Your USB-C Cable probably SUCKS! Sooo is that Bad?

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In this video we will be having a closer look at USB-C cables and find out why most of them are actually not that great. We will be focusing on 100W power transfer so very fast charging. I will show you how much power loss 13 different USB-C cables produce and why most of them do not meet the standard specs. Let's get started!
Websites which were shown/used during the video:
www.usb.org/usb-charger-pd
www.mi.com/global/product/xia...
www.usb.org/document-library/...
satechi.net/blogs/news/pd-3-1...
Thanks to Keysight for sponsoring this video.
0:00 The Problem with USB-C Cables
1:49 Intro
2:26 60W/100W cables?
3:14 E-Marker Chip?
5:04 Test Setup
6:42 The Worst Performing Cable
7:43 Test Results
9:50 Verdict

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Опубликовано:

8 май 2024

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Комментарии : 1 тыс.

@JanCiger Год назад

Lot of the bad (not necessarily cheap!) cables use either completely inadequate wire gauges, with only a few strands of copper - or don't use copper wire at all but copper coated aluminium (CCA) wire instead. Which is a lot cheaper compared to copper - and also much worse conductor. My bet is that the "seat heater" cable is actually CCA and not copper at all.

@greatscottlab Год назад

Thanks for the feedback and good guess ;-)

@Gameplayer55055 Год назад

interesting. i had a cable that was attracted by a magnet. what is it made if? steel?

@Chimel31 Год назад

@@Gameplayer55055 Steel balls even, if it had the courage to stand up and declare its love to the magnet.

@TheGamerFreak007 Год назад

@@Gameplayer55055 It was most probably a shielded cable in which the shield around the internal wires was magnetic. Never heard of iron/steel cables for commercial electrical usage

@_BangDroid_ Год назад

@@Gameplayer55055 I have a few of these, including a Dell USB keyboard cable

@Jack82836 Год назад

I love your presentation method in all your videos. The hand drawing is always extremely clear and pleasantly done.

@greatscottlab Год назад

Thank you! Cheers!

@b2stg3o7dwxn Год назад

赞同！ Very agree

@kwinzman Год назад

I love the drawings, but I get triggered by the textmarker highlighter smearing the fineliner writing in the videos. 😂 I would totally send you a box of STAEDTLER classic Inkjet safe that smear less :P

@kwinzman Год назад

@@greatscottlab PS: and the one fineliner that uses pigment ink that is indestructible by textmarker highlighters is the Copic Multiliner (available at least in 6 colors maybe more).

@regisdixit Год назад

How about GreatScott™ drafting kits? Made in Germany, naturlich!

@Chimel31 Год назад

It's quite common these days to find out that almost nothing you want to purchase, from a kitchen appliance to a car to a USB cable is perfect or even close. Now that customer comments or comparative videos such as yours are everywhere, you can easily find out that most commercial products have known issues that are never really fixed, or new issues arise after fixing some old ones.

@monad_tcp Год назад

I would have trust issue if it was not for higher branded things usually keeping to their names. But you go for cheap, you get what you pay for.

@anon_y_mousse Год назад

@@monad_tcp Perhaps, but that shouldn't be the way. Inflation has been hitting us all in the figurative sack for decades. I should be able to buy a cable that works the same as every other cable for $5.

@E_Tech_Lab Год назад

ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-PDN9DU-l2oM.html

@sagichdirdochnicht4653 Год назад

@@monad_tcp This is true for cables and other cheap "crap". God damn. Apple products break down, when you look at the wrong and are built in a way, that you won't be able to fix them. Cars get locked down - can't fucking repair your 50k vehicle anymore. Subscription models on cars. So much SHIT is going on. If you buy a brand today, all that is actually certain is, that you spend more money on the product! If it is ANY better remains to be seen. If we continue as we have, you'll soon pay a fucking subscription to be able to use cables at all...

@KrolKaz Год назад

That's fine, these products are usually cheap enough that it really doesnr matter. If it breaks just toss ir and but a new

@rpavlik1 Год назад

Wow, 11W dissipation from a USB cable is crazy. Most of the lightbulbs in my house use/dissipate less.

@labrat810 9 месяцев назад

EU should be looking @ standards for charging cables, too. If they want to push-standardize connections and mandate min. efficiencies, then the entire ecosystem needs to be examined; not just the charger and device.

@user-pv3rq6ei9r Год назад

It would be interesting to see you disassemble worst cables and see why they are bad, is it always just because of the thin wire or there can be other reasons

@marcogenovesi8570 Год назад

the two main reasons are thin wire and aluminum wire instead of copper

@polarijet Год назад

and crappy connector can have high resistance

@rogerbeck3018 Год назад

one cable I dismantled was STEEL conductor - it was 1000mm length and charging took ages

@E_Tech_Lab Год назад

ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-PDN9DU-l2oM.html

@da4127 Год назад

@@rogerbeck3018wait, if you’re gonna use a cheap conductor, why go for steel lol

@dantoes2574 Год назад

Great video! However it would nice to have some sort of list/spreadsheet with the tested cables so we don't need to open every product link to check for the manufacturer.

