5 ms·

I'm using the hardware tester from Treedix in which you have to plug both ends of the cable and which tests a lot of things, I'm quite fond of it. I have a bas

I'm using the hardware tester from Treedix in which you have to plug both ends of the cable and which tests a lot of things, I'm quite fond of it. I have a basket with a lot of USB-c cables and without the tester I can't remember (nor guess) which one does what.

blightful 1mo ago
Nice. You just got them a sale from me. I have a crap ton of cables so this will come in handy.
- bestouff 1mo ago
  Exactly my use case. And I have nothing to gain from that sale.
callumprentice 1mo ago
Would this tell me if a cable is close to the end of it's life? I like to travel light and I've had cables (mostly phone/pad power) go out on trips after working as expected when I packed.
- cinntaile 1mo ago
  I think you would need something that tracks relevant per cable metrics over time to see if it is degrading. That one just says yes/no, but maybe yes/no starts to flicker around its end of life?
  - callumprentice 1mo ago
    Nod - that's what I was thinking. I expect it's often the connectors that deteriorate so perhaps moving them around while plugged in would tell me. Seems like a useful tool to have around.
    - kbouck 1mo ago
      i've used a treedix tester like this. the edition with many led lights, not the one with a screen. wiggle the cables around to see if and when any of the lights flicker, indicating a bad or broken connection. i've found a few bad cables that would intermittently fail.
      - callumprentice 1mo ago
        That's great. Thank you for the feedback - I ordered one just now.
  - mrexroad 1mo ago
    Looks like the paid/pro version does this. > Cable history > Add a cable, give it a name, and WhatCable records how it performs over time, with a verdict per cable.
cortesoft 1mo ago
Yep, I probably have the same one. Insanely useful, and it is also crazy how much variance there is in cables. You can’t believe what the sellers claim, so many times they end up being less capable than claimed.
traceroute66 1mo ago
> I'm using the hardware tester from $INSERT_NAME_HERE Oh god not again... before everyone starts naming their favourite brand, here's a 265 comment HN thread[1] (from last week !) on why these cheap USB-cable "testers" are not worth anything. TL;DR You need a six-figure wallet to seriously call anything a "hardware tester" for USB cables. User ChrisMarshallNY has a one-liner summary buried in that thread: Think about it. You need to generate a precise, calibrated, 40GHz signal, transmit it, then precisely measure the returned signal for phase, amplitude, and waveform integrity -at that speed. Oscilloscopes and logic analyzers that run at that speed, are damn expensive. If you only paid $40 for a black-box on your favourite online marketplace, then what you've got is definitively NOT a USB-cable tester. [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49152255 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49152255
- LoganDark 1mo ago
  Huh? Decent quality cable testers can be had for like $20,000. There's a difference between a general-purpose oscilloscope or logic analyzer and a purpose-built domain-specific appliance. I probably could've saved up for one in just a few months back when I had a job earlier this year.
  - traceroute66 1mo ago
    > Decent quality cable testers can be had for like $20,000. See the discusison linked to. Trust me, my interest was piqued by that thread and I went down the rabbit warren with Mr Google and spent far too much time on the subject. I looked at the various manufacturers and the setups required. TL;DR: To start with, you need fancy harness assemblies. Then you need to plug those harnesses into very, very expensive equipment. You're not going to find anything for $20k. High-throughput USB-cable testing simply can't be done the same way copper CAT6 certification can with a 20k Fluke. For those who want to play with Mr Google, some manufacturers from my notes: Wilder Technologies, Allion, Keysight, Tektronix, Teledyne LeCroy Here's one blog post I uncovered during my researches: https://www.keysight.com/blogs/en/tech/bench/2023/02/17/power-up-your-knowledge-how-to-test-usb-c-cable-like-a-pro https://www.keysight.com/blogs/en/tech/bench/2023/02/17/powe...

blightful 1mo ago

Nice. You just got them a sale from me. I have a crap ton of cables so this will come in handy.

bestouff 1mo ago
Exactly my use case. And I have nothing to gain from that sale.

callumprentice 1mo ago

Would this tell me if a cable is close to the end of it's life? I like to travel light and I've had cables (mostly phone/pad power) go out on trips after working as expected when I packed.

cinntaile 1mo ago
I think you would need something that tracks relevant per cable metrics over time to see if it is degrading. That one just says yes/no, but maybe yes/no starts to flicker around its end of life?
- callumprentice 1mo ago
  Nod - that's what I was thinking. I expect it's often the connectors that deteriorate so perhaps moving them around while plugged in would tell me. Seems like a useful tool to have around.
  - kbouck 1mo ago
    i've used a treedix tester like this. the edition with many led lights, not the one with a screen. wiggle the cables around to see if and when any of the lights flicker, indicating a bad or broken connection. i've found a few bad cables that would intermittently fail.
    - callumprentice 1mo ago
      That's great. Thank you for the feedback - I ordered one just now.
- mrexroad 1mo ago
  Looks like the paid/pro version does this. > Cable history > Add a cable, give it a name, and WhatCable records how it performs over time, with a verdict per cable.

cortesoft 1mo ago

Yep, I probably have the same one. Insanely useful, and it is also crazy how much variance there is in cables. You can’t believe what the sellers claim, so many times they end up being less capable than claimed.

traceroute66 1mo ago

> I'm using the hardware tester from $INSERT_NAME_HERE Oh god not again... before everyone starts naming their favourite brand, here's a 265 comment HN thread[1] (from last week !) on why these cheap USB-cable "testers" are not worth anything. TL;DR You need a six-figure wallet to seriously call anything a "hardware tester" for USB cables. User ChrisMarshallNY has a one-liner summary buried in that thread: Think about it. You need to generate a precise, calibrated, 40GHz signal, transmit it, then precisely measure the returned signal for phase, amplitude, and waveform integrity -at that speed. Oscilloscopes and logic analyzers that run at that speed, are damn expensive. If you only paid $40 for a black-box on your favourite online marketplace, then what you've got is definitively NOT a USB-cable tester. [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49152255 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49152255

LoganDark 1mo ago
Huh? Decent quality cable testers can be had for like $20,000. There's a difference between a general-purpose oscilloscope or logic analyzer and a purpose-built domain-specific appliance. I probably could've saved up for one in just a few months back when I had a job earlier this year.
- traceroute66 1mo ago
  > Decent quality cable testers can be had for like $20,000. See the discusison linked to. Trust me, my interest was piqued by that thread and I went down the rabbit warren with Mr Google and spent far too much time on the subject. I looked at the various manufacturers and the setups required. TL;DR: To start with, you need fancy harness assemblies. Then you need to plug those harnesses into very, very expensive equipment. You're not going to find anything for $20k. High-throughput USB-cable testing simply can't be done the same way copper CAT6 certification can with a 20k Fluke. For those who want to play with Mr Google, some manufacturers from my notes: Wilder Technologies, Allion, Keysight, Tektronix, Teledyne LeCroy Here's one blog post I uncovered during my researches: https://www.keysight.com/blogs/en/tech/bench/2023/02/17/power-up-your-knowledge-how-to-test-usb-c-cable-like-a-pro https://www.keysight.com/blogs/en/tech/bench/2023/02/17/powe...