[Summer of decluttering] How to choose a USB-C cable that will last forever September 2021 edition [Summer in Japan]

Hello.
I'm Mandai, in charge of Wild on the development team.

It may be a bit sudden, but September was decluttering month at Beyond.
So, I also got rid of the large amount of USB charging cables in my room.

If you just want to say that you threw it away, please do it on Twitter, so you need to know about cables in order to think about how to sort and sort things when decluttering.
However, I got the impression that there have been a lot of changes to USB standards recently and it has become difficult to understand, so I won't explain these standards in detail this time, but I will explain them so that you can choose the appropriate cable that suits your environment. I'll try to put together the information you need.

What is USB-C?

I'm sure everyone knows about the USB standard, but when asked about the USB-C standard, it can be difficult to answer, or there is a possibility that there is a misunderstanding, so let me summarize it briefly. Sho.

USB-C is a standard for the shape of a USB connector, and has nothing to do with USB 3.0 or USB 2.0.
It looks like this in shape.

USB 3.0 is a data transfer standard, and just because it's USB-C doesn't mean all cables can be charged at lightning speed.In fact, some cables have a USB-C connector, but the charging speed is slow, and the data transfer standard is USB 2.0. There are also many.

And when I chose this kind of cable, the data transfer was slow! There are many people who give 1 star in their reviews.
That's right. The description of such cables is usually written correctly. If it's USB-C and USB 2.0.

 

Points for sorting cables

 

Connector shape

With the advent of USB-C, the number of connector shapes has increased, so there are cases where you need to carefully check the connectors on both ends.

 

USB-C and USB-A patterns

I think this is the most common pattern.
When using with a smartphone, the smartphone side is USB-C, but the power supply side is USB-A.
In this case, it is convenient to have one as it can often be used in the previous environment.

 

USB-C and USB-C patterns

Although this pattern is rare, it is a pattern in which both connectors on both ends are USB-C.
Both the charging and power supply sides are USB-C, so you don't have to worry about the cable orientation, but since the power supply side also needs to be USB-C, most chargers from the micro USB era can't be used, so you'll need to buy a new one. It will be.

Most modern PCs are equipped with USB-C connectors, and many notebook PCs can also be charged, so if they support it, it's a good idea to make the full transition.

 

data transfer rate

This is also important.
However, these days, USB cables are rarely used for data transfer purposes, so you may not need to think about it too much.

 

charging speed

This is very important.
Therefore, I would like to introduce it in detail in the next section.

 

slow charging problem

It's been a while since USB-C cables became popular, so I have a lot of USB-C cables on hand, but some have slow charging speeds, while others have fast charging speeds.
Also, slow charging is not just a cable problem. The charger that supplies power must also be able to send high power.

With modern smartphones, if the charger and cable support quick charging, some models will display fast charging on the lock screen or status bar, so you can easily check this.

However, since it is not possible to accurately grasp the cable performance, I am left with a vague feeling (is it just me?)
This is where items that measure the power carrying performance of USB cables appear.

This tester, which is about the same size as an AA battery, allows you to see at a glance the voltage, current, and amount of power being charged, so you can accurately gauge the performance of your cable (or charger).

 

sort the cables

Gather all the USB-C cables in your room and run them through the tester.

You can easily check the performance by plugging the cable into this tester and charging it, so try charging a device that requires as much power as possible (better if it's a laptop, etc.).
If not, I think it's a good idea to at least use a level that can quickly charge your smartphone.

As a charging device, it no longer has any value.

It would be a passing score.

I had fun measuring things like this and sorting the cables.

In my case, I had quite a few cables that carried a certain amount of high power.
I feel that charging with a cable like this will only add stress, so I discarded all low-performance cables.

As a side note, I also had a large amount of micro USB cables, so I threw them away as well. There were cables of various lengths, so he separated them into short, medium, and long cables and left one or two.
Also, the velcro wrapping was done with the intention of taking photos, and I don't normally do that.

 

There are many different types of fast charging compatible devices.

There is a standard for USB charging called USB Power Delivery (hereinafter referred to as USB-PD).
It's safe to assume that the remaining cables after sorting the cables are compatible with this USB-PD, but there are several versions of the USB-PD as well...

Personally, I think it's best to judge by looking at the corresponding wattage (w) rather than memorizing the standards.
In my case, my laptop supports 45W charging, so I think a USB-PD compatible cable that supports 60W would be fine.
Since my smartphone supports 18W fast charging, I need to be able to supply at least 18W of power in order to stay at home.

This may be confusing, but USB-PD has nothing to do with data transfer standards such as USB 3.0.
There are also USB 2.0 cables that support USB-PD (the USB-C TO USB-C cable from a certain ○○ BASIC is exactly like this. Charging is fast, but data transfer is slow).

However, the latest USB-PD standard seems to specify the connector shape of USB-PD as USB-C, so if you are looking for a cable that is compatible with USB-PD, you will have to look for USB-C first.

 

summary

We have summarized how to choose a USB cable that charges quickly, but in order to choose one, we needed to know about several USB standards.

• Connector shape standards and data transfer standards are different things.
• If you want to charge at high speed, it is safe to some extent if it says USB-PD.
• If you want to use it for things other than charging, pay attention to data transfer standards as well.

As of September 2021, there are two types of high-power devices: 60W and 100W.
If you choose one from these areas, it will likely last a long time.

Although I didn't mention it in this article, a reliable method is to choose a Thunderbolt 4 standard cable.
Thunderbold 4 is the latest USB standard, USB4, but only those with the best specs can claim it, so it's definitely fast charging speed, and it's guaranteed to be fast when used for data transfer.
However, the price is high, but it can be used for a long time, so I want to use it with care.

All you have to do is choose the one you like based on the material of the cable surface, the terminal shape (it's easier to use if you have one L-shaped one), and enjoy a comfortable charging life.

lastly

I have opened the system development service site "SEKARAKU Lab" to which I belong.
Beyond is a one-stop service for everything from server design and construction to operation, so if you have any trouble with server-side development, please feel free to contact us.
SEKARAKU Lab: [https://sekarakulab.beyondjapan.com/](https://sekarakulab.beyondjapan.com/)

That's it.