Samsung Chromebook Plus (v1) USB-C charger finickiness

The Samsung Chromebook Plus (1st generation) was the first Chromebook I bought. I’ve been using it since 2018 and, in general, it is great. However, it is finicky about one thing: The USB-C charger connected to it. It works fine with the charger that shipped with it. However, the Samsung travel charger designed for this Chromebook that I bought as a backup causes a “low-powered charger connected” message to pop-up. I thought it might be because it is a travel charger intended for overnight charging and didn’t think more about it until now.

I recently bought a Nekteck 60w multi-port charger. Its USB-C PD port is designed to charger devices like notebooks with larger power draws than, for example, phones and tablets. It works great with these devices including a MacBook Pro 13" whose specs say it requires a 61w charger. Guess which device complains about it? Yep, the Samsung Chromebook Plus.

Samsung’s own charger is rated at 30w. So, there is something odd going on with the way the Plus’ charging system works.