Comment by iso1631

3 years ago

We have 2 recentish iphones and an old c. 2016 ipad, but we have at least 10 lightning connections around the house, car, etc to plug into.

We obviously aren't going to replace all 3 devices at the same time, so it means that the first device we replace will suffer from not having the places to plug in that we currently can (sofa, kitchen, bedroom, car, office, bag, etc), or we have to get more power supplies in those areas, and over time we'll have to get another 10 cables to replace them (and usb-c cables are a total mess)

We'll adjust of course -- we were burnt when they dropped the dock connector meaning we couldn't use two of our radios any more, but we didn't make that mistake again

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iso1631

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dwaite  3 years ago

The good news is that all functional USB-C cables will generally charge at 30W. They might not be able to go above 30W, they might only have USB 2.0 speeds. The USB-IF has only just now come up with IMHO their first passable attempt at labelling.

However, for a couch or car charger for a phone, just about any cable that is wired correctly should do everything you want.

The problems come with alt modes and fast charging - the cable might not support the full capabilities, or the device itself (points idly at Nintendo Switch and Raspberry Pi 4) might not have shipped as USB-compliant, breaking with certain valid setups.

My opinion, the problem here isn't just cabling but troubleshooting help - how do I know the cable or charger I'm using isn't charging my computer at full speed? And which one is the problem?