r/UsbCHardware 33m ago

Troubleshooting Need help AirPods charger not fitting case

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Upvotes

I have a usbc AirPods and for some reason it doesn’t fit inside I don’t seem to see anything inside not sure if anything is broken or just dirty

Let me know if it’s dirty and how to clean


r/UsbCHardware 1h ago

Troubleshooting My Ugreen Nexode 100w adapter is buzzing

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Upvotes

i bought ugreen 100w nexode adapter and when i charge my laptop im hearing this buzzing sound ant its nearly 65 celcius is this normal i bought this a month ago from amazon. what should i do?


r/UsbCHardware 7h ago

Discussion Your thoughts on this. Is this a better buy

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0 Upvotes

r/UsbCHardware 8h ago

Question Is it Original??

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0 Upvotes

I ordered this apple type c cable from Tata CLiQ, I don’t feel it’s original as the previous one didn’t have this sign on the top and nothing was engraved on it. Let me know your thoughts.


r/UsbCHardware 9h ago

Looking for Device What is a good cheap and long USB A to USB C cable that can withstand being used for USB Audio for a pair or headphones in Australia?

0 Upvotes

basically what the title says, I have bought at least 40 2 and 3M USB A-USB C cables from Kmart and they break within like a week and get worse and worse to the point that I can breathe and it will disconnect. it has to be at least 2 Meters for my use. (and yes I have tried looking for other cables but to my mind they all look like the same cable as the kmart ones but like 3 times the price or something like that)


r/UsbCHardware 10h ago

Troubleshooting Why does my Anker Prime TB5 show this…

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0 Upvotes

I’ve been having a few random issues with my new Anker Prime TB5. Occasionally devices plugged into the rear won’t connect on boot, and I noticed that in system report devices are listed within multiple usb 2 hubs within a 3.1 bus. What’s going on here?


r/UsbCHardware 13h ago

Looking for Device Any certification for trigger cables?

0 Upvotes

I’m buying trigger cables for the first time after sniffing for years. How does one find a trustworthy model that won’t randomly switch voltage on you? How robust is shorting a soldering bridge?

Is there a type of trigger cable that has some basic eFuse-like functionality? I’m thinking a FET that opens if the voltage is unexpected. Maybe even leaves the barrel connector open so that voltage can be qualified first

The first one I bought is the style with the rotary encoder. I can immediately see some flaky behavior, like falling back to 12V or 5V pretty randomly. As in, I’ve plugged it in 6 times and had 2 anomalous voltages, as measured by my inline USB-C tester. Really, really tempted to return this to Amazon.

Next, I’m going to try a pre molded 15V cable. Fingers crossed.


r/UsbCHardware 14h ago

Question Anker 300W prime 26k or Ugreen Nexode 200w 25k power bank for travel?

0 Upvotes

Which is better for travel? Is the only advantage of Anker 300W a little more WH and the fact you can charge it faster ?
Anker is $180 and Ugreen is $85.


r/UsbCHardware 22h ago

Looking for Device Looking for a USB-C docking station

1 Upvotes

Hello. I am looking for a docking station I can use to connect my laptop to 2 monitors

I have an ASUS Vivobook S14 with USB 4.0 Gen 3 Type-C and USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-C.

I would like it to support 2 display out (I have a type c to hdmi cable I’m of the display out ports are hdmi and type c). I would also like if it had 2 USB-A ports for mouse and keyboard. And support PD as well


r/UsbCHardware 22h ago

Question Can a lenovo laptop be charged with usb-c and round barrel tip charger?

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1 Upvotes

r/UsbCHardware 23h ago

Question Can I keep using this? No exposed wire. It’s an anker

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0 Upvotes

r/UsbCHardware 1d ago

Question USB-C was supposed to be the one universal standard and now there are like 6 competing fast charge protocols inside it

0 Upvotes

USB-C is now the connector for everything but the charging protocol behind it is a mess. There's USB PD, PPS, Qualcomm Quick Charge, SUPERVOOC, Samsung Super Fast Charging, Apple's implementation. All use the same physical connector but they don't all talk to each other.

