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This is really only a problem if you buy cheap cables. Pick the baseline spec you want your USB cables to meet, and throw out all the ones that don’t. Problem

This is really only a problem if you buy cheap cables. Pick the baseline spec you want your USB cables to meet, and throw out all the ones that don’t. Problem solved. It’s still a minor frustration if you have to borrow a cable, but that’s solved by packing a cable, and by encouraging as many other people as possible to also throw out their cheap cables.

qurren 3mo ago
If you want to cover all use cases your only option are the 240 W, 40 Gbps cables, and they are not cheap (https://www.amazon.com/Anker-Supports-Display-Transfer-Charging/dp/B09YM3V7NX?th=1 https://www.amazon.com/Anker-Supports-Display-Transfer-Charg...).
- notatoad 3mo ago
  amazon hides some prices because i'm viewing the page from canada, but it looks like that says the cable you linked is $15? that's what i've been paying for cables, and it seems reasonable to me.
  - qurren 3mo ago
    It's a cable, it should cost $2 at most.
    - notatoad 3mo ago
      okay, i mean, that's exactly what my original comment said: this is only a problem if you buy cheap cables.
      - pineapplepizza6 3mo ago
        If some of your devices require a $30 cable and you use the same cables for everything, then you use a $30 cable for your mouse.
        vel0city 3mo ago
        If you're buying a cable for a specific device in a specific circumstance than by all means get the cable that meets that. Then it's not a problem about "what is its functional support", it doesn't matter, that's your mouse cable that you use for your mouse on that desk. That's the monitor cable you use to plug things into that monitor. That's the dock cable you use to plug things into the dock. For all the cables that are your flex carrying around places where you don't know how it'll be used tomorrow, get a good cable and you won't have any issues.
        notatoad 3mo ago
        Yeah? I use a $15 cable for my mouse. And then when my mouse is done charging I put the cable back in the bag with my portable monitor, which the same cable also works for.
      - qurren 3mo ago
        It's also only a problem if they overcomplicate power delivery design such that you need expensive cables. They could have made it just DC +19V and GND over 14 gauge wire with a nice, outdoor-recreation-grade connector and called it a day.
        Dylan16807 3mo ago
        USB power delivery doesn't need expensive cables. Basic 240W cables cost $3-4.
    - LoganDark 3mo ago
      I have some Thunderbolt cables that are like $80 apiece because they're like 3 meters long. I have like five or six of them because each one only carries one video signal. (I used Thunderbolt so that touch and pen inputs could go over the one cable. These days though I just use a MacBook Pro, and hook up a capture card when I need to access the Windows)
    - thenthenthen 3mo ago
      The apple usb c charging cable is like $30, it is well worth the money of you are into software defined radio I can report. Not sure what magic they pulled of, but all the tricks in the book it seems!
    - Gigachad 3mo ago
      40gbps is an insane data rate that requires shielding, precision, and testing. There is no way you are getting that for $2. That said, outside of connecting a laptop to your monitor, you don't need a 40gbps cable.
      - qurren 3mo ago
        > 40gbps is an insane data rate that requires shielding, precision, and testing. There is no way you are getting that for $2. I dunno, Cat8 is 40gbps and pretty cheap. DOCSIS 4.0 does 10Gbps on some really ancient cables. I'm sure Cat9 will do even better, at least the cat people and the doc people are trying harder than the USB people. Unifi even has a PoE-over-coax solution. Add some Anker GaN shit and I'm sure it can be miniaturized. > outside of connecting a laptop to your monitor As soon as I need a "special" cable to connect a laptop to a monitor, we're effectively back to the 1990s-2000s when I needed a special monitor cable. There is no point to connector standardization if any cable can't do any function. The whole point of this thread was "one type of cable for everything" and "grab any USB-C cable from your personal stash and they all work for every use case".
