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.
  • FauxLiving@lemmy.world
    1·
    22 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.