I am an IT guy and have a lot of USB cables and chargers.

As the world consolidates on the USB-C connector, regardless of what cable is actually used, it becomes more important to verify the specs of a cable and chargers.

Just because they might say USB3 doesn’t mean that they are USB3, they might USB2 with USB-C comnectors, or they might be a hybrid solution with a low data rate and a high charge rate.

How do you know?

A real USB cable analyzer costs a shitload of money.

I have three tools that can help me get and idea about what kind of cable or charger.

  1. The USB data lines tester - this tool shows if a USB cable has all pins connected, a quick and dirty test to verify the design of the cable, if not the quallity.
  2. USB Power meter - This is probably the most useful tester you can get for everyday use, it shows the current power draw when connected in series with a carger/powerbank, cable and device, you can verify that a device is actually charging and how fast it is charging. You can verify that a charger is supplying the correct amount of power and even see a diagram of how the charge rate over time.
  3. USB power load tester - This allows me to force test a charger’s output, it also tests if the charger can support fast charging protocols like QC or PD, the model linked does not seem to support PD testing, but mine from joy-it.com does.
  • yo_scottie_oh@lemmy.mlEnglish
    1·
    5 days ago

    This post is very timely. I’ve recently gone down the USB cable testing rabbit hole. Wish it weren’t needed, but alas.

    Also just learned about GaN charging hubs. I’ll take “Things I didn’t know existed until a few days ago that I absolutely need right now for $1,000, Alex!”

  • FauxLiving@lemmy.world
    0·
    5 days ago

    USB cables are a mess when it comes to compliance with the standard.

    I’ve been buying overengineered cables (promoted by a popular Linus youtuber, which I won’t link due to not being an ad bot) just so I don’t have to worry about the cable being the problem.

    If you do this professionally, a thermal camera is also useful, I’ve found some bad cables on client sites just by scanning the cable mass in IR. Cheap cables + high current loads (like laptop charging) can summon the magic smoke demons.