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Engineer creates a USB-C abomination that brings back the terror of USB-A cable flipping

Started by Redaktion, March 24, 2021, 14:59:21

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Redaktion

Mechanical engineer Pim de Groot (@mifune) created a USB-C that seemingly brings back the bad old days of USB adapters that don't fit into ports the first (or second!) time.

https://www.notebookcheck.net/Engineer-creates-a-USB-C-abomination-that-brings-back-the-terror-of-USB-A-cable-flipping.529149.0.html

makamajic

This is a great psa regarding usb c connectors. An example of a usb c device requiring the correct orientation is my thunderbolt dock. If the connector is plugged in with the wrong orientation, I get screen stutter and tears that not only go away when I flip the orientation of the connector, but are also reproducible when re-orienting the connector the other (bad) direction. For most things like charging and even simple data transfer, this isn't an issue. I find that when you are nearing the capacity of usb c transfer speeds,  connector orientation can make or break your experience.

_MT_

Quote from: makamajic on March 24, 2021, 18:56:51
This is a great psa regarding usb c connectors. An example of a usb c device requiring the correct orientation is my thunderbolt dock. If the connector is plugged in with the wrong orientation, I get screen stutter and tears that not only go away when I flip the orientation of the connector, but are also reproducible when re-orienting the connector the other (bad) direction. For most things like charging and even simple data transfer, this isn't an issue. I find that when you are nearing the capacity of usb c transfer speeds,  connector orientation can make or break your experience.
Is it really certified? I can't imagine any compliant device being sensitive to it. It would be interesting to know the reason as it sounds to me like crappy design (signal integrity problem).

Personally, I never had problems with accidentally reversing type A or B. I would simply automatically check orientation when picking up a cable or dongle. In many cases, you can tell the orientation even without looking at the connector. An example would be flash drives (when a logo is only on one side, it's always the top side for horizontal connectors). And the ports on devices are typically predictably oriented. I sometimes had to double take, but always as a result of inserting blind (back of a device) and I always found I was trying to insert it correctly (as I wrote, they tend to be predictable). I was just struggling to hit the port precisely as I couldn't see it, going by feel alone.

Then again, I was actually aware of the fact that it fits only one way. And I take care of my things. I can understand that a layman might try to push it in and investigate only after failing. But that's about the only excuse I can come up with.

Musashiwrx

Another fun fact is that usb-a connectors will fit into many ethernet ports. Used to support some desktops. Users hard drive didn't work because of that

_MT_

And a correction. The port on a device has both pairs wired up AFAIK. It's the cable that has only one of those pairs wired. Contacts are there, just wires are missing. That pair serves for USB 2.0. I guess they saw no reason to carry two lines of 2.0. Bad enough they have to waste a pair of pins. So, this detection mechanism can work in a dongle type device. You can discover which way you're plugged in. However useless that might be (I get that this is for fun). But if you're connected by a separate cable, you only see your side - orientation of the cable connected to your gadget. You can't determine how the other side is oriented.

PatO

I would argue this is the result of cable and device manufacturers not following the USB-C connector specification. The pinout description calls for A6 & A7 (top side middle contacts) and B6 & B7 (bottom side middle contacts) to be wired as D+, D- for the A side contacts and D-, D+ for the b side. Omitting one pair means the cable is not correctly made to the standard.

Marque2

I need to do this for my LG V60 phone. Apparently it is a common problem due to a connector strap not installed right so internally some of the pins are loose. I have to put the USB C in upside down (The side without the stamp- note in USB A stamp side is up). I could do a warrantee swap but usually the returns you get are worse.

Geoff

As another example of orientation asymmetry of USB-C I have a samsung pro duo 128gb flash drive that when inserted into a usbc port one direction it results in a 20mbps write speed however when flipped it writes at 60mbps.  Both orientations result in a 300mbps read speed

Jason Ovaitt

Maybe related, maybe not. I was connecting a laptop to a thunderbolt dock, this worked maybe 3 times on the next try smoked the laptop. Maybe the port was bad bUt I always wondered if it had to do with flipping the connector.

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