LG violating USB Type-C regulations?!

[silent3rror]

I came across this Unbox Therapy video https://youtu.be/0ifcX1eCtjY?t=148 where at one point (2:28) he explains that they included a USB A to C adapter with their newest 38" monitor (http://www.lg.com/us/monitors/lg-38UC99-W-ultrawide-monitor). I slowed down the footage and it appears to be a USB A Male to USB C female adapter. But according to an amazon review of an almost identical adapter, USB C Legacy adapters are forbidden: 

Quote

This adapter does NOT comply with the USB Type-C specification version 1.2. The documentation can be found at http://www.usb.org/developers/usbtypec/

 

This adapter violates Section 2.2 of the specification which states the following :

"USB Type-C receptacle to USB legacy adapters are explicitly not defined or allowed. Such adapters would allow many invalid and potentially unsafe cable connections to be constructed by users."

This is because if you combine this adapter with a USB Type-A to Type-C cable, you may create a dangerous condition where two power supplies may be connected together opposing each other using the combined cable.

Furthermore, this adapter violates Section 2.3.1 :
"Power is not applied to the USB Type-C host or hub receptacle (VBUS or VCONN) until the DFP detects the presence of an attached device (UFP) port."

In my testing, even when no UFP device is attached, this receptacle port's VBUS line is powered on at 5V. It should only be at 5V when a UFP device is present.

This adapter and port violates Section 4.5.1.2.1 - Please see figure 4-5. A correct DFP receptacle must use two identical but distinct Rp resistors. According to my testing, this adapter's Type-C receptacle has a single 56kΩ resistor on just one of the two CC pins in the receptacle.
This means that the Chromebook Pixel 2015 does not detect a charger device at all when the cable is in half of the possible plug orientations, as it depends on the presence of Rp to start charging.

Finally, this adapter also claims to support USB 3.1 SuperSpeed, but because it is only a passive adapter, there is no way to support both orientations of a potential USB device. Indeed, when I tried it, it would only enumerate a USB-C thumbdrive in SuperSpeed mode in one plug orientation. Due to the nature of Type-C, building a proper version of such an adapter requires active electronics, specifically a mux that connects the correct SuperSpeed wires depending on the orientation of the plug. This adapter has no such electronics, being a cheap passive adapter.

This adapter is a type forbidden by the USB Type-C specification, and should NOT exist. It gets my lowest rating of 1-star because there is no simple thing that the manufacturer can do to make this adapter correct. As a consumer, DO NOT buy this cable to convert your USB-A chargers or USB-A hub or host ports

Does this mean that LG is violating a USB regulation?

[Squirrel724]

There are a ton (like most cheap type c cables) which don't meet the specifications. USB C is a bit of a mess.

[AshleyAshes]

Quick!  Somebody call the USB Police!

[Zodiark1593]

Aside from maybe some certification label or logo, I don’t see what kind of enforcement can be had. 

[Clanscorpia]

Wow, so much will be done /s

[flibberdipper]

Oh dear god, a cable that lets people use a new piece of tech on last generation hardware! Quick, sue someone!

[Tieox]

All fun and games and puns till someone gets burned.

[Dabombinable]

31 minutes ago, tmcclelland455 said:

Oh dear god, a cable that lets people use a new piece of tech on last generation hardware! Quick, sue someone!

The problem is-shitloads of power can be put through a USB C connector, so if you use an adapter to plug a USB A device into a type C port, "poof".

[LogicalDrm]

There's very little to be done. It will depend on each countries consumer protection on how some info like this would be handled. EU would probably just ban the monitor import.

[flibberdipper]

9 hours ago, Dabombinable said:

The problem is-shitloads of power can be put through a USB C connector, so if you use an adapter to plug a USB A device into a type C port, "poof".

Theoretically though, isn't it possible that the USB C port could "steal" power from the actual monitor and get around that?

[Kimmers]

So much for universal standards.

[ThinkWithPortals]

Oh well.

[Mira Yurizaki]

7 hours ago, tmcclelland455 said:

Theoretically though, isn't it possible that the USB C port could "steal" power from the actual monitor and get around that?

The problem the person's addressing is if the "legacy" USB device somehow requests a power profile of the wrong voltage. Power isn't the problem, it's the voltage.

 

However I don't think USB-IF really cares and they have vague wording anyway, as it's "not defined or allowed." That's an ambiguous requirement. If it's not defined then I can do whatever I want. If it's not allowed then I can't. Which is it?

[Emmien]

Adapters are needed, and this is what happens when you have a cable where both the host and client (I don't really mean host and client, as USB C works both ways) have the same connector. Two chargers or whatever can be linked easily, and so can older devices.

 

And (cheap) devices which can send the wrong signal, or cheap cables with the wrong resistor will cause problems.

 

I use a USB C - USB A (Female) cable every day for connecting USB storage devices and keyboards/mice to my LG G5. I also use a MicroUSB tiny adapter to charge my phone, and I carry it around because no one has USB C cables, but a MicroUSB cable is easy to find. Both these only work one way round, and I have now discovered after reading the OP and testing, the USB C to USB A (Which supports SuperSpeed) works both ways round when connected to a USB 3 device (Sony USB3 Memory Stick).

[TheHogSmasher]

There are rules around adapters. They're not 100% forbidden but you can't do Male - Female C, you can do Male to Male C AFAIK. It's about safety.