@E_Tech_Lab Год назад

ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-PDN9DU-l2oM.html

@VitorFM Год назад

Also, the links are incorrect! Not good reference! And the links may vanishes tomorrow!

@htopherollem649 Год назад

first time viewer here and vid is clickbait as far as I'm concerned

@AjdamusMagnus Год назад

@@htopherollem649 You are clickbait

@jpt4409 5 месяцев назад

Then how would he shill his affiliate links?

@sloanyounglove9301 Год назад

Great idea to do the testing and use actual data. However, I was disappointed to not see a clear recommendation, since, most people are watching hoping to find a good cable after noticing that so many really suck. I find that one cable that charges my phone in an hour and others that take 4. Can you clarify or give a brand recommendation? Thanks for the video - very professionally done :)

@jb888888888 11 месяцев назад

If I understood the video properly, then get This One. It's much better than the rest. But whatever you do, don't get This One. It's awful.

@Cappadociatourguide 8 месяцев назад

From my understanding UGREEN is one of the best among these cables.

@kinasc1575 6 месяцев назад

@@Cappadociatourguidei just got 6 ugreen cables of different types, and the fitment of the plugs and sockets, and the cables is top notch.👌

@thefergyfilms 13 дней назад

Yeah this video is pretty much useless. Godd why is it so hard to find

@renxula Год назад

That cable with the built-in power meter looks handy! Sometimes the devices settle on a tiny current for some reason, and simply disconnecting and reconnecting fixes it, but normally you don't easily notice the issue.

@arthurmoore9488 Год назад

It has to do with that voltage drop! I found this out when experimenting with solar panels with direct USB output. Things like cell phones are "smart", they slowly ramp up the power draw while watching the voltage. Once the voltage drops too much, they stick there. If the voltage drops any time during charging, they assume a fault condition and default to a "safe" low power state. Good ones will then ramp back up after a delay, but bad ones are stuck. Some other "dumb" devices do similar, but they only have two levels, high port or low power.

@angryman9333 Год назад

That's why I have AccuBattery App !

@monad_tcp Год назад

@@arthurmoore9488 so they don't trust what the cable says, that's a nice feature for the user, which are probably going to plug stupid dumb cables that lie.

@chaos.corner Год назад

@@monad_tcp I think that's the old fast-charge methodology. The newer stuff negotiates. Though it would be nice if they were smart about it as well.

@gblargg Год назад

@@JaredConnell Amazing, only $8 for a cable with the wattage display (toocki 6' one w/ coupon). Ordered!

@brianm.7421 Год назад

I am a cell phone technician, I noticed that problem with the quality of the cables, mainly for fast charges, very generic cables affect the charge, it also happens with micro usb. Another thing is also poorly filtered generic chargers, which put electrical noise in the devices, in the case of cell phones they generate a malfunction of the touch! by static and noise from the power source; Many times I have cut the cables to expose the copper filaments, and yes, they are bad, some do not even have the mesh to cover the cables, and others have very thin cables that do not support the amperage

@greatscottlab Год назад

Thanks for the feedback :-)

@brianegendorf2023 Год назад

It would have been nice if you at least summed up the five cables that were better than the rest. Even if they were roughly equivalent to each other, I'd like to know what they were, so I can choose those cables.

@Utrilus 6 месяцев назад

8:50 Tho it'd be E or B if picking the one that passed the certification. But also at the end he said it doesn't really matter. And the cables are linked in the video's description.

@clashwithkeen 5 месяцев назад

yeah no kidding. what was the point

@Utrilus 5 месяцев назад

@@clashwithkeen He made graphs about the cables at 8:50. Just look at the price and performance comparison, then find the link to it in the video description.

@seanburke424 5 месяцев назад

The chief lesson i drew, is not to buy a longer cable than you need, especially if it will be carrying high power. And if you really need a 1-m cable, expect to pay more.

@jpt4409 5 месяцев назад

Then how would he peddle his affiliate li is without giving any useful buying information?

@Pikakeung Год назад

This presentation of the test data and the test methodology are very clear and helpful. It reminds me of Project Farm's videos but with more engineering focus. Love this content!

@E_Tech_Lab Год назад

ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-PDN9DU-l2oM.html

@TheEphemeris Год назад

Interesting to note this video was a recommendation under a project firm video. The algorithm brought me here and I can't complain

@jozjonlin3170 Месяц назад

Yes, but on Project Farm, he would also test the breaking strength of the cable and how much force it would take to remove from a device.

@aflac82 Год назад

This is a very much needed video in this ever growing chaos of information about the USB-C as a connector vs as a power delivery mode. Also, now I'm even happier with my UGREEN cables :D

@E_Tech_Lab Год назад

ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-PDN9DU-l2oM.html

@daanb7894 Год назад

I can vouch for the UGREEN cables, I've used them for years and not one has died on me, great quality!

@bluej511 Год назад

Same, and cable matters is also very good. They're actually vesa certified. I have ugreen USB cables and cablematters dp cable.

