The USB-C Myth: USB-C Cables Can Always Be Plugged in With Either Side "Up"

OldNavy · Aug 23, 2024

The European Union are bringing in a common standard for charging cables.
See here:

Standardizing Charging & Connection: USB-C Connector • Moeller

European Parliament announced the measure of imposing a universal charger where the USB-C connector will be the standard charger of the European territory.

moellerip.com

If Apple want to sell iphones in Europe it has to be USB-C so no more changing the bloody things for something else.
About time.

hsehestedt · Aug 23, 2024

OldNavy said:
If Apple want to sell iphones in Europe it has to be USB-C so no more changing the bloody things for something else.

So Apple works around this including USB-C but you get slower charging speeds unless you have an Apple certified cable.

hdmi · Aug 23, 2024

If a USB-C cable is rated to only 3A, then it can't be used to charge at 100 watts or higher, as Power Delivery (PD) requires 5A for this. So, to charge at 100W/140W/240W you need a better cable, e.g., this one:

UGREEN 240W PD3.1 USB C to USB C Cable

www.ugreen.com

https://www.amazon.com/UGREEN-Charging-Delivery-Braided-Compatible/dp/B09PB8DJ28

cereberus · Aug 23, 2024

hdmi said:
If a USB-C cable is rated to only 3A, then it can't be used to charge at 100 watts or higher, as Power Delivery (PD) requires 5A for this. So, to charge at 100W/140W/240W you need a better cable, e.g., this one:

UGREEN 240W PD3.1 USB C to USB C Cable

UGREEN 240W PD3.1 USB C to USB C Cable

www.ugreen.com

https://www.amazon.com/UGREEN-Charging-Delivery-Braided-Compatible/dp/B09PB8DJ28

That cable is only good for 480 mb/s data transfer. I have similar cables rated for 40 Gb/s , 240 W. The cables are thicker.

I had a 10 Gb/s cable but it limited my data transfer to my external nvme. With a 20 Gb/s cable, the bottleneck is speed of drive.

Having said that, windows is crap at high speed transfer often capping speeds because of its dreadful copy caching algorithms. Those algorithms were developed back in days of slower HDDs. There is no real need for caching on modern drives i.e. pc should simply stream data as fast as it can and let drive worry about handshaking.

hdmi · Aug 23, 2024

^ There's a 10Gbps version of it. See: Amazon.com

hsehestedt · Aug 23, 2024

I like to use a USB4 / Thunderbolt 4 cable. 40Gbps data speeds. They also typically do 100Wpower delivery.

For those rare cases (so far) that need more power, a good 240W PD 3.1 cable hits the spot.

hdmi · Aug 24, 2024

I like to be able to unplug whatever it is that I have hooked up to my USB4 / Thunderbolt 4 port and/or to my USB-C port without causing the 240 watt power signal to be interrupted as a result of unplugging.

cheaterslick · Aug 25, 2024

TraderGary said:
I also like the high-quality Samsung 8-inch USB C to USB C cables that came with my Samsung portable T7 and T9 SSD drives.

Yeah, I looked around for those. Same thing with the Samsung male USB 3.0 A on one end, and a male USB-C on the other. They would be ideal for my use, say 0.5 to 0.8 in length, but you have to buy the drive in order to get them. I can't find them sold seperately.

Bummer

hsehestedt · Sep 25, 2024

cheaterslick said:
say 0.5 to 0.8 in length

I know that this thread is about a month old, but I just came across your last post now. Did you really mean 0.5 to 0.8 inches or did you mean feet?

In either case, I think that I can send you some links as I've been able to get short adapters (.5 to .8 INCHES) or cables (.5 to .8 FEET). Let me know and I'll see if I can provide some links.

cheaterslick · Sep 25, 2024

hsehestedt said:
I know that this thread is about a month old, but I just came across your last post now. Did you really mean 0.5 to 0.8 inches or did you mean feet?

In either case, I think that I can send you some links as I've been able to get short adapters (.5 to .8 INCHES) or cables (.5 to .8 FEET). Let me know and I'll see if I can provide some links.

Actually, in inches. Less than a foot.

Sorry about that...

hsehestedt · Sep 25, 2024

cheaterslick said:
Actually, in inches. Less than a foot.

Sorry about that...

Ok, so a half of an inch, meaning no cable it is...

Here is but one of the MANY available choices:

Amazon.com

Just search on "USB-C Female to USB-A Male Adapter". I strongly suggest looking for adapters that either advertise as being bidirectional or have an LED so you can see when you have a high-speed connection.

PenPusher · Sep 25, 2024

hsehestedt said:
I use a USB 4 / Thunderbolt 4 cable that can provide 240W power

Cheers I forgot Anker do these... My other half is a 1 person wrecking crew for USB C cables.. both ends eventually get hammered! plugin into her phone.
So I ordered 1 today from Anker UK not Amazon!! Anker price £12.99 and free delivery, Amazon £24.99 and £4.99 without prime!

Anker 515 USB-C to USB-C Cable (USB4)

Move Files Fast: Transfer music, movies, or entire seasons of TV shows in seconds at 40 Gbps. HD Display: Connect your laptop to an external monitor to mir

www.anker.com

cheaterslick · Sep 25, 2024

hsehestedt said:
Ok, so a half of an inch, meaning no cable it is...

I was talking more about cables and not adapters. It seems most of what's out there, you have to buy 3 ft. or more. In fact, Anker emailed me a few weeks ago claiming they don't even sell a USB cable that's less than 3 feet. I've been running into that kind of thing a lot.

hsehestedt said:
I strongly suggest looking for adapters that either advertise as being bidirectional or have an LED so you can see when you have a high-speed connection.

Agree.

hsehestedt · Sep 25, 2024

Okay, so .5 to .8 FEET not inches. If you went .5 inches that would be about the width of your thumb and definitely not a cable.

I can find lots of 6 inch to 1 foot cables on Amazon. Just search on something like "usb-c to usb-a cable short". Plenty available!

MisterEd · Sep 25, 2024

Last year I bought some USB-C to USB-A and USB-A to USB-C adapters and just realized that they are only USB 2.0.

cheaterslick · Sep 26, 2024

hsehestedt said:
Okay, so .5 to .8 FEET not inches. If you went .5 inches that would be about the width of your thumb and definitely not a cable.

I can find lots of 6 inch to 1 foot cables on Amazon. Just search on something like "usb-c to usb-a cable short". Plenty available!

lol -

Ok...

Thanks for your help

hdmi · Sep 26, 2024

@cheaterslick

https://www.amazon.com/COMeap-Support-Charging-Thunderbolt-Interface/dp/B0CXD92L9J

cheaterslick · Sep 26, 2024

hdmi said:
@cheaterslick

https://www.amazon.com/COMeap-Support-Charging-Thunderbolt-Interface/dp/B0CXD92L9J

Hi and thanks for the link. I like the flat flexibility of that one.

Is that cable one you use?

hdmi · Sep 27, 2024

cheaterslick said:
Is that cable one you use?

No, but similar cables can't usually support more than 100W Power Delivery whereas this one goes up to 240W according to the details specified in the description.

Almighty1 · Sep 27, 2024

In my case, I am limited on the cables because I usually buy cables that are 15 feet so the wire guage size matters too. For the USB-C adapters, I know the Micro-USB to USB-C adapters, the good quality ones have a resistor in it. I wonder if Belden Cable actually make USB cable.