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Comment by bloopernova

2 years ago

I wish these were more widely available:

https://caberqu.com/home/20-42-c2c-caberqu-746052578813.html...

I have one from the kickstarter, and every new USB-C cable gets tested and labeled. Most are USB 2.0. A few will have the power delivery pins. It's such a crapshoot on any shopping site.

It should be mandatory that these cables are correctly spec'd and labeled.

42 comments

bloopernova

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joshstrange  2 years ago

Maybe I'm just stupid but I want one of these that just prints out (or lights up next to text) something like:

    5w
    10w
    15w
    20w
    ...

and

    480mbps
    5gbps
    10gbps
    20gbps
    40gbps

and maybe

    USB2
    USB3.0
    USB3.1
    USB3.2 gen 1
    USB3.2 gen 2
    Thunderbolt 3
    Thunderbolt 4

Or something like that. At least once I month I go searching for USB cable testers for this exact purpose and within 10min my eyes are crossed and I just close all the tabs giving up.

  • bloopernova  2 years ago

    I think I recall the designer of the tester I got was unable to reliably ascertain the different types of cable, so pin testing was the next best thing. I agree, it would be great to have a smarter cable tester.

izacus  2 years ago

Unfortunately it doesn't check for the last piece of the puzzle - the USB-C cable e-marker which has to be present to signal advanced capabilities for charging and thunderbolt. So it's not sufficient to test for high performance cables :/

moonfern  2 years ago

"USB-IF strongly discourages its members and the industry at-large from using specification names/terminology in consumer-facing branding, packaging, advertisements, and other marketing materials."

They recommend the following naming: XYZ's USB 40Gbps 60W USB Type-C® Cable or USB 40Gbps 60W USB Type-C® Cable

USB 40Gbps... correspond to the USB4 Gen 3×2 mode Hi-Speed USB is USB 2.0 (High-Speed).

A tip usb cable and a number in the logo = not USB2. A usb c cable and black/white in the logo = not USB2

Sometimes the marketing name and a logo specify a certain mode like USB 10Gbps the marketing name is only used for USB 3.2 Gen 2×1 mode, the black/white logo with 10 Gbps always correspond to USB 3.2 Gen 2×1 mode.

If you see USB in blue and 10 Gbps in red than it's either USB 3.2 Gen 2x1 or USB4 Gen 2×1 ( those modes have different encodings )

  • fireflash38  2 years ago

    What a clusterfuck of branding. The inability to easily differentiate between capabilities makes everything the same as the lowest common denominator - the shittiest USB-C cable from wish.

    • make3  2 years ago

      I wish all smartphones would be able to tell you the capabilities of the wires you're using. You can't expect consumers to order weird devices from China just to know which wire to freaking use with their phones.

alvarop  2 years ago

Shameless plug: I made a version of this you can order yourself from JLCPCB (with some bonus connectors.)

https://alvarop.com/2023/07/usb-cable-tester

Github project: https://github.com/alvarop/usb_c_cable_tester

  • eqvinox  2 years ago

    I think your tester would actually break that active Apple cable (because an active cable essentially behaves as a "device" since it has active circuitry on the high-speed lines.)

  • asicsarecool  2 years ago

    That is freaking awesome.

    Feels like every nerd should have one.

    Would be cool to have a version where it measures the resistance of the power wires too

criddell  2 years ago

> It should be mandatory that these cables are correctly spec’s and labeled

Why doesn’t the USB standards group mandate labeling of some type? Probably not words, but symbols would be good enough.

  • nrp  2 years ago

    You’re getting a lot of “hot take” and sarcastic responses, but the actual answer is that they do. To use any of the USB-IF logos (including the official ones that clarify power and signal compatibility) a product has to go through the certification process: https://www.usb.org/logo-license

    USB-IF also maintains a list of products that are certified: https://www.usb.org/products

    The question then is, “Why is this still confusing?”. The answer is probably that the popular retail and e-commerce channels are flooded with products that aren’t certified, and consumers don’t realize that a certification process even exists.

