Google Researcher: Cheap USB Type-C Cables Might Fry Your Device

[DaffyDuck]

 

http://news.softpedia.com/news/google-researcher-cheap-usb-type-c-cables-might-fry-your-device-495814.shtml

 

Google Researcher: Cheap USB Type-C Cables Might Fry Your Device

 

Benson Leung, a Google engineer, is saying that some cheaper versions of the new USB Type-C converter cables are putting a user's device at risk by improperly implementing the USB Type-C Cable and Connector Specification.

 

USB Type-C converter cables are cables that can interconnect devices with USB 3.1 Type-C ports with other devices or charging sockets that feature a Type-A or Type-B port.

 

According to research carried out by Leung, for some manufacturers, faults in the converter cable's design draw too much power, which, for some devices, might lead to the damage of internal circuitry.

 

An Amazon reviews crusader

 

Leung is visiting the Amazon pages of USB Type-C converter cables and leaving stinging reviews behind. For each review, he also give technical explanations for why the cables are not living up to expectations.

 

One of these reviews goes as: "Since you are creating a USB Type-C plug to a USB 2.0 Type-A Plug assembly, you must use a resistor of value 56kΩ as a pull-up on CC (configuration channel). According to my testing, your cable uses a 10kΩ pull-up, which is not legal when the other end of the cable or adapter is a legacy Type-A or Type-B connector or receptacle."

 

At the moment of writing this article, Leung has reviewed 14 USB Type-C cables and found only 3 to be up to par with the specifications.

 

Leung also provides self-debugging instructions

 

Since there are hundreds of such cables available for sale, most from different manufacturers, Leung and his colleague Vincent Palatin have also published a tutorial on how others can test the quality of their USB Type-C converter cables on their own. Thresholds for good and bad telemetry data are also included so that users could interpret their results.

 

The researchers are providing a set of Linux shell commands to do this, but they are also detailing a method using only the Chrome browser.

 

Belkin 2.0 USB-C to USB-A Charge Cable, one of the cables that got a 5-star review

Belkin 2.0 USB-C to USB-A Charge Cable, one of the cables that got a 5-star review

[DaffyDuck]

With USB-C joining the fray of multiple USB 'standards', and many new devices adopting it for its obvious benefits, the emergence of cheaply and badly made Chinese cables was to be expected.