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Joined 1 year ago
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Cake day: July 11th, 2023

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  • To clarify; I have a 100W Ugreen Nexode 4 Port USB Charger that I use to charge my laptop (~60W), Steam Deck (~40W), iPhone (~20W) and AirPods (~5?W).

    The problem is if my original product cable has gone walkabout temporarily and I need to use a random one to stand in - there is no clear way of telling if I’m accidentally using a 5W-max cheap cable to try and keep my laptop charged while working.

    Obviously there are some context clues depending on cable thickness etc., but with how common cosmetic braiding is becoming a thing - even that’s getting harder to rely on.


  • Yes, you can. The charger and the device communicate between one another what they can support, and pick the highest one they both agree on.

    E.G. my laptop charger can charge at full speed (100W) for my MacBook, but only at 20W for my iPhone.

    That bit is pretty straightforward and transparent to end users (there are a few rare conditions where devices might not agree on the fastest, and have to fall back to a slower one); the issue is more with cables not having sufficient gauge wire, or missing connections that prevent the charger and device from communicating their full functionality.


  • It’s been more of a pain in the arse than initially expected.

    Most motherboards (for example) only have 2-4 USB-C ports, meaning that I still need to employ A-C and C-C cables for peripherals etc.

    My main gripe is that the standard just tries to do too many things without clear delineation/markings:

    1. Is it a USB 2.0 (480Mbit), 5Gbit, 10Gbit or 20Gbit cable? Can’t really tell from the plug alone.

    2. More importantly, for charging devices: How the heck do I determine maximum wattage I can run?

    For all its faults, at least the blue colour of a USB-3.0 plug (or additional connectors for B/Micro) made it easy to differentiate !

    Now I’m eyeing up a USB Cable tester just to validate and catalogue my growing collection! 🤦🏻‍♂️