1y ago

This tool for finding bad USB-C cables

hackaday.com

USB-C Cable Tester Is Compact And Affordable

EEVBlog also talked about this in a mailbag episode: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rEZQvSgdA2k&t=1839s

And they also have different cable versions available: https://caberqu.com/

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1y ago

This tool for finding bad USB-C cables

hackaday.com /2023/08/11/usb-c-cable-tester-is-compact-and-affordable/

32 comments

If it tested the resistance i would be great.
- No point; resistance is futile.
  I'll just see myself out.
- There are some cheap testers for that. Even om amazon
  
  om
  heh
- You still need a multimeter, but the one I have (Treedix.com) has easily accessible electrical contacts for testing resistance.
Oh, that kind of bad usb cable. Still useful I guess.
- Not sure what else, but the thing can tell you if a cable is USB2.0, USB3.0/3.1/.. or just for charging.
  
  I'm pretty sure they thought the article meant this type of badusb cable. I did, too, at first.
Is it common for USB-C cables to go bad? I just had a cable for an Xbox controller start to go bad somehow in a way I hadn't seen before. When plugged in, it will cause the Xbox to power off. Swapping out the cable, but using the same controller made the problem go away, so it's definitely the cable causing it. It's the same USB-C cable we had been using for awhile with this controller, it's what came with it.
- I have a USB-C cable that will only work in a specific orientation. So I'll plug in a device, laptop won't recognize it, (sigh) unplug and flip the cable, and then everything works.
  
  USB-A's legacy lives on
- it's not that they go bad. this tool can tell you what features are on the cable because the cables vary a lot.
- It's not the cable that goes bad it's the connectors on the ends: They wear out.
There are superior versions of this that include every physical USB port (A, B, C, Micro, Mini, and even lightning) so that you can test any cable instead of just type C to type C.
- Link? i have this one only
  
  Here’s the one I use: https://treedix.com/products/treedix-usb-cable-tester-board-usb-cable-checker-data-wire-with-acrylic-case-charging-test-data-line-type-c-micro-type-a-type-b
  The exposed pads are also fantastic to break out data lines for measurement when performing electronics repairs.
Am I missing something here or is this roughly the same what you get for 4 bucks from China? I mean, 30 euros plus shipping is a lot for a cable tester imo
- Do you trust the $4 tester from China to test the suspect cheap cables from China?
  
  50% failure rate of the cables and 50% failure of the tester means a problem will be found 100% of the time, but it dmwont tell you where. Or something.
- This one seems to test much more lines than the cheap chinese ones.
Here is an alternative Piped link(s):
https://www.piped.video/watch?v=rEZQvSgdA2k&t=1839s
Piped is a privacy-respecting open-source alternative frontend to YouTube.
I'm open-source; check me out at GitHub.
Oh man! Super happy to see his channel on here. Dave is the shit and is the only reason I can half ass solder things. His intro soldering videos are great.
What a tremendous relief! Managing troublesome USB-C cables may be exasperating. This USB-C cable tester seems to be a small and economical way to prevent connectivity issues. fnf
I have a really cool one of those for serial cables
- Null modem or straight through.

32 comments