
USB Type-C and power delivery 101 – Ports and connections - neverminder
http://www.embedded.com/design/power-optimization/4458380/USB-Type-C-and-power-delivery-101-----Ports-and-connections
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dheera
Sow now I have devices of all of these varieties:

\- Mini-USB (stupid bike lights ...)

\- normal Micro-USB (battery packs, smartwatch, flashlight)

\- Qualcomm™ Quick© Charge® 2.0 that heats up and drains its batteries if
plugged into a non-QC charger (phone)

\- Qualcomm™ Quick© Charge® 3.0 that refuses to charge in a QC 2.0 charger but
will charge in a non-QC charger (battery pack)

\- low-voltage USB-C that my high-voltage USB-C adapter refuses to charge
(another phone)

\- high-voltage USB-C that won't accept low voltage USB-C (laptop)

Travelling has officially become a bag full of AC adapters and wire mess
again.

I miss the barrel connectors of the old days. They came in far fewer varieties
than these silly USB connectors. And the USB connectors break if you smack the
cable by accident. The other day I had a USB-C socket that got snapped right
off the PCB because the protruding cable bumped into something. Who designed
these things?! Connectors being torqued off PCBs was nearly unheard-of 15
years ago.

~~~
neverminder
In my opinion some kind of standard is better than no standard. Now is an
unavoidable transitional period and if all goes well within a few years most
of portable devices will charge through USB Type-C by default. I don't agree
with Qualcomm's approach, but it's always like that when some major standard
is emerging - big players will at least try to pull some proprietary crap.

I am an early adopter of USB Type-C charging and I've selected my devices with
that in mind, so for me it works flawlessly. I have a laptop Chromebook Pixel
LS (2015) and a phone Nexus 6P. I can charge the phone with laptop's charger
(it has variable voltage) and vice versa. The only difference obviously is
that laptop charges considerably slower with phone charger, but I can plug it
from either side, which for laptop users is very convenient. When was the last
time you could do that with a barrel connector?

~~~
lojack
> if all goes well within a few years most of portable devices will charge
> through USB Type-C by default

I feel like I've heard this one before. If history repeats itself in a few
years there will be a new standard that does something better and 30% of
manufacturers will switch to that.

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gumby
Power delivery is great, but the terrible error in USB Type C has come in
their adoption of the IETF's dictum that one should be liberal in what one
accepts and strict in what one generates.

What this means is that the consumer has no idea if their cable will "work".
If you plug a slow cable between two Type-C devices that support thunderbolt,
data will still flow, perhaps at USB 2 speeds. Power may only trickle through
a cable between a powerful power supply and a laptop that needs it (A good
outcome, in that it reduces fire, but still...). That video device may never
connect even though it's plugged in. Etc

They should have put some shape or color or other coding requirement on the
cable overmoulds and outlets. At least in the old days you could mostly tell
visually and geometrically if you had the right data cable.

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metaphor
SBU1, SBU2... _le sigh_.

Such a disappointment that despite USB-IF continuing to make their specs (and
then some) openly accessible to the public, VESA has placed anything relevant
to modern DisplayPort behind a $10k/annum corporate paywall, then proceeds to
rub salt in the wound by teasing non-members with less than a handful for
purchase[1], e.g. $350 for the latest DSC.

[1] [https://www.vesa.org/store/](https://www.vesa.org/store/)

~~~
IgorPartola
Can you elaborate on what you mean?