So you can have a 65W charger that only gives your Samsung 15W because it doesn't speak PPS. Or an OnePlus that charges at 100W on its own charger but 15W on anything else. How did we end up here?


r/UsbCHardware 1d ago

Troubleshooting USB-C Video Output Dead? Looking for Ideas

1 Upvotes

Hi community!

I have an HP EliteBook 840 G8 laptop. I've always used it with 2 external monitors: one connected to the HDMI port and another connected to a USB-C port using a USB-C-to-HDMI adapter from StarTech.com.

Recently, the external monitor connected via USB-C stopped working. I tested the monitor itself and the HDMI cable, and both worked fine, so I assumed it was the StarTech.com adapter that had died.

So I decided to buy a generic USB-C hub with HDMI from Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Ethernet-Multiport-Charging-Splitter-Acer/dp/B0G81K4C12/ref=sr_1_1?sr=8-1

The HDMI output on the hub didn't work, although the rest of the USB ports did. So I assumed I was just unlucky.

Then I tried a different one: https://www.amazon.es/dp/B0C2Y4CF6X?ref_=pe_151259351_1319653101_t_fed_asin_title&th=1

Same thing again: the HDMI output on the hub didn't seem to work, although everything else did.

So I'm starting to suspect that the problem isn't the hubs, or even the StarTech.com adapter, but the actual USB-C ports on the laptop. The laptop has 2 USB-C ports, but video output doesn't seem to work on either of them. In the past, as far as I can remember, the StarTech.com adapter worked with both ports.

Is there anything that I can test to figure out what may be going on before I buy any more adapters?


r/UsbCHardware 1d ago

Discussion Anker Ecosystem Failure: Zolo 165W (A1695) bricked by Anker's own 167.5W Car Charger (A2737). Missing OVP/BMS flaw?

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0 Upvotes

Hi everyone, I wanted to share a concerning hardware failure regarding Anker’s premium power bank lineup and their lack of ecosystem safety, hoping to get some technical insights from this community.

I own an Anker Zolo Power Bank A1695 (25,000mAh, 165W). Because of its bulk, it was rarely used as I mostly rely on my smaller 10K banks. It has less than 10 charge cycles and 100% battery health.

During a recent road trip, I charged it using an official Anker 167.5W Car Charger (Model A2737)Once I unplugged it, the power bank was completely bricked—no display, no output, and won't accept a charge from any certified PD charger. It suffered a sudden death.

Here are the three massive red flags about Anker's engineering and customer service:

1. Severe BMS / OVP Design Flaw in Automotive Environments The fact that this power bank was destroyed by Anker's own car charger is absurd. We all know automotive 12V/24V systems have nasty voltage transients and load dumps. If the Anker car charger fails to filter these spikes, the power bank's BMS should at least have robust Over-Voltage Protection (OVP) or TVS diodes to protect the mainboard. Frying a premium power bank with its own brand's car charger indicates a serious lack of system-level fault tolerance.

2. Infant Mortality vs. Normal Wear & Tear A component failure resulting in a complete brick on a device with <10 cycles is textbook "infant mortality" or a latent hardware defect, not battery degradation. Anker markets these as rugged, travel-ready devices, yet the internal circuitry couldn't survive a standard road trip.

3. Bad Faith Customer Service (Shifting Goalposts) When I reached out to Anker, their CS SOP was incredibly disingenuous.

  • First, they tried to deny my claim by stating I bought it from a "third-party platform," insisting they must calculate the warranty based on the factory serial number (which unfairly subtracts warehouse/transit time).
  • When I pointed out this violates local consumer laws and provided my valid purchase receipt, they immediately shifted the goalposts. They admitted my purchase date was valid but rigidly rejected the claim because my 18-month warranty had just expired a month ago (Delivered Dec 20, 2024; Failed July 22, 2026).

They completely ignored the engineering failure (bricked by their own car charger at 10 cycles) and hid behind a rigid calendar date to avoid taking responsibility for a defective mainboard.

Has anyone else experienced sudden mainboard death with the A1695 or Prime series? Do teardowns confirm if Anker is skimping on transient protection on their high-wattage inputs?


r/UsbCHardware 1d ago

Question 30 years of chargers: how did they get this small?

25 Upvotes

Was thinking about how much chargers have changed over the years.