@greatscottlab Год назад

Thanks for the feedback. Good to know :-)

@WagTsX Год назад

I also used a lot of Ugreen chargers and cables and surprisingly, are the best I ever had in all of my collection... So I can only think that it's a great manufacturer and my #1 option nowadays.

@zeendaniels5809 Год назад

Indeed! The chargers are quite pricey, but totally worth it (and still cheaper than the "original" stuff).

@Chocobollz Год назад

Same here. I've been using UGreen USB-C 3A Magnetic Charging cables for a few years (at least 3+) and have no problems so far. It's able to efficiently charge the 33W Redmi Note 10 Pro even though it doesn't support Xiaomi's proprietary cable tech (which has a 5th pin on the USB-A end). I get basically the same performance (50% charge in 30 mins) as the phone's original cable.

@martyb3783 Год назад

Very interesting. I had no idea about the E-marker chip. I assumed that the load was negotiated between the usb device and the power supply. Well done!

@radellaf Год назад

Well, it is, but the chip also is part of the negotiation if 5A is requested, or attempted to be drawn.

@AtlantisArch Год назад

Cable is part of the electric system too. Most of electrical safety devices in your house are there to protec wires and pluggs only, in order to avoid fires.

@radellaf Год назад

@@AtlantisArch 'course, if you're in the USA, the breakers don't do anything if your extension cord is rated at less than the 15 or 20A circuit...

@AtlantisArch Год назад

@@radellaf it was an analogy to make understand the fact that the chip, by negociating the power also acts as a safety device to ensure the cable don't overwhelm its ability. In a house the protection is choosen accordinly with the wire behind. A usb c cable without a chip is like a house without intensity protection (or close to) and thus maybe someday prone to fire. (I'm not is the US, hope they have something like that, a long time I didn't check their practices)

@radellaf Год назад

@@AtlantisArch It's a good idea to have a chip, never disagreed with that. Just saying that there are 3 components: load, power supply, cable. Ideally the system could measure the cable resistance. But, a chip is better than blindly trying to draw 5 amps. The loads don't usually seem to slam up to full current, anyway; they ramp up and monitor voltage. So then the bad situation is a 5A chip cable, an incautious load, and a power supply that goes from full voltage to failure without any voltage reduction as a signal. House wiring has overcurrent protection. Many people assume that prevents a fire when putting a 15A load on a 18awg cord set. There should be a fuse in any cord that can't take the full 15 (or 20A, these days) that the outlet will provide.

@OIE82 Год назад

Another excellent video on something that I have been curious about but didn't have time to look into. Thanks

@stevekemble8911 Год назад

Great Scott! it's a Great Video! (always impressed by your penmanship as well - best on RU-vid)

@greatscottlab Год назад

Thanks :-)

@GameBacardi Год назад

Not only cables, USB-C charges are complex as hell also. Some charges not work on some devices :/

@rpavlik1 Год назад

That's mainly when the device lacks the proper signalling resistors on the USB C socket, or the charger is not good and won't supply even 5v without a full PD negotiation.

@gblargg Год назад

Louis Rossmann posted about that recently, how he has several chargers and devices, with only some combinations working.

@StereoBucket Год назад

@@rpavlik1 I think early revision of Raspberry Pi 4 had this issue as well.

@jan.tichavsky Год назад

That's true. I had brand name chargers (I think Lenovo) and brand name phone (HTC) which would not charge at all even when it had simple USB-A output. Instead it was slowly draining the phone's battery while it was showing charging indicator. Very annoying.

@gblargg Год назад

@@jan.tichavsky I had that once. Come back an hour later and the phone is drained more even though it was on the charger. Do I get credits from the power company for the energy I fed back into the grid? LOL

@Pepe-ry8pm Год назад

As always, very educational. I love your videos

@abhijitborah Год назад

Truly needed to know this. Thank you for creating it

@seanman6541 Год назад

I have the same USB meter (FNB48S). It has a built in PD trigger function. It can also trigger QC Quick Charge and a bunch of other quick charge protocols. You don't have to use a separate PD trigger board.

@E_Tech_Lab Год назад

ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-PDN9DU-l2oM.html

@brokenbonesmedia26 Год назад

Amazing video as usual! I only have one small note: you can't just simply multiply/divide to get a resistance/meter value, because - as you mentioned it - a lot depends on the connectors too. So x length of cable will not necessarily have double resistance compared to x/2 with the same internals and connectors, because depending on the quality, the connectors might give a higher fraction of the resistance. For example if you have a 2x resistance, where 1x is from the 2 connectors, and 1x from the cable, by having double length, you will have just 3x resistance. But that's all theoretical, we could get more accurate results only by fully disassembling them, and measuring separately the connector and the cable.

@E_Tech_Lab Год назад

ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-PDN9DU-l2oM.html

@taiiat0 Год назад

true, to rule out the Connectors you'd be left with no choice other than to destroy one(s) and test the Wiring itself separately after testing with the Connectors. and compare to estimate the difference.

