[kweingar]

To be clear, I am pro USB-C, but I do get the arguments from the other side.

If I have a lightning cable and a device with a lightning port, I can plug it in and not really think much about it.

If I have a device with a USB-C port and a USB-C cable, I have no idea whether I can charge at full speed or even charge at all.

As an example, I plug my Xbox controller into my PC via USB-C. It keeps it fully charged. Recently I tried to plug in my USB-C headset into the same cable and it didn’t charge at all. In fact my headset died shortly after I unplugged it (after “charging” it all night), which was a bit of a pain. Turns out it can charge with my laptop charger or my iPad charger but not the Xbox cable plugged into my PC.

Maybe this isn’t a totally fair comparison, but it’s my personal experience.

[franga2000]

Lightning "just works" only because it's all made and validated by Apple. If you want guaranteed compatibility, just keep buying Apple-branded Type C cables and adapters like you did for Lightning.

The only difference now is that you also have the option of using other cables and adapters if you want/need to, as well as use your Apple charging stuff for charging other things.

[kweingar]

Yeah, I totally agree. The only annoyance I see is that you have to experiment with what cables and power adapters through trial and error to find what works with particular devices. I mentioned in a different reply in this thread that there ought to be some kind of consumer-friendly labeling on these things, so that you can see at a glance what will work with what.

[viraptor]

> you have to experiment

You don't have to. You can. As the previous comment mentioned, nothing stops you from buying all the accessories and cables from Apple at a premium like you used to with lightning.

[DRW_]

Funnily enough, this is why the only USB-C chargers and cables I carry around are my Apple ones - because they've been the only ones that I've been able to reliably trust across all my other devices (including USB-C Apple devices).

[crote]

In almost every instance of stuff like that it is caused by the manufacturer not reading the specifications and implementing it improperly. Usually the cause is them trying to save literally $0.001 by leaving out a component they think is "optional".

The specification is very clear with regards to chargers: a charger with more watts is always better than one with fewer watts. For any pair of chargers, if charger A provides X watt and charger B provides Y watt, if Y > X every device which can be charged by A can also be charged by B. This means a laptop charger will always also charge your smartphone - although the opposite might not be true due to the laptop having a minimum power requirement.

[tyfon]

That's really weird, but I remember in the past there were some older usb-a ports that did not send enough power to charge some stuff, perhaps your headset requires a higher current than the controller or something.

Here I can charge my laptop (although slowly) via the usb-c on my PC. All other devices work fine too.

[throwaway2990]

USB-C is so frustrating. I have different cables to charge headphones, keyboard, switch, iPad. Cos they don’t “just work”.

And I’ve had more lightening cables break in the last 2 years than I have had lightening cables in the last 7 years.

[saiya-jin]

What kind of piece-of-shit cheapest junk cables do you guys buy? Is it another 0.99$ Amazon/aliexpress cable that you expect handles 130W charging while transmitting 10GB/s or similar?

I have cca 10 different usbc devices, and use all their provided cables to charge all other accessories. All works as expected, charges fast, transfers fast. The key is to not cheapen out and buy the cheapest crap. Just like with anything else in life.

[throwaway2990]

The ones that come with the devices. Never bought 3rd party.

[crote]

For low-speed (USB 2.0) devices, there are exactly three cables. One supports up to 60W, one supports up to 100W, and one supports up to 100W.

Considering all the devices you listed need less than 60W, they should charge with all cables. If they do not, the manufacturer gave you a broken cable which does not follow the USB-C specification. Blame the manufacturer, not USB-C.

[throwaway2990]

The fact there are different cables is what makes USB-C stupid.

Do you think a mum and dad at home know the difference?

My dad had a USB-C cable for his android tablet. When I got him an iPad he tried using the same cable. It wouldn’t change. That makes the whole point of USB-C pointless

Defending the stupidness of USB-C cables just makes you a fanboy.

[Dylan16807]

> The fact there are different cables is what makes USB-C stupid.

If you pretend you only need 60 watts, there is only one kind of cable.