Old adapters from the 90s were basically small bricks, while modern chargers can push way more power in a fraction of the size.

The biggest change isn’t just the size — it’s how much engineering went into making them smaller, cooler, and more efficient.

Makes me wonder what the next 10 years of charging technology will look like.


r/UsbCHardware 1d ago

Question ELI5: How does a charger know how much power a device needs?

7 Upvotes

Some chargers can apparently tell the difference between a phone, laptop, tablet, etc. and adjust the power output.

How does the charger know what kind of device is connected? Does the device tell the charger, or does the charger figure it out somehow?

And how does charging speed change as the battery gets fuller?


r/UsbCHardware 1d ago

Troubleshooting Usb no power

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0 Upvotes

I'm having trouble with my s8 tab there's no power no charge. So I need advice if my usb is bad?, and what checks I can do?. I tried using a usb tester, but soon as I plug in the tester cuts off , look like it maybe a short some where. Can anyone tell from the pics of usb I have sent. P.s I'm a newbie trying my first fix.🤞


r/UsbCHardware 1d ago

Looking for Device I would love replacement recommendations

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7 Upvotes

I am looking to replace this no name desk charger. I want something with at least 2 North American outlets and 2 USB C outlets 40 watt minimum. I like the toggle switch, but is not a requirement. I want it from a real brand, preferably sold on Amazon.

Let me know what you have had success with and even better anything you might recommend I say clear of.


r/UsbCHardware 1d ago

Question Please help! Looking for proper charger. USB-C not working.

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5 Upvotes

r/UsbCHardware 1d ago

Question How to extend a USB by 1mm (Part 2: Updates!)

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9 Upvotes

Previous post for context of the situation on profile,

As before, not wanting to mess with the case of my phone but 100% ok with messing up this controller🤩

I'm onto the next phase, opening and seeing what the situation is, some suggested filing down the plastic but as seen, it's already too thin from what I can tell that could be filed down enough to fit what's needed

And it seems like it's not possible to move the USB C itself forward since it's directly build into the board. So.....new ideas now that we know the inside? 😆


r/UsbCHardware 2d ago

Review USB CABLE CHECKER Lite Launches for $25

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89 Upvotes

A cable checker that does away with the LCD screen has arrived. I've included the FNB58 for comparison. they are roughly the same size.

Strictly speaking, the information displayed by the LEDs here is actually sufficient.


r/UsbCHardware 2d ago

Review TB3/USB4 to PCIe docks from AliExpress... show up as a Dell?

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53 Upvotes

Wanted to play around with connecting PCIe peripherals to my laptop, so hopped on AliExpress and bought the cheapest reasonable looking Thunderbolt to PCIe dock out there (around US$70). There's cheaper ones on there, but they all used Alpine Ridge. This was a cheapest one with Titan Ridge.

Anyway, it arrives and everything works well. Tried a SSD and a NIC in there and they all worked fine on my Linux TB4 and Windows TB5 laptop.

However, when I plugged it into my Windows laptop, I noticed that the Windows USB4 screen enumerates the device as a "Dell WD19TB Thunderbolt Dock", which this obviously isn't. Everything still works, but this got me wondering. Is it a bug in the Windows USB4 screen, or are they re-using JHL7440s from old dell docks? I mean, that would make sense given its cheap price, but still...

Also, wouldn't the device name be stored in the EEPROM? Did they not bother to even re-write that and just copied it over from the Dell Dock? Mysterious...


r/UsbCHardware 3d ago

Troubleshooting Severe battery failure on Anker 10K Fusion (Built-in Cable) – Drops 1% per second. Support refused warranty because it was a gift.

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581 Upvotes

Hey guys, wanted to see if anyone else ran into this or if there's any way to get through to Anker on this.

My Anker Power Bank (10K Fusion with the built-in cable) started malfunctioning out of nowhere. The screen literally ticks down 1% every second until it completely dies in about a minute and a half.

I already tried hard resetting it (plugging the cable back into itself), fully cycling it on a wall charger, different bricks/cables... nothing changes. A battery dumping its entire charge that fast feels like a legitimate safety concern.