@Cineenvenordquist Год назад

As if we all have this USB-C particulate kit for cleaning and evaluating the contact condition and alignment! Yeah that's in the room with the electron microscopes and dry nitrogen.

@Petch85 Год назад

8:07 I think you should have added % or W/100W on the Y axis and not Power loss/W under the x axis. Minor thing though. But it takes a little longer to understand the graph.

@greatscottlab Год назад

Thanks for the feedback :-)

@Petch85 Год назад

@@greatscottlab np. thanks for the videos, I learn a lot.

@E_Tech_Lab Год назад

ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-PDN9DU-l2oM.html

@optiTHOMAS 8 месяцев назад

My god, you got some good hand writing! 😅😆👌🏻 amazing technical and informative breakdown! Been looking to get a new cable, but been researching them for a bit first.

@TheAces1979 Год назад

Highly informative. I learned at least three things I didn't know previously within the first 4 minutes. Strong work! Many thanks!

@jg374 Год назад

The Silicon Chip magazine published a design and made a kit for a usb cable tester about a year ago. This passes up to 1A through the power lines of the cable and measures the voltage drop across it as well as checking what pins are connected to which. I don't have any high power usb c devices, but it has been good for creating a system of tagging known good and bad cables around the home so I know they are reliable / charging only or can do higher currents.

@nicholasvinen Год назад

What a great magazine! 😉

@andrii.personal Год назад

Thank you! About the fridge, they need to draw like 5x power they rated to run at first, so 200w won’t be enough

@ImBradCrites Год назад

I was thinking the same thing. The startup draw would be much higher than this battery pack.

@andrii.personal Год назад

@@ImBradCrites recently tried to run 78W rated fridge with 200W (400 peak) Power Station and got nothing. The same thing with the microwave, as it is drawing more than the mode (200\300\400 W and so on), it draws 1200 but then drops to 90~

@cornjulio4033 Год назад

Klasse! Danke , dass Du das für uns einmal ordentlich durchgetestet hast.

@randomcrab5279 Год назад

Excellent video! There's also a connector issue usually when buying cheap cables. Microns, but enough to make the charging port/usb-c slot wiggle and get damaged in a while..

@marvinhensbergen1515 Год назад

Remember... voltagedrop is dependent on the amperage.. if you draw 100w the drop is much higher than when you draw 50w. So according to the usb specs, You should test each cable for what they are rated for. But very interresting test!! I was always wondering what the resistances were.

@serena-yu Год назад

Guess why high-voltage direct current (HVDC) power transmission uses a high voltage? Because for a wire running direct current, voltage drop is only proportional to resistance * current, not voltage (Ohm's law).

@wantedyou2346 Год назад

Please do a similar review on USB c cables bought from AliExpress, for both 1m and 2m USB C cables in the future. You have done a great job so far. Keep it up.

@John_Ridley Год назад

Is there any point in reviewing anything off of AliExpress? I don't get the feeling that you'll ever get the same item twice from there, you'll get whatever's cheap in Shenzhen that week.

@daiblaze1396 Год назад

Thanks for clearing things up ! 👏

@Christopher_S Год назад

Thank you for subtitles! ♥

@viewerfrom1984 Год назад

One issue I found with the cheaper (generally white plastic) cables is they tend to deform due to heat and can allow the power pins to move. Resulting in a damaged connector and/or device.

@juriaanoussoren Год назад

Wtf man

@Cineenvenordquist Год назад

What? The pins are on the connector. Either way things are going wrong w. power negotiation...

@viewerfrom1984 Год назад

Current draw. If you are charging and running some power hungry app, the cable end will start to warm up. These warm toso much the plastic melts and connectors short out.

@radellaf Год назад

@@viewerfrom1984 Yeah, the connector has to meet spec, not just the wire in the cable. That's pretty bad. Never seen it, hope I don't.

@movax20h Год назад

Thanks for all the testing. Could you update description with exact model numbers in the description. Preferably from the box. Not just links to the amazon, as it is hard to buy from other sources.

@antaljani Год назад

Hey Scott. I love your videos, I already follow you couple of years. Always valuable content, very usefull as well. Keep going and I'll go for patreon you.

@funkynerd_com Год назад

Great testing. I almost exclusively use Ugreen cables which I was glad to see was one you tested and that it performed quite well.

@miguelagueda3928 Год назад

To be fair to the cable that claims 6A charge in xiaomi, this protocol is not meant to carry them throught a single wire. I haven't looked into it in detailt, but just like my OnePlus phone, they are using one of the usb 3.0 wires to carry 3 amps each. So, unless you are tricking the power supply to work at PD 100W, this cable would not be dissipating such a high power and thus wouldn't heat to badly

@TingFeng77 Год назад

yeah its probably some propritary thing that wasnt supposed to carry PD100W, and instead a propritary current and voltage via non standard pins

@StefanAlexandruGeogloman Год назад

Many suck, yes. But from seeing opinions, testing myself, Baseus and Ugreen are great. I don't know about their lowest tier cables, but from mid-priced to higher priced are great! And by that they do what they say, have those specifications, good build quality, good connectors.