    • criddell  2 years ago

      This is really helpful. Thanks.

      I've bought some supposedly USB-IF certified cables a couple of weeks ago and I didn't notice the logos. When I get home tonight, I'm going to take a closer look.

  • duped  2 years ago

    Why stop a labeling? You could design the connectors to only terminate at another connector that supports the same features, preventing anyone from confusing one cable for another.

    And the reason we don't do that is because it would expose the lie that there can be a universal data and power connector for all devices, and rather than live in a world where everything can connect perfectly fine with the right cables, we have chosen to live in one where the market can be flooded with garbage cables that don't work for your devices. And rather than blame the device manufacturer for choosing a shoddy cable, or the government for forcing them to, we can happily blame the cable manufacturer instead.

    If you just slap a label on it, it's not going to fix the problem. No one is going to read them, and people are going to lie.

    • bufferoverflow  2 years ago

      > it would expose the lie that there can be a universal data and power connector for all devices

      It was never promised for ALL devices. Obviously, there are high power applications where type-C connector would melt no matter what you do.

      But it's quite obvious that USB-C cables with 40Gbps and 100W power delivery exist. And it's good enough for most devices. At least for now.

      I even see 40Gbps cables with 240W PD.

    • asdajksah2123  2 years ago

      > And the reason we don't do that is because it would expose the lie that there can be a universal data and power connector for all devices

      And yet, such a connector and cable does exist!

      > everything can connect perfectly fine with the right cables

      Right, because carrying 3 different cables to give a presentation, which I wont be able to if I forget one of them, or it gets too bent in my backpack is indeed "perfectly fine". As opposed to carrying just 1 USB-C cable (which as a bonus I can use to charge my Android phone in case the battery unexpectedly starts running out before the end of the day) and even if it gets damaged or broken, odds are increasingly that there will be several other people who will also have that cable.

      > rather than blame the device manufacturer for choosing a shoddy cable, or the government for forcing them to, we can happily blame the cable manufacturer instead

      And we can't do that with universal cables because?

  • sleepybrett  2 years ago

    There used to be a thing where cables that supported usb-3 had blue interiors to their connectors. But then some jackasses started shipping crap cables with blue connectors at inflated prices...

    I don't think the usb standards body can realisticly police the labeling in any real way.

    Also apple's usb-c cables w/ thunderbolt has the little thunderbolt icon on it, so at least they are labeling it (https://www.apple.com/shop/product/MN713AM/A/thunderbolt-4-u...)

  • MBCook  2 years ago

    Isn’t that how we got USB 3 Gen 2 PD 130w Muffin-Spec?

    Their names are terrible.

    Besides. If companies are going to make non-conforming cables, they can put fake labels on them too. No normal person is going to check for the right labels.

    They need a “USB C 4 cable”. They type that into Amazon and buy the thing with a low price and 4 stars.

    The exact markings on the cable don’t make a difference.

    • crote  2 years ago

      You can probably blame the manufacturers and tech press for that.

      These were always only intended to be internal designations for very specific technologies, with the devices and cables simply labeled with their actual capabilities. None of the Gen1/Gen2/Gen3 nonsense, simply "10G" / "20G" / "40G".

      Unfortunately not everyone got that memo, and once the general population got used to the complicated internal-only designation it became pretty much impossible to use any other term for it.

mardifoufs  2 years ago

There are tons of them on AliExpress! Some can even test resistance, emarkers, etc.

  • larschdk  2 years ago

    Tons of 4-pin cable testers, no 24-pin testers that I can find.

    • mardifoufs  2 years ago

      I have the FNB-58 which says has a 24 pin interface but that might not necessarily mean that it tests all of them! I should probably test it. It's a bit pricy but very well built, and pretty stable as long as you update the firmware or get one with a newer version already installed.

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