        Dylan16807 3mo ago
        > There is no point to connector standardization if any cable can't do any function. I completely disagree. When the only difference between cables is max speed, that's still a huge improvement over a nest of different cable types, half of which are custom. And it's easy to get into a position where all your USB-C cables differ only by max speed.
        qurren 3mo ago
        Which is worse because they all look sort of the same, but they are not the same. It's even worse for non-techies, who don't understand what a gbps or a watt is, and who will leave a 1-star review, or worse, trash their cable, because their cable was "slow" but was meant for 240W PD but only supported USB 2.0. They purchased it initially because it had 5 stars. Ideally, there should only be "5 star" USB cables, and they should all work for all purposes that they can physically plug into. The situation in the early 2000s is I could spot the cable I needed from a mile away.
cricalix 3mo ago
Sometimes it's not the cable. Sometimes it's the sodding device. I have some IP60-something speakers for the shower. Write up says USB-C power. Brilliant says I, I've got plenty of good ones I use for charging laptops and other USB-C form factor accepting devices. Sodding things only charge with their special USB-A to USB-C cable. They're in the bag labeled "cursed usb-c charge cables".
- notatoad 3mo ago
  you'll never guess what solution i'd suggest for that specific problem...
  - cricalix 3mo ago
    Change the device? It works fine. The cable is labeled. I know where to find it. I'm not throwing away perfectly otherwise-good hardware because of that.
- thenthenthen 3mo ago
  I have a water pump like that, the reason: they have omitted the 5.1k resistors…
- Gigachad 3mo ago
  It's because they are straight up defective. The USB-C spec is pretty clear in that the power pins have 0v until you signal for a voltage. This isn't a failure of USB-C, you should just return defective devices to the OEM. Thankfully this defect is becoming less common outside of temu junk.
- ssl-3 3mo ago
  That's because they didn't implement USB C correctly. Maybe it was to save less than a penny on the BOM, maybe it was arrogance ("it works for me! send it!"), or maybe it was something else. Whatever the reason, they didn't do it right. By standard, USB C provides no power at all unless the device being powered follows the rules. They're easy rules to follow. The minimum viable way of doing it right requires just two tiny resistors inside of the device.
TheBicPen 3mo ago
> throw out all the ones that don’t > encouraging as many other people as possible to also throw out their cheap cables One of the main advantages of a single standardized plug is reducing e-waste. This just sounds irresponsible. Having a single tool that covers every possible use case is rarely a good solution.
- Gigachad 3mo ago
  Device makers need to stop including these garbage 4 cm A to C cables. I have enough USB cables and bricks to last my whole life. I don't need to collect a million more spec violating ones in a drawer I will never use. Things are shifting though. Ikea ships their USB-C stuff without cables now.
- vel0city 3mo ago
  > This just sounds irresponsible. The irresponsibility lies with the companies making the non-compliant trash in the first place.
guelo 3mo ago
There's no way to know if it's a "cheap cable", not even by price.
- vel0city 3mo ago
  Sure there is. Buy reputable brands from reputable marketplaces that clearly state the specs, and if you get products from them that don't comply stop buying from them.
  - guelo 3mo ago
    I'd call that trial and error.
    - vel0city 3mo ago
      I've been doing this strategy for years and never had an issue of buying a junk cable.
marginalia_nu 3mo ago
I have two different fast charging cables, for two different devices that charge fast with those cables, on those cables, but not if you swap them around. Thankfully they have different colors, so there's some hope of keeping track of which cable to use for which device.