@chaos.corner Год назад

I've had some very variable quality cables over the years. I am planning to make a rig so I can throw away the worst. I was thinking of making a video along these lines but you've saved me the bother.

@_droid Год назад

Nice test. It's something I have been wondering about for a long time. As usual with everything the USB "standard" does, USB-C is a *mess* but it's what we're stuck with so tests like this really help!

@E_Tech_Lab Год назад

ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-PDN9DU-l2oM.html

@PavloD9 Год назад

Did you check the usb-c cable that comes with MacBook Pro? I’m really curious to see how it compares with cheap Chinese ones

@jacksongarcia8828 Год назад

Nice video mate. Good work

@vpakkirisamy4906 Год назад

Good information as expected from great Scott👍👍👌

@greatscottlab Год назад

Glad you enjoyed it

@davidlapierre4058 Год назад

Assuming otherwise similar construction, shorter cables will be at a disadvantage in the resistance/length test.

@DatBoiOrly Год назад

personally i think its an advantage since the shorter a cable is the less resistance its going to get overall even if you include it's not like the other longer cables magically lose there connectors.

@davidlapierre4058 Год назад

@@DatBoiOrly I'm not sure what you mean. The resistance/length of a non-faulty section in the middle of a cable will be less than the resistance/length of the entire cable + any connections included in the measurement.

@DatBoiOrly Год назад

@@davidlapierre4058 it should be around the same given the larger cables also have the connectors and if they were the same gauge wire then the results would be the same no matter the length if they were made identically just differing so its equal at worse. the reason i said the short cables have an advantage is the longer a cable is the more resistance it gets the more it loses to heat esc esc so the problems are compounded more than what the division takes off making it seem worse than it actually is compared to short cables which have lower amounts of these issues and are divided by a lower amount. i can't really see it being unfair to the shorter cables only equal or an advantage

@davidlapierre4058 Год назад

@@DatBoiOrly I think you have some misunderstandings here. Imagine two cables of identical construction, except that the one is 1 meter long, and the other is 2 meters. In almost any case, the resistance/length of the connector itself (plus the additional resistance to the probe points) will be higher than the resistance/length of the wire, therefore the resistance of the 2 m cable will be LESS than twice the resistance of the 1 m cable, and the longer cable will have a better overall resistance/length value. It is of course possible that a very good connector is used with extremely undersized power wires, but that should rarely happen, if ever.

@microwave221 Год назад

The best cable I've gotten to this day came from harbor freight of all places. It's 2m long without the noticable charging slowdown that sometimes comes with extra length, and hasn't had any issues living in a pocket for years. I think the wire gauge they use was right on the package, and I honestly wish that was required

@chaos.corner Год назад

Yes. You can't rely on them saying "fast charge". I had one that specified that but was abysmal. I ended up buying one that specified the wire gauge and it did well until it got damaged.

@TheoPoon Год назад

Love your gag on greater power comes with greater responsibility, gave me my laugh of the day, thanks

@johnpaulbacon8320 Год назад

Thanks for this well done and informative video.

@Tinker_Box Год назад

Another problem of USB type C cables, arguably a more important one, is that C cables are divided between data rate or power delivery. It is difficult to find a cable that is capable of both high speed communication and high speed charging.

@bigtitmaster 7 месяцев назад

Thunderbolt cables lmao

@olisolaf123 Год назад

It would be "great Scott", if you could also do this test for transfering data :D I have big problems to use USB 3.0/1 for my Intel Realsense D145 (master thesis), but i need more than 1,8 meters of cable As always nice videos!

@JediMastr80 11 месяцев назад

Yeah, I can understand why he wouldn't test for video and audio, but data transfer speed 100% should have also been tested as that is also a major deal breaker for some people. Many people will want to use the same cable to charge and transfer data, so testing both is kind of important. I have a bunch of Anker cables only to find out they were USB 2.0 and not 3.0 / 3.1 speeds. This is annoying when my phone supports 3.1 but the cable only transfers 2.0. Now, I will admit, it was my fault for not doing more research and missing it said USB 2.0. I would have gone with USB 3.1 if I had seen it. However, these companies expect people to either not notice or know the difference in speeds, so sell lower quality cables than they should. I do plan to get a 3.0 to 3.1 cable, even if it isn't Anker because transfer speed matters more to me than charging (since all these cables are fast-charge anyway).

@smoscar Год назад

Great video! Can we perhaps get another one with data/audio/video speeds too?

@kurtlindner Год назад

I _wiiish_ you would've included a Tether Tools cable in this comparison. I'd love to know if photographers and videographers are really just paying for the orange jacket. Loved this video!

@TheMichaelGrace Год назад

This was good. Nice work. USB-C manufacturing has been an absolute mess for years. Really hope it gets better.

