Benson Leung , an locomotive engineer on Google ’s Pixel team , was doing God ’s work by risking his Chromebook Pixel , which charges via USB - C , totest every single USB - C to USB - A cordavailable to general consumers . One crappy electric cord , and his $ 1500 figurer would be fried .
You jazz how this story ends right ? On Monday , a gaudy cord purchase from Amazondestroyed all his testing equipment , including his computing machine . According to Leung ’s Google Plus pageboy , the “ SurjTech 3 M USB 3.1 Type C to Standard Type A ” electric cord was unbelievably poorly made , with some necessary wires solder incorrectly , and other wires missing . ( Mercifully , the incorrect cable length is no longer uncommitted for purchase on the site . )
While the SurjTech transmission line is the most destructive one Leung ’s quiz , it is n’t the only corduroy open of damage your devices .
If you use a cord that is Type - C to Type - C ( with two connective like the image above ) you ’ll be secure . Both input draw very specific amounts of powerfulness and that ’s exactly what they should do . The damage to electronics come about when they ’re pull down too much power , or conversely , not enough force .
The trouble depart to get up when one remnant of the cord is the new Type - C comment and the other death of the electric cord is Type - A — that ’s the stimulus we all imagine of when we consider USB . Leung found that corduroys that were Type - degree Celsius to Type - A were fail to regulate their mogul pull back befittingly .
Type - A was never designed to handle the 3 AMP ( “ 3A ” ) of power a USB - C gimmick needs to juice up . Nor was it plan to really regulate power tie like Type - C. The only way the two inputs can pass on effectively and safely is if they are constructed in a very specific manner , and unfortunately this can only be determined via vigorous testing or dissection of the cable .
The good cables that quickly and effectively institutionalize your equipment will look just like the jerry-built off - brand cables deluge Amazon and other markets . Leung does have one suggestion — play up on his Google Plus pagelast Nox .
forfend any cable that looks like this :
While thick braided cable usually scream “ quality , ” this specific cable’s length seem to be manufactured by a individual company and re - sold by multiple other companies . He pop off on to say that he ’s ascertain this specific cable sold by multiple companies and when he examine “ the different variant of the cables from this coarse manufacturer , none of the variants are right configured . ”
In this case , there is a common manufacturer for the follow brands that I can see on Amazon today :
iKNOWTECH
NXET
SurjTech
TRADERPLUS
SAWAKE
If you ’re think about buy a line to power your OnePlus 2 or Nexus 6P , then be especially wary of any from those sellers . And if you ’re curious about how safe other Type - C to Type - A cord are , Reddithas create a helpfulspreadsheetcovering all of Leung ’s review .
connect with the author at[email protect ] .
USB - C
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