USB C charging minefield

[porina]

USB C might be the future and all that, bur right now all I see is confusion.

 

I recently got my first "C" device: a Nexus 5X. It came with a mains adapter, C to C cable and that fast charges. Great. Now I want another one or two for work and/or travel use. I haven't found them selling the official one, so I'm looking at 3rd party. There's a lot out there but I'm really confused which would support fast charge on my phone. I just need a C compliant setup.

 

A lot of the lower cost ones seem to offer type A sockets, and an A to C cable. Reading around, it sounds like those cables only support "slow" charging if built correctly so they identify themselves as such. Cables built not to standard may identify as fasts charge capable, and lead to bad things happening as more power goes through them than safe. I have two A to C cables and both are built correctly, and slow charging is slow! It can't keep up with recharging Pokemon Go in real time from a powerbank and my battery still drops, just slower than if I didn't at all.

 

I've debated ordering a native C battery bank (my current one is A only), but even C-C cables are confusing... some claim USB 2, some USB 3. Or am I reading it wrong? It should be so much simpler...

[dizmo]

https://store.google.com/product/usb_c_usb_c

https://store.google.com/product/usb_c_dual_port_charger

https://store.google.com/product/usb_c_charger

 

That didn't seem overly hard.

Have you considered a QuickCharge battery bank? It's likely the banks fault, not the cable.

Most can't charge quickly.

[porina]

Just now, dizmo said:

https://store.google.com/product/usb_c_usb_c

https://store.google.com/product/usb_c_dual_port_charger

https://store.google.com/product/usb_c_charger

 

That didn't seem overly hard.

Thanks Now why didn't I think of looking on Google's site? I went to the usual, alike Amazon, ebay, and other tech suppliers...

[porina]

1 minute ago, dizmo said:

Have you considered a QuickCharge battery bank? It's likely the banks fault, not the cable.

Most can't charge quickly.

Where did that come from?  Yes, I'm looking at getting a bank with native C output. My current one with three A sockets does output up to 2A, but I don't know how that interacts with the A-C cables, which I believe for safety are limited to painfully slow 500mA.

[dizmo]

4 minutes ago, porina said:

Where did that come from?  Yes, I'm looking at getting a bank with native C output. My current one with three A sockets does output up to 2A, but I don't know how that interacts with the A-C cables, which I believe for safety are limited to painfully slow 500mA.

I don't think that's correct. Anker has a QuickCharge 3.0 power bank and it has type A connections on it. Since most devices that have QC 3.0 are USB C, it would be foolish to design the product like that if that were the case. It also worked fine when tested by YouTubers.

 

2A is ok, but Pokemon puts a serious strain on the battery, so it's not surprising it merely holds it at a certain percent.

[porina]

21 minutes ago, dizmo said:

I don't think that's correct. Anker has a QuickCharge 3.0 power bank and it has type A connections on it. Since most devices that have QC 3.0 are USB C, it would be foolish to design the product like that if that were the case. It also worked fine when tested by YouTubers.

 

2A is ok, but Pokemon puts a serious strain on the battery, so it's not surprising it merely holds it at a certain percent.

I've only done limited research so far. The A-C cables are supposed to have a resistor in them to identify what they're rated for and protect the source. I don't know if there is an upper limit to that and be safe to use.