@E_Tech_Lab Год назад

ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-PDN9DU-l2oM.html

@HansensUniverseT-A Год назад

USB c cables might as well be seen as disposable as alkaline batteries, they are found everywhere, just about every grocery store has a gazillion of these things, obviously the companies who sell them know that people break them all the time which they are designed and manufactured to do. If i were buying such a cable i would get the cheapest one cause the more expensive ones isn't going to be any different in terms of longevity.

@radellaf Год назад

@@HansensUniverseT-A The better cables (price is an imperfect indicator of quality) most DEFINITELY do last longer than the mediocre ones.

@Torbjorn.Lindgren Год назад

The schematic that shows how they're measuring it shows it as 500mV drop *at 5V* supply. The text shown doesn't specify what voltage they're using which is kind of weird because the voltage drop should be linear with the supply voltage, but USB does use 5V as the base voltage except when specifically triggered into a higher voltage so it make sense that this would be the default. So I expect pretty much all measurements are at 5V. If that's the requirement we can extrapolate that it correspond to a 2V drop at 20V, which only one cable exceeded and two got somewhat close (~1.5V) and 10 was well below the limit.

@Turbochargedtwelve Год назад

It is the current you should consider as that is what causes the delta V. Since usb specifies 5v at 3A with a 500mV for the 20v at 5A that would imply 833mV is the requirement.

@radellaf Год назад

@@Turbochargedtwelve Yep, checks out. 500mV at 3A would be 0.17 ohms, times 5A = 833mV.

@stefanschneider3681 Год назад

Thanks a lot for this explanation. I was looking out for such a cable few weeks ago and was very confused with all the brands ant types out there. Although I only understood half of what you explained (my physics lessons date vom the eighties) I got the basic idea 😅

@bennylloyd-willner9667 2 месяца назад

Found this video while looking for more info on the newer FNIRSI FNB58. Just the fact that you said the Fnirsi model in the video is a useful device makes me order a FNIRSI FNB58 (which has PD triggering built-in AFAIK). Thanks for another great video you're Great, Scott 😁

@86jpw Год назад

Whats sad is everyone buying those 10ft cables not knowing it increases charging time.

@adrian.parano Год назад

Hello Scott, when you determined which cables do not comply with the specs.. you compared 500mV drop with the voltaje drop you measured between input and output.. but I think you must have included the 250mV allowed for GND.. In other words, cables with a total voltaje drop of 750mV (500+250) or less should have been considered as compliant, shouldn't them?

@jaro6985 Год назад

You are right. Although we don't know if they would pass unless he were to measure the ground voltage drop. The drop there could be a fair bit lower if they have a proper braided copper shield.

@attel2091 Год назад

Came to say the same thing. Correct way to measure is power adapter positive to cable end connector positive and vice versa for gnd

@stevetobias4890 Год назад

Very surprising! Thank you Scott

@josephking6515 Год назад

*Thank you* for this Mode C cable education. It is greatly appreciated.

@Vinxian1 Год назад

I think it would be best to use cables of the same length for testing. Because when converting to ohm/m a short cable wil be disadvantaged if that contact resistance is relatively big and long cables will be disadvantaged if the wire resistance is relatively big

@TheSrSunday 5 месяцев назад

If the relevant metric is the voltage drop, a short cable could use a thinner gauge than a long one, and still be within specs.

@Vinxian1 5 месяцев назад

@@TheSrSunday the relevant spec is impedance. And the plug itself has an impedance as well. And it's entirely possible for it to be quite different from actual cable impedance. Therefore, for fair testing, test the cable both with and without the plug, or use cables of the same length

@ferdi93ferdi Год назад

It would be great if you also could test OEM cables like Samsung, Xiaomi, Huawei, OnePlus, Apple and so on. I work in a electronics store and get often asked if the original cables are better than Hama or Anker.

@TheRailroad99 Год назад

Not sure if they are better, but they are very good. (Well, the android ones. Apple uses a bad plastic type which goes brittle after some time). At least my samsung, acer and xiaomi cables last ages (some are over 10 years old and still work well after almost daily usage). LG seems to bundle shitty cables (or I was just unlucky), my two LG bundled cables broke rather soon. But in general I wonder how people break their charging cables so fast... Most of mine still work great, even flimsy cheap ones. However the data connection is often unreliable on these.

@chaos.corner Год назад

@@TheRailroad99 My Samsung cables were always the better ones but I'm seeing the plastic sleeve get brittle on one I used a lot.

@hiteshlunagariya9653 Год назад

your all videos are so informative thanks for making such wonderful short videos. can you make one more video is of using different company mobile charger, power bank and cable for charging the mobile will is affect on battery life or any other componenet on device.

@libervolucion Год назад

Thank you, Scott. This is a really good video.

@billcodey1430 Год назад

So Great Scott, of the bunch, which cable would you buy if you had to buy a cable today?

@greatscottlab Год назад

I really like the one with the display. The display is very helpful and the resistance was Okay.

@billcodey1430 Год назад

@@greatscottlab Thanks.

@aavv17 Год назад

I’ve made a few of these measurements myself and find similar results. Certainly helps to measure the voltage differentially across the VBUS rather than 2 separate measurements to GND.

