Linux 6.7 To Add POWER-Z Driver For Exposing USB Power Measurements

For those curious about the power consumption of USB-C devices, there are some nifty devices out there that have a LED display and can report the voltage, Amps, Wattage, and USB power delivery protocol version of connected devices. It's a neat display but with a new POWER-Z driver coming to the Linux kernel it's possible to propagate that information from the system itself with this new driver.

There are various USB-C devices on the market that offer this power monitoring functionality via a small display on the device itself. But with the POWER-Z driver working its way to the Linux kernel's hardware monitoring "HWMON" subsystem it's possible to read the data from the system itself and in turn logging it or systematically making use of the data however you wish.

This Power-Z driver is designed for use with AISCs like the KM003C and KM002C. The POWER-Z HWMON driver then exposes the hardware monitoring metrics via the conventional HWMON sysfs interfaces. The driver has been queued into the hwmon-next branch making it material for the Linux 6.7 kernel cycle this winter.

This driver will work with devices like the ChargerLAB Power-Z KM003C Portable USB-C Fast Charging Tester which can be found from retailers like Amazon (affiliate link) for around $100 USD. There are also similar devices using the KM003C/KM002C for as low as ~$40 from AliExpress. There's many different POWER-Z devices out there.

In any event for those wanting to be able to monitor their USB-C device power consumption within Linux -- as opposed to just making use of the on-device display -- this forthcoming HWMON POWER-Z driver is quite nifty and will be part of the Linux 6.7 kernel.