4 ms·

There are plenty of wrong and fake regular USB cables. It has nothing to do with USB-C.

• falcolas 7y ago
  I am not sure about others, but I can not identify, by sight, a USB-C cable capable of safe high rate charging. Nor Thunderbolt. I can’t even tell which charger will work with a device with a USB-C port. For example, I have a Fiio bluetooth adapter which will not charge with a high rate charger, only a USB-A 5v charger via a USB-A -> USB-C adapter. Is it my MacBook and iPad charger’s fault? The cable’s fault? Fiio’s USB-C chipset fault? Beats me - I have no way to know or find out, since I don’t have the tools to sniff out who is not handling the charging protocol properly (and yes, this could be the cable, since there is silicon attached to the USB-C plugs on both sides of the cable which may be involved in the negotiation as well). This isn’t a huge problem for me now, since I have very few USB-C cables, and none which are not effectively always plugged into a charger. However, in a decade I’ll have to figure this out with a box of cables with wildly differing capabilities.
  • NovemberWhiskey 7y ago
    >Nor Thunderbolt It's possible they exist, but I have yet to have personal experience of an actual Thunderbolt cable that didn't have a thunderbolt mark on the connector.
  • Dylan16807 7y ago
    Whatever bug you're hitting is unfortunate but it's not really related to telling cable capabilities by sight. Knowing the data rate of a cable is an utter mess. But for charging, every cable can do 60 watts. For most purposes the difference between 60 and 100 watts is pretty minor.
  • MikusR 7y ago
    Can you tell, just by looking, that this specific micro-usb cable will do data and not only power?
  • kalleboo 7y ago
    I have a USB power meter and learned that most of my microUSB cables can't handle 2A charging either.