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edentyesterday at 6:12 PM9 repliesview on HN

I've basically stopped buying any portable electronics unless they take USB-C.

Currently travelling with a laptop, watch, toothbrush, eReader, camera, bug-bite treater, and phone - all charging from the same power brick.

I'm guaranteed of getting a replacement cable / charger wherever I am in the world if I need it.

The only slight snag is some cheaper itema refuse to use PD and insist on plain 5V/2A - buy most decent travel chargers have NON-PD ports.

Amusingly, most of the buses I've taken recently also have USB-C ports on them for ad hoc charging. Perhaps one day EVs will use USB-PD-Max rather than CCS :-)


Replies

seba_dos1yesterday at 11:21 PM

> The only slight snag is some cheaper itema refuse to use PD and insist on plain 5V/2A - buy most decent travel chargers have NON-PD ports.

Every PD port will handle non-PD USB-C consumers correctly, so not sure why would you care about non-PD ports. There is no "plain 5V/2A" in USB-C though, it's either plain USB (100/150/500/900mA depending on enumeration state), 1.5A or 3A. If you want to advertise exactly 5V/2A, you need PD.

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ElijahLynnyesterday at 6:34 PM

Same!

I've also returned a few USB devices that ship with a USB-A to USB-C cable and ONLY charge in that mode, they also MUST charge with USB-C PD.

The two so far were a therapy light and some Zippo hand warmers. Like, who in the hell would design a device that has a USB-C port on it where only a fraction of chargers will work on it. It feels even worse than proprietary charges, because you see a USB-C port on it and think, oh I have a plug that fits it, and then it doesn't F**ing work. Idiot engineering/product teams, making the world suck with their falsely advertised USB-C ports. If anyone of you are on a team that ever makes this decision, just know that it is a stupid decision, and jump ship when you can.

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blacksmith_tbyesterday at 7:33 PM

I'm hoping we'll see most e-bikes at least use 240W usb-c pd charging (I figure I have about a decade until I will wish I had some assist and buy one, so probably by then, they'll have gotten there...)

I also have assorted products that won't charge c-to-c (some from respectable manufacturers even, like Philips), but I see you can get little adapters with 5.1K resistor you plug into said crappy devices to cover that, I will have to try some out.

mcsniffyesterday at 6:58 PM

I'll bite. What type of watch do you have that has a direct USB-C port on it?

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ianburrellyesterday at 7:05 PM

I think you are confusing the devices with USB-C that require USB-A, and devices that charge the standard USB-C 5V/3A/15W. The USB-A ones cheaped out in including the resistors that signal legacy USB mode, they work with the ones in the cable or adapter.

Lots of people assume that USB-C always uses USB-PD, but the basic signalling is done with resistors. Lots of devices only need 15W, and it is better than USB-A charging. If you want faster charging, buy more powerful chargers.

codethiefyesterday at 8:31 PM

What toothbrush do you have? I've been looking for a USB-C charger for mine (standard Oral-B toothbrush) but the only ones I've found were from no-name Chinese brands and didn't work at all.

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m463yesterday at 7:27 PM

For travel I have a bunch of cables with adapters on the end (choose usb-c, lightning, micro-usb). Can use usb-c, but have the ability to use the others.

It has helped out in a bunch of unexpected situations (usually someone else's device)

JMiaoyesterday at 11:11 PM

we are talking about a lightweight charging cable. you can carry more than one. boom, redundancy. being ideological about a cable connector is the nerdy equivalent of jony ive obsessing over macbook thinness.

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MrBuddyCasinoyesterday at 6:58 PM

You can always use a „PD Decoy“ if the voltage is USB compatible. A 5 / 9 / 12 / 15 / 20 Volt barrel plug is trivially USB powerable.