@E_Tech_Lab Год назад

ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-PDN9DU-l2oM.html

@MCsCreations Год назад

Fantastic testing, dude! Thanks a bunch! 😃 Stay safe and creative there! 🖖😊

@franciscoortiz2000 Год назад

such a good videos you make!

@kyleolson8977 Год назад

I don't know that it matters, but the noise level is clearly much lower on the scope. I don't know what you expected.

@ChriFux Год назад

It doesn't, but there's definitely some difference

@rogervanbommel1086 Год назад

Yeah, it would not matter, 100mV at 20V is only 0.5% noise, up to 1-10% on power is certainly fine

@Kraechtshammer Год назад

I've been swearing by UGreen for a while now, good quality and love their angled usb c cables, great for using the phone while charging!

@radellaf Год назад

They've been good for me, and I hear they have a good rep in China. Baseus, too.

@TheChazas Год назад

2:32 would love to see a video for all other three aspects than just power.

@joshportelli Год назад

Great measurement and analysis!

@gazehound Год назад

I already owned an XYZYZ cable and can vouch for them! It's the only cable I've bought that hasn't stopped working or fallen apart after a few months. They are a little stiff but feel nice and sturdy.

@E_Tech_Lab Год назад

ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-PDN9DU-l2oM.html

@extrakimF Год назад

Why didn't you show which cables you used and made a list Worst - Best within each lenght category? Comparing a 30cm cable with a 2 meter cable doesn't matter if you want the best possible 2 meter cable. Most understand that a longer cable will give you a longer charging time, but if you need a long cable you still want the one that gives you the least charing time. Besides this, I liked the video.👍

@l3xforever Год назад

They’re all in the description though?

@extrakimF Год назад

Doesn't help when you don't know how long he used.

@Capt-Intrepid Год назад

Without a conclusion and recommendation, the video has limited value.

@allezvenga7617 Год назад

Many thanks for your sharing This video is what I am looking for

@packratswhatif.3990 Год назад

Well done Scott ! We have to take into consideration of the size of connector itself for sure. Can't fit a 00 cable onto these connectors ! But then I am not trying to power my house from it either ....

@TCPUDPATM Год назад

Interesting! For reliability, I use high quality Thunderbolt cables which seem to be pretty robust with fatter conductor’s inside the cable. Testing these cables will quickly get expensive though.

@E_Tech_Lab Год назад

ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-PDN9DU-l2oM.html

@foogod4237 Год назад

I believe part of the reason why some of those cables are over the expected voltage drop is because _you are misreading the USB spec._ The spec specifies a maximum of 500mV drop *for the Vbus line,* but it also allows *250mV drop for GND.* Measured together as a round-trip voltage drop (as your approach based on input/output voltage does) that means an allowed maximum of *750mV for the cable as a whole.* So cables G and L actually do appear to pass as well (and C and J are within the same "extra" range for measurement error which you afforded to cable F in your own analysis).

@universeisundernoobligatio3283 Год назад

Good load test under load. You could make some Kelvin leads for your Key-sight meter and measure the cable resistance directly.

@alberta3157 Год назад

Very nice video this was always bugging my mind when i needed to buy some usb C cables

@BHARGAV_GAJJAR Год назад

Good info you should use digital pen so you can draw thicker lines and not waste time double tracing each letter

@avaviel Год назад

Those markers are his signature (heh) style!

@greatscottlab Год назад

I like it my way though ;-)

@frollard Год назад

Given that the total resistance would be Rconn + Rwire + Rconn, it might be worthwhile trying to organize the cables by length to hopefully compare like for like with only the wire length affecting the comparison in a subgroup. Granted not all connector resistances are equal but I suspect the cable gauge/quality will be the biggest differentiator. You could measure temperature at the junction to see if certain cables heat up more or less at the connector.

@E_Tech_Lab Год назад

ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-PDN9DU-l2oM.html

@AllThingsOnePlace Год назад

This video is great! I always learn new details watching your videos, if only I could make videos that well, the time and effort is amazing. I felt I had to comment since I have a bunch of these tested (like 150 or so cables) and found that yes some of the USB A to USB C cables can be quite bad while the USB C to C cables generally tend to be okay. Anyways, if you want the data let me know and I'll get a link over somehow, also curious if my method is okay and if any of the data compares.

@E_Tech_Lab Год назад

ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-PDN9DU-l2oM.html

@respectmathias Год назад

Finding a good usb c cable is litteraly hell, so great video!

@greatscottlab Год назад

Yes! Thank you!

@kanata_harumi Год назад

Now it makes sense that my 2m cable charges slower than the 30cm one...

@MudakTheMultiplier Год назад

Dang, I'm gonna be buying some 10 foot and maybe a 20 foot USB c cables here soon and I've always assumed that there's something that could be better, I was hoping you would be able to at least direct me towards ones to look for but it seems like I'm still kinda on my own.

@radellaf Год назад

Best I know to do is buy 100W cables. I have no 5A loads and presume that they handle 20-60W better- no guarantee tho.

