't even begin to comprehend the horrors of a USB-PD negotiation involving multiple voltages. It's already the worst standard I've ever had to deal with.* Don't make it worse!)

(* Not hyperbole, it is truly, truly awful. At least things like 60601 are bad because, you know, they're covering lots of stuff like lifesaving medical devices. USB-PD is... holy hell, it is just bad.)

There are some SFF PCs that can take USB-C power.

Lenovo have some,but sometimes require adapter cards. And a few of the Chinese N150 units will take PD power

It's great for hot swapping and more portable than a laptop.

There are things like this: https://www.adafruit.com/product/5501 haven't used it, trying to find one for my mini pc, mostly so I can use a usb c power bank as a tiny DC ups.

iirc theres ones that do. However I dont recall there being any clean fix to the amperage constraint issues. Especially when a lot of usb-c chargers will vary output as they heat up with usage.

Which is kinda part the issue, usb-c charging bricks, they aren't usb-c power supplies, there is no expectation of sustained output capacity. Thankfully at least some the multiport ones have renegotiation more or less solved cleanly rather than what is essentially rebooting the PD controller.

Actually, that was 5v, not 9!