qurren 3mo ago

If you want to cover all use cases your only option are the 240 W, 40 Gbps cables, and they are not cheap (https://www.amazon.com/Anker-Supports-Display-Transfer-Charging/dp/B09YM3V7NX?th=1 https://www.amazon.com/Anker-Supports-Display-Transfer-Charg...).

notatoad 3mo ago
amazon hides some prices because i'm viewing the page from canada, but it looks like that says the cable you linked is $15? that's what i've been paying for cables, and it seems reasonable to me.
- qurren 3mo ago
  It's a cable, it should cost $2 at most.
  - notatoad 3mo ago
    okay, i mean, that's exactly what my original comment said: this is only a problem if you buy cheap cables.
    - pineapplepizza6 3mo ago
      If some of your devices require a $30 cable and you use the same cables for everything, then you use a $30 cable for your mouse.
      - vel0city 3mo ago
        If you're buying a cable for a specific device in a specific circumstance than by all means get the cable that meets that. Then it's not a problem about "what is its functional support", it doesn't matter, that's your mouse cable that you use for your mouse on that desk. That's the monitor cable you use to plug things into that monitor. That's the dock cable you use to plug things into the dock. For all the cables that are your flex carrying around places where you don't know how it'll be used tomorrow, get a good cable and you won't have any issues.
      - notatoad 3mo ago
        Yeah? I use a $15 cable for my mouse. And then when my mouse is done charging I put the cable back in the bag with my portable monitor, which the same cable also works for.
    - qurren 3mo ago
      It's also only a problem if they overcomplicate power delivery design such that you need expensive cables. They could have made it just DC +19V and GND over 14 gauge wire with a nice, outdoor-recreation-grade connector and called it a day.
      - Dylan16807 3mo ago
        USB power delivery doesn't need expensive cables. Basic 240W cables cost $3-4.
  - LoganDark 3mo ago
    I have some Thunderbolt cables that are like $80 apiece because they're like 3 meters long. I have like five or six of them because each one only carries one video signal. (I used Thunderbolt so that touch and pen inputs could go over the one cable. These days though I just use a MacBook Pro, and hook up a capture card when I need to access the Windows)
  - thenthenthen 3mo ago
    The apple usb c charging cable is like $30, it is well worth the money of you are into software defined radio I can report. Not sure what magic they pulled of, but all the tricks in the book it seems!
  - Gigachad 3mo ago
    40gbps is an insane data rate that requires shielding, precision, and testing. There is no way you are getting that for $2. That said, outside of connecting a laptop to your monitor, you don't need a 40gbps cable.
    - qurren 3mo ago
      > 40gbps is an insane data rate that requires shielding, precision, and testing. There is no way you are getting that for $2. I dunno, Cat8 is 40gbps and pretty cheap. DOCSIS 4.0 does 10Gbps on some really ancient cables. I'm sure Cat9 will do even better, at least the cat people and the doc people are trying harder than the USB people. Unifi even has a PoE-over-coax solution. Add some Anker GaN shit and I'm sure it can be miniaturized. > outside of connecting a laptop to your monitor As soon as I need a "special" cable to connect a laptop to a monitor, we're effectively back to the 1990s-2000s when I needed a special monitor cable. There is no point to connector standardization if any cable can't do any function. The whole point of this thread was "one type of cable for everything" and "grab any USB-C cable from your personal stash and they all work for every use case".
      - Dylan16807 3mo ago
        > There is no point to connector standardization if any cable can't do any function. I completely disagree. When the only difference between cables is max speed, that's still a huge improvement over a nest of different cable types, half of which are custom. And it's easy to get into a position where all your USB-C cables differ only by max speed.
        qurren 3mo ago
        Which is worse because they all look sort of the same, but they are not the same. It's even worse for non-techies, who don't understand what a gbps or a watt is, and who will leave a 1-star review, or worse, trash their cable, because their cable was "slow" but was meant for 240W PD but only supported USB 2.0. They purchased it initially because it had 5 stars. Ideally, there should only be "5 star" USB cables, and they should all work for all purposes that they can physically plug into. The situation in the early 2000s is I could spot the cable I needed from a mile away.

cricalix 3mo ago

Sometimes it's not the cable. Sometimes it's the sodding device. I have some IP60-something speakers for the shower. Write up says USB-C power. Brilliant says I, I've got plenty of good ones I use for charging laptops and other USB-C form factor accepting devices. Sodding things only charge with their special USB-A to USB-C cable. They're in the bag labeled "cursed usb-c charge cables".

notatoad 3mo ago
you'll never guess what solution i'd suggest for that specific problem...
- cricalix 3mo ago
  Change the device? It works fine. The cable is labeled. I know where to find it. I'm not throwing away perfectly otherwise-good hardware because of that.
thenthenthen 3mo ago
I have a water pump like that, the reason: they have omitted the 5.1k resistors…
Gigachad 3mo ago
It's because they are straight up defective. The USB-C spec is pretty clear in that the power pins have 0v until you signal for a voltage. This isn't a failure of USB-C, you should just return defective devices to the OEM. Thankfully this defect is becoming less common outside of temu junk.
ssl-3 3mo ago
That's because they didn't implement USB C correctly. Maybe it was to save less than a penny on the BOM, maybe it was arrogance ("it works for me! send it!"), or maybe it was something else. Whatever the reason, they didn't do it right. By standard, USB C provides no power at all unless the device being powered follows the rules. They're easy rules to follow. The minimum viable way of doing it right requires just two tiny resistors inside of the device.

TheBicPen 3mo ago

> throw out all the ones that don’t > encouraging as many other people as possible to also throw out their cheap cables One of the main advantages of a single standardized plug is reducing e-waste. This just sounds irresponsible. Having a single tool that covers every possible use case is rarely a good solution.

Gigachad 3mo ago
Device makers need to stop including these garbage 4 cm A to C cables. I have enough USB cables and bricks to last my whole life. I don't need to collect a million more spec violating ones in a drawer I will never use. Things are shifting though. Ikea ships their USB-C stuff without cables now.
vel0city 3mo ago
> This just sounds irresponsible. The irresponsibility lies with the companies making the non-compliant trash in the first place.

guelo 3mo ago

There's no way to know if it's a "cheap cable", not even by price.

vel0city 3mo ago
Sure there is. Buy reputable brands from reputable marketplaces that clearly state the specs, and if you get products from them that don't comply stop buying from them.
- guelo 3mo ago
  I'd call that trial and error.
  - vel0city 3mo ago
    I've been doing this strategy for years and never had an issue of buying a junk cable.

marginalia_nu 3mo ago

I have two different fast charging cables, for two different devices that charge fast with those cables, on those cables, but not if you swap them around. Thankfully they have different colors, so there's some hope of keeping track of which cable to use for which device.