@Cineenvenordquist Год назад

You won't get even USB 1 data rates over that. Use a power cable (AC or DC fittings as you like) and have a USB PD converter on the end. Your friends will all try to borrow your USB-C brick then realize it's just a Type A multiple socket converter...

@radellaf Год назад

@@Cineenvenordquist Yeah, just looked it up to be sure but 16 ft is the upper limit for USB 2.0, without a repeater cable, if you want any data. And also "yeah", might as well extend the AC power vs the DC end, if you need more than 10-15'

@educationalpurposesmostly Год назад

I love that you write out all of the equations.

@friddevonfrankenstein Год назад

Mrwhosetheboss just released a video yesterday testing the Xiami Redmi Note 12 Discovery's charging. That thing charges at 210W (Yes, two hundred and ten watts, you read that right). If the 100W cable already reaches 40°C, that thing probably melts the insulation off :D

@m-luthfi Год назад

Glowing cable? Why not, its like led strips 🤣

@tamoghnapal6619 Год назад

I recently built a portable gaming console using Raspberry Pi 3A+ inside a Pencil box, and I went through like 6 usb cables to see which one could power the Pi from my Power Bank without the Low Voltage warning popping up. Ultimately the cable I used was not from some popular brand, but it was priced almost same to belkin's cable, the difference being that it had a 20AWG wire instead of standard 28AWG in belkin's ones. I did not get the low voltage warning since..

@Chimel31 Год назад

Who would have guessed without your graph that the quality of these USB-C cables was so impacted by their color? 😁

@E_Tech_Lab Год назад

ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-PDN9DU-l2oM.html

@ct---hv6yi Год назад

Nice Video! But I think you misunderstood something with the voltage drop. As the graph at 9:31 shows you got 500mV drop over the positive wire and a maximum of 250mV drop over the GND wire. Combined that would make up to 750mV of voltagedrop. But this rating would only change the outcome of two cables.

@MrJackfriday Год назад

This information is highly useful for us USB powered soldering users. Like the Pinecil and TS100

@mikegilgenbach4840 Год назад

I had used a ton of different cables in the past that all seemed to burn out in a couple months. I got an Anker cable and it seemed so superior to all the others I stuck with it. Are there better cables than Anker that arent 2 or 3 times the cost?

@John_Ridley Год назад

I actually started to have trouble with Anker a couple of years ago, tried a few others, now I buy only JSAUX off Amazon.

@HansensUniverseT-A Год назад

@@John_Ridley I am going to make a somewhat bold claim, there is no such thing as good reliable well made USB c anything cables, neither are made to last, when you remove all that fancy wrapping they're all very fragile pieces.

@loreaver3882 Год назад

@@HansensUniverseT-A eh Thunderbolt 4 cables seem to be pretty solid but lets be honest they're in a whole different price class!

@radellaf Год назад

Ugreen and Baseus seem to make solid stuff. Aukey, too, though they got booted off the 'zon.

@SmithyScotland Год назад

Heard a few RU-vidrs saying they've had a fair voltage drop with the fancy cable with the built in display.

@greatscottlab Год назад

In my tests the display one actually performed among the best. I initially thought it would perform poorly because of the current shunt. But apparently not in my case✌️

@nyccollin Год назад

@@greatscottlab my apple usb c is just fine and will be for years.

@krigabr Год назад

Thank u for this video ! much luv from Brazil

@amorphuc Год назад

Awesome and thanks Great Scott. Cables are not all the same for sure. I'm provided with a cable from my work (they must have at least a half a dozen different ones with some being 2 meters long :-* ) I bring my own cables and charging plug for reliability and usually don't have a problem. Some of the C type sockets in the phones seem loose but I chalk that up to abuse from other drivers. Anyhow, I find it interesting that the specification doesn't indicate minimums for wire gauge and type. I wish they would? Mostly you showed a new to me device that I now covet. (darn you) The FNB48S! with bluetooth for you? Why do I even need it except it's cool! Thanks again. Love your videos though they're way over my head most of the time.

@goodun2974 Год назад

" With great power comes the problem of *great resistivity*". There, I fixed it for ya'.....

@blueredbrick Год назад

Another USB-C video, nice! Bad cables could give usb-c a bad reputation, so it's cool that you're adressing this issue.

@greatscottlab Год назад

True. I hope this problem does not get worse in the future :-)

@Vousie Год назад

USB-C already has a very bad reputation in my eyes. Especially 'cause it's near-impossible to tell whether a given laptop will support charging via it's USB-C port other than testing it after you've already bought it. My current laptop has Thunderbolt 4 which apparently requires it to be able to charge via USB-C, but mine doesn't. Turns out that only counts if the laptop's normal charger is 100W or less.

@johnwalton5576 Год назад

Very interesting and informative. Good job!

@greatscottlab Год назад

Thank you!

@PaulSebastianM Год назад

Wow! This is really useful information!

@HansensUniverseT-A Год назад

The best compact USB connector in my experience is the USB mini b, it just works, they're very solid and can handle the daily abuse, the we got a step down with the micro USB and now with the none sense of USB c.