alt Hacker News> Usually the best place to fix it is by getting rid of the bad cables. Usually.
No. There is no USB-C to C cable that will charge a badly implemented device with a standards compliant charger. That is the entire point.
An USB A to C cable is completely standards-compliant and safe, even if it always supplies 5V on the C end - any standards compliant USB-C device should not activate the MOSFET on its Vbus line unless it successfully negotiates via CC.
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You may wish to re-read the type-c specification, especially 4.5.2.2.3.2:
"A USB 2.0 only Sink that doesn’t support accessories and is self-powered or requires only default power and does not support USB PD may transition directly to Attached.SNK when V BUS is detected."
or 4.5.2.2.5:
"A port that entered this state directly from Unattached.SNK due to detecting V BUS shall not determine orientation or availability of higher than Default USB Power and shall not use USB PD."
or 4.5.2.2.11.2:
"The port shall transition to Attached.SNK after tCCDebounce if or when V BUS is detected."
CC detection, let alone PD negotiation is not needed. You can draw up to 2.5W right away from Vbus and be standard compliant without wiring anything to CC signals.
Of course if you try this with a DRP device like a smartphone, you'll get no power. But that's not really an issue for type-c chargers or USB A-C cable assemblies.
They mean bad USB-A to C cables with no resistor on CC line. Of course this is broken junk which will work with some devices and won't with others. I've also seen cables with resistors on both CC lines, which is also broken but in a slightly subtler way.