> My dad had a USB-C cable for his android tablet. When I got him an iPad he tried using the same cable. It wouldn’t change. That makes the whole point of USB-C pointless

That wasn't because of multiple kinds of cable. That was defective equipment. They're not the same problem.

[throwaway2990]

No. The cable charges 1 device but not the other. That is because the whole USB-C spec is trash.

Why do you so desperately try to defend rubbish hardware like USB-C?

[Dylan16807]

It's not the spec's fault.

I'm not defending the defective hardware.

The cable, or one of the devices involved, isn't following the spec.

[crote]

You mean like how there are different cables for HDMI, DisplayPort, or even a regular power cord?

The biggest problem is that manufacturers don't follow the spec. You are supposed to physically label the cable with its capabilities, but literally nobody bothers to do so.

[throwaway2990]

Cos once you plug your tv you’re totally gonna be like oh now let’s use that hdmi/display port on this other tv in the other room. Now let’s use it on the monitor. Back to the other tv.

[Moldoteck]

I have one 100W ucbc cable and can charge absolutely everything in my house with it, maybe just buy one good cable?

[henearkr]

With the same Xbox cable but with a proper charger, does it work?

Most of the time, you avoid problems of "PD device hierarchy" by using a proper charger (i.e. a device that only has the functionality to charge other devices).

[vladvasiliu]

> Most of the time, you avoid problems of "PD device hierarchy" by using a proper charger (i.e. a device that only has the functionality to charge other devices).

The problem is with the "most", which means you can't count on it.

I have usb-c headphones that can be charged with my hp usb-c laptop charger (which is a "proper charger", I guess, since it only does charging) or from a regular computer usb port. They don't pretend to have any high-powered charge mode (manual says 3 hour charge time and "usb charging").

My usb-c ecig won't charge from that. It will only charge from either my pc's usb-a port or random "low power" usb phone charger.

I haven't tested it with any of the fancier high-powered adapters, since I don't own any. But, clearly, usb-c charging ports are not that universal.

[raverbashing]

> My usb-c ecig won't charge from that

Sounds like a "Fake" usb-c. Actually not fake because the usb-c is the connector, not the standard behind it

So I'm not surprised it doesn't charge, it's a "pretend USB-C" thing from China

[vladvasiliu]

Sure, as a technically inclined user, I can understand that.

It actually is a Chinese brand, but not some one-off brand bought off Ali Express. It's a device bought from a reputable store in France with a name that I've seen around for several years (Vaporesso). Sure, that fact, in and of itself, is not enough to guarantee that corners haven't been cut and that the product is actually up to spec.

But, as a random consumer, how am I to know that it's "a pretend USB-C"? It looks exactly the same as my headphones, comes with the exact same-looking cable. There are no markings on it. The usb-c ports on my laptop have a bolt icon next to them, but its usb-c charger doesn't have any marking. They also don't say it shouldn't be used with anything other than the laptop it came with, and actually is able to charge my headphones and my mom's usb-c phone.

Even though I've kinda followed the talks about PD, negotiation, etc. its still not clear to me why this particular combination doesn't work. I was under the impression that, lacking any negotiation, ports should default to the basic 5V 500mA. So my fat laptop charger should be able to at least trickle-charge the e-cig.

[crote]

Because USB-C does not have a defined "upstream" and "downstream" side of the cable, a user could connect two chargers together. This is obviously a bad idea.

To prevent this, a USB-C charger is only allowed to provide power on the cable once it senses a downstream device on the other side. A legacy USB-A to USB-C cable always applies power, though, as this does not provide any danger.

Some low-quality brands think they are smart and leave out the two $0.001 resistors needed for the device to advertise itself. This means it will only work with a USB-A to USB-C cable, and not a real USB-C charger.

[kweingar]

Using the Xbox controller cable with an actual charger does work. The confusion came with how the PC delivers power to the controller but not the headset.

It’s ultimately not a big deal, and it’s surely something I can learn to intuit. But I think lots of consumers (I think about my poor mother) would benefit from a clearer labeling scheme on the various devices, ports, chargers, or cables.