I will be heading off shortly for another location shoot in Asia. I have just purchased a small 100W USB charging block to accompany me on my trip (to power my various pieces of electronic equipment, which includes a Sony dual battery charger and Apple MacBook Pro laptop computer).
GaN (Gallium Nitride) 4-Port USB Wall Chargers
These units on B&H (USA) are similar to the one I purchased here in Australia
100 Watt charger: https://bhpho.to/4kkMi6Z
200 Watt charger: https://bhpho.to/3Ig181c
Confusing Cables!
I am also taking the opportunity to sort through my sizeable collection of USB cables (how did it become so large) with a view to recycling the older and slower cables and those that are not suitable for power delivery (PD). I now realise, however, what a nightmare it has become to check whether cables are suitable for power delivery and fast data transfer rates. Some of my cables have colour coding or icons to denote their performance for either data transfer or power delivery (see the image above), but many of my cables do not bear any indication at all as to their performance capabilities, even though there have been industry standards for labelling cables and I/O ports for a long time. With a view to making things a lot simpler when heading out, I have decided to get rid of all the cables that are either slow or have no labelling whatsoever, and I will try to locate either a drop-off point or e-waste collection in my local area to say farewell to the old, the slow and the inefficient.
USB 3.2, USB 4.0 and Thunderbolt
With a view to avoiding information overload, the cable that I recommend you purchase (if you don't already own some fast cables) that can reliably support both fast data transfer and power delivery are USB 4 or Thunderbolt 4 cables (as pictured in the image above). A USB 3.2 SuperSpeed cable that is also capable of 20 Watts power delivery (PD) would also be suitable for the speed of current Alpha cameras, but as many USB-C cables out there (including Sony's own cables) bear no performance specifications, this can be hard to determine, whereas a USB 4 cable will always do the job, even if it may be overqualified to do the task at hand). One of the USB 4 cables I own is the only one in my collection that provides all of the performance information required on the USB-C connector (both the power and data transfer rates). The manufacturers of this cable don't require you to understand any of the myriad of icons and colours used by some manufacturers when designing their products). The SuperSpeed USB-C port on most of the late model Alpha cameras is a USB 3.2 port that supports data transfer rates of 5 Gbps (five gigabytes per second) and can also draw up to 15 Watts of power to charge the battery while it is in the camera (no battery charger required).
B& H Photo: USB 4.0 240 Watt 40 Gbps Cable: https://bhpho.to/3Ig1lBw
Thunderbolt 4 vs USB 4.0
Thunderbolt 4 and USB4, while both utilizing the USB-C connector and capable of 40Gbps data transfer speeds, have key differences in their minimum performance requirements, display capabilities, and certification processes. Thunderbolt 4 guarantees a minimum of 40Gbps data transfer speed, 15W power delivery, and support for two 4K displays or one 8K display, while USB4 offers more flexibility with optional 20Gbps and 40Gbps versions, and less stringent display and power delivery requirements.
Purchase Sony's Dual Battery Charger from B&H: https://bhpho.to/4jZvV0o
Sony BC-ZD1 battery charger
My new Sony BC-ZD1 battery charger (that came with my A1 II) has to be connected to a power supply via a cable, but when it is sold separately it comes without the USB-C cable it needs to fulfil its role. The output of this battery charger is listed as 8.4 V (volts) - 1.6 A (amps). If you multiply these two values you find that the output is 13.44 Watts of power. As the battery charger can charge two batteries simultaneously, you need a power supply and USB-C cable capable of delivering 30 Watts of power ( 2 x 13.44 = 26.88). I can use the top two of the USB-C ports on my new charging block to deliver 45 Watts of power to each port, or 100 watts if only one device is connected. If I use all three USB-C ports the power of the third port (C-3) is just 20 Watts. The colour coding of all of the ports on my new charging block is orange, which denotes it's an 'always on' or 'passive delivery' port so any connected device will be charged, even if it is powered down.
Sony Cameras that support PD fast charging
If my Sony cameras are connected directly to my 100 Watt USB charging block they will draw, on average, 14 Watts of power each (only the latest model Sony cameras support fast PD charging) . Given that I have three fast USB-C ports on my USB charging block I could feasibly charge four batters simultaneously at the end of each day, two in the two cameras I am taking with me and two in the battery charger.
Sony Cameras that support PD fast charging
A1 & A1M2
A6700
A7CM2 & A7CR
A7M4 & A7RM5
A7S III
A9M3
FX3 & FX30
ZV-E1 & ZV-E10M2
I have two Apple laptop chargers. The smaller of my two chargers is rated at 61 Watts, while the larger charger is rated at 96 Watts. I could feasibly leave the Apple charger at home, now that I have a new 100 Watt charging block). The laptop, however, will only have access to 100 Watts of power if it is the only device connected to one of the top two USB-C ports (C-1 or C-2) on the charging block. Power will drop to 45 Watts for each port if I connect my Battery Charger to the second of the top two ports.
Hopefully this information has been of some help and will lead to some longe overdue sorting of your own cable draw!!