The absurdity of USBC

[chazzy2501]

My car has a parasitic draw that strikes once a month, today is that day. 

 

Anyhow, at work charging my jump pack from my monitor... try explaining that to grandpa. 

 

[jthompson]

21 minutes ago, chazzy2501 said:

My car has a parasitic draw that strikes once a month, today is that day. 

 

Maybe plugging your jump pack into your computer was not such a clever idea. It sounds like your car has become infected with Windows' propensity for needing a forced restart each month.

Edited June 26 by jthompson

[robintech]

I can't get enough of it and won't buy anything that doesn't support USB-C charging (except a toothbrush but even that uses USB-C to power the wireless charger thing))

[DalekSec]

Thank you EU  

[Sheridan]

I have to admit I was a fan of lightning as it always seemed a robust design to me and I hated micro-usb. However I love the fact I just use one cable type for everything now whether its external drives, monitors, charging....

[jthompson]

The trouble is, not all USB-C cables are created equally (so won't necessarily allow charging at the same rates). Also, USB-C is pretty disappointing when it comes to robustness: I tend to find myself babying it more than I ought to.

[DalekSec]

7 minutes ago, jthompson said:

The trouble is, not all USB-C cables are created equally (so won't necessarily allow charging at the same rates). Also, USB-C is pretty disappointing when it comes to robustness: I tend to find myself babying it more than I ought to.

 

I tend to only buy named brand cables and not cheap chinese ones and i've never really have any issues

[ICTDirect_Joe]

17 minutes ago, jthompson said:

The trouble is, not all USB-C cables are created equally (so won't necessarily allow charging at the same rates). Also, USB-C is pretty disappointing when it comes to robustness: I tend to find myself babying it more than I ought to.

You've just got to remember the rule of 18:

USB 2.0
USB 3.2 Gen 1
USB 3.2 Gen 2
USB 3.2 Gen 2x2
USB 4 VERSION 1.0
USB 4 VERSION 2.0

and each of those paired with either up to 15w(5v), 100w(20v) or 240w(48v)

It's that easy! 

[mikes]

yeah universal charging is great but I just wish they could have chosen a better/more robust connector. What happened to those Magsafe connectors you never see that style any more? 

[DalekSec]

Bring back Firewire thats what i say

 

[Rob_D]

If it's not using EN 60309 then is it really worth it? 

[itskdog]

19 hours ago, mikes said:

yeah universal charging is great but I just wish they could have chosen a better/more robust connector. What happened to those Magsafe connectors you never see that style any more? 

 

Apple brought Magsafe back a couple of years ago on the Macbook Pro line.

 

Personally, I have no issues with the Type-C connector (especially compared to the USB 3.0 version of Micro-B that was way too flimsy). It's the cables I hear people having the most trouble with because everyone makes them cheaply.

 

At least there's now the deliberately very overengineered TrueSpec cables if your use case is worth spending the extra for it, plus the shipping from Canada (if LTT can even keep them in stock in the first place, apparently they sell out very quickly when a new batch arrives in the warehouse)

[ICTDirect_Joe]

4 minutes ago, itskdog said:

(if LTT can even keep them in stock in the first place, apparently they sell out very quickly when a new batch arrives in the warehouse)

Definitely worth waiting for a free shipping event or similar to grab them - sounded like they were getting a BIG bunch of them sorted soon but they are super popular like you say

[psydii]

They're not over-engineered. They're just built to actually meet the spec, but in a "trust me bro" way.   It you want higher levels of assurance then USB-IF branding  is what you need to look for.

 

The desire to be able to support multiple 4K monitors, 40Gb/s connections to external storage and network has led to this insanity.  If the cable isn't from the supplier of the connected equipment, USB-IF branded, or (maybe) a "truespec" from LTT/CW the chances are, at some level it isn't working the way you think it is - even if you haven't noticed just yet.

[psydii]

On 26/06/2026 at 09:52, jthompson said:

.... Also, USB-C is pretty disappointing when it comes to robustness: I tend to find myself babying it more than I ought to.

It's a cable that (likely) has more bandwidth than your  ENTIRE server network infrastructure, and can simultaneously carry enough power to boil a kettle in about 20 minutes, but has is flexible enough for end users to be messing with multiple times a day.  

 

Think what it would look like if it had been designed for reliable use in a datacentre. Practical on a user's desktop it would not be.

 

Robustness is what has been lost. 10Gb/s and 100W should be what the engineers are building to as a sane standard, but endpoints now reach 80Gb/s at 240W and they are pushing cables beyond what can be economically reliably produced.

Edited July 2 by psydii

[jthompson]

3 minutes ago, psydii said:

It's a cable that (likely) has more bandwidth than your  ENTIRE server network infrastructure, and can simultaneously carry enough power to boil a kettle in about 20 minutes, but has is flexible enough for end users to be messing with multiple times a day.  

 

Does that mean the strands/core need to necessarily be thin? It seems like the flexion at the cable/connector joint is what kills most USB-C cables.

[psydii]

USBC tries to be everything to everyone and often fails at some of it.  Same with overhead powerline lines vs burried.  Same power, very different cables, and very different again to the cables in your domestic circuit. Now imagine how compromised a power cable whose spec was "can perform all three roles" might be.