Google engineer: cheap USB-C data cable has damage to the device

Nowadays more and more devices are beginning to adopt the USB-C standard interface, and the market for USB-C data lines is also becoming popular. However, the quality of USB-C data cable on the market is currently different. Although some of these data lines are very low in price, these data lines are often substandard. Recently, a Google engineer from the Chromebook Pixel team, Benson Leung, conducted a series of tests on these inexpensive USB-C data lines. He found that many data lines are not compatible with his Chromebook Pixel notebook.

An important feature of USB-C is the ability to deliver up to 3A of charging current. Most of the cheap USB-C standards are not met. The worry is that charging currents that are not up to standard are very dangerous for the hardware, because some conventional devices may not be able to adjust them to the proper current for charging.

For example, when the USB-C data cable is connected to the device via a USB 2.0 to USB-C adapter, the data cable should provide a 56kΩ pull-up resistor, allowing the device to correctly identify the connected charging device, thus The charging current is regulated to 1.5A or 2.4A. However, if you use a substandard USB-C cable for charging, the lack of a resistor may cause a current that exceeds the load of the device to flow in, and the device cannot reduce the current to an acceptable range, which may result in damage to the device. And even lead to greater security risks.

But Leung found that some of the USB-C data lines sold on Amazon used cheap 10kΩ resistors, and even more so there were some or even no resistors at all, so they could not charge their Pixel properly. He then published a test report on the USB-C data cable for sale, which also helped other users to better use Pixel notebooks.

If you are concerned about this, the best option is to buy a USB-C data cable from a reputable big brand. It is also a good choice to buy the original data cable from the mobile phone manufacturer, but it will be slightly more expensive.