Warning about USB-C to USB-A (standard USB) cables

Forums › Gadgets, robotics, home automation, electronics (including wearables) › Warning about USB-C to USB-A (standard USB) cables

jarledb

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#191482 5-Feb-2016 14:47

Bad cables for USB-C to USB-A can actually damage the equipment they are plugged into.

Google Engineer Benson Leung has been testing USB type C to USB type A cables to find bad ones after discovering that the OnePlus USB-C cable could cause damage when used with other phones.

His latest test of a third party USB-C to USB-A cable left him with 2 broken USB PD Sniffer devices and a broken Chromebook Pixel laptop.

He has written a Google+ article about what the problem with some USB-C to USB-A cables are, and why they can be really dangerous to your equipment.

He has done a lot of reviews of USB-C to USB-A cables on Amazon.

So you should be very careful about what kind of third-party USB-C to USB-A cables you buy, and even try your best not to reuse cables for one phone brand with another at this point.

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BlakJak

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#1485968 5-Feb-2016 14:57

Ooh. I bought some off screenhug a few months ago, no issues with them to-date... I do think it is dumb that the Nexus 5X didn't have an OEM USB-A to -C cable on board, instead had -C to -C for charging but clearly this won't go into most computers...

No signature to see here, move along...

jarledb

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#1486199 5-Feb-2016 19:13

Will be a while until USB-C becomes as commonplace as USB-A, but the changes specs and voltage really does leave us in dangerous territory, especially when manufacturers don't produce them to spec. So the cheap chinese cables could become very expensive to use.