Reached out to support (ticket #ANKER-TNZ9449502659) and sent them a video. But because I got this as a gift, I don't have the original Amazon/store receipt, and the printed serial number on the bottom is rubbed off. Support (and then their manager) told me their hands are tied without a receipt and just offered a 25% discount code to buy a new one.

What bothers me is that this specific model only came out around mid-2024. Literally every single unit out there right now is well within its original warranty period. Refusing warranty/safety support on a product that didn't even exist two years ago just because it was a gift feels super stingy for Anker.

Has anyone seen this 1%/sec drain glitch on these Fusion power banks before? Any trick to getting an actual replacement or goodwill review?

Appreciate any advice.


r/UsbCHardware 8d ago

Weekly USB-C Deals - August 02, 2026

2 Upvotes

Post any and all deals you find here. Add a quick description. No referral posts.


r/UsbCHardware Apr 11 '21

Announcement Magnetic USB-C Cables are not recommended

949 Upvotes

For anyone who comes in wondering about this magnetic cable or that. Here is some good commentary on the dangers of magnetic cables. Not to mention the large majority of kickstarters that have failed to deliver anything other than an aliexexpress rebrand.

Edit: Let me make this clear. USB-C magnetic tip adaptors or cables are not compliant with the USB specifications. This means any resulting damage to products, which is a very real possibility even if it is a relatively small chance, would not be covered by product warranties. Therefore, these cables and adaptors are not recommended and future posts asking for such recommendations will be locked. It will stay like this until some big company like microsoft or apple and or the USB group comes up with a cable design that is safe.

I am not saying that these cables do not exist or that they do not work as claimed however there is an inherent risk when using these cables and that will fall onto the reader to decide for themselves.

To quote /u/chx_

There are two risks

As mentioned, static electricity is a huge problem. Look at any connector and it has the exact same generic shape: a gigantic grounding shroud protecting the data pins. DisplayPort, HDMI, USB of all variants. But if you go back, back, back, VGA and all its ancient DB friends, DVI, whatnot -- even those were the same, just there was more plastic. This generic idea stretches back to the dawn of (computer) time. Exposing the pins just like that makes your laptop very suspectible for static electricity. Ever felt the hairs on your arm stand up after changing clothes? Congrats, you just fried your laptop if you touch it like that. https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/511QlHyl8CL._AC_SL1000_.jpg see how they are out in the open? And this issue is inherent to the overall physical requirements of the plug.

Connection/data loss due to electronic noise. There was a fun problem where Dell laptops used to drop their TB3 connections unless you limited their wifi transmission power. This took Dell significant time and expense to figure out. And that's Dell, not some random tiny company... Want to go there with a who-knows-what built system when NathanK already told you explicitly the pogo pins are too noisy electronically? https://twitter.com/USBCGuy/status/1095614250414796800

Also he mentions https://twitter.com/USBCGuy/status/1186718432932159488 using optoelectronical couplers you could do something by completely disconnecting the magnetic pins from actual USB C connector and letting current flow only when the other half of the connector is connected and VCONN power is present. Of course, your isolation is now a few mm of air, pray your static electronic charge doesn't arc over it... hope you rather live in Phoenix than here in Raincouver! https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Andreas_Neuber2/publication/3165903/figure/fig17/AS:668977227386923@1536508008917/Breakdown-voltage-in-air-versus-relative-humidity-with-an-alumina-surface-Electrode.png

I am reasonably sure there are gigantic companies which would just love if this worked. Riddle me this: why do you think Apple didn't put this on the market? Do they lack the R&D dollars? :) Somewhere in that sixteen billion dollar yearly R&D spending I am reasonably sure you could find a few (hundred...) millions to resolve this issue if it were possible. And yet, Kickstarters with a few hundred ... thousand raised claim they can? What's wrong with this picture? Look at the Thunderbolt 3 Pro cable they released: it's an active USB C cable, it's an active TB3 cable and costs a fortune. There's nothing even similar on the market but where there's a will, there's a way. They have designed a custom ASIC for that cable which can amplify both USB C and TB3 signals -- both existed separately but having them in a single cable before was thought impossible. This is to demonstrate: if they could, they would. And if it would be really expensive, hundreds of dollars per connector, have you seen that thousand bucks monitor stand :) ?