I did a test on every single USB cable I own - here are the results

[Pancake]

Here is an image of the spreadsheet, and here is the spreadsheet and here is a mirror

 

If there is enough interest, I could put together some charts and graphs to show the information a little better

Some notes:

• The "Dual" cables are these weird things. They make me question the intelligence of the people who make them. If they gave you a half-decent quality cable they could skip the extra connection. They are included with cheap USB to SATA enclosures

 

• If it says MAXED OUT it means that I reached 3A and could not go further
• All load tests were performed using a YZXstudio 1270 meter, a XINY Load Tester Board and RIJER USB adapters. The iPad tests did not include the XINY load tester. Here is how it looks

 

• All tests were powered from the bottom port of an Anker PowerPort 6 USB charger (60w total output) which claims 2.4a per port, but will easily handle 3a
• If they were USB Extentions, or Micro USB then I did NOT use any adapters. If they were Mini USB I used an adapter, and if they were USB A to A I used an adapter. Please be aware of this when trying to compare 2 types of cables against each other. I imagine the adapters did cause extra power loss, if only minimal

 

 

 

 

• The iPad had an OEM Apple Lightning cable attached, so the actual measurements at the iPad would have been lower than recorded. This means an Apple iPad Mini 3 would probably still accept charge at as low as 4.3v
• the iPad was powered on, with the screen on. At 50% charge
• All length measurements are my own

Some observations:

• Good quality cables are a MUST if you are charging a modern device, and in my opinion required if you are using a power bank
• Length plays a role, but not nearly as much as quality 
• Monoprice are fantastic bang for buck
• Anker is fantastic Bang for buck
• Belkin is disappointing 
• Be very careful of buying ANY cables from eBay
• I still don't really understand how an iPad chooses its charge speed as the results are dramatically different to the 2A load tests
• The iPad can get the charger to actually pull more current at times than the load tester at the same ampage, probably because it can sense the voltage and ampage, and communicate with the Anker charger to fine tune the output voltage?
• I now have a bag labelled "Shit" where I store all the bad, but still functional cable. I threw out that really bad Mini USB one. Here is what the connectors look like, if you want to identify yours. I had 2 of them for some reason, but can't remember what product they came with

 

 

Some tests that were not recorded:

• A guy at work had a dollar store "Apple style" fake USB charger. This could not even deliver 500ma without the voltage dropping below 3.5v - Don't buy
• A guy at work had Micro USB cables from the dollar store, these performed VERY bad and were worse than any of the Micro USB cables in my test
• All name-brand chargers exceed their output ratings
• A 2017 Ford Escape will do 5.2v at 3a out of the built in USB Ports
• A Lenovo ThinkCentre M73 Tiny will do 5v 2.4a out of the yellow "Charging" port
• a Mid 2014 MBP will charge an iPad at 5.1v 2.1a out of either port, even on battery

[somerandomguy12]

10 minutes ago, Pancake said:

Here is an image of the spreadsheet, and here is the spreadsheet and here is a mirror

If there is enough interest, I could put together some charts and graphs to show the information a little better

Some notes:

• The "Dual" cables are these weird things. They make me question the intelligence of the people who make them. If they gave you a half-decent quality cable they could skip the extra connection. They are included with cheap USB to SATA enclosures
• If it says MAXED OUT it means that I reached 3A and could not go further
• All load tests were performed using a YZXstudio 1270 meter, a XINY Load Tester Board and RIJER USB adapters. The iPad tests did not include the XINY load tester. Here is how it looks
• All tests were powered from the bottom port of an Anker PowerPort 6 USB charger (60w total output) which claims 2.4a per port, but will easily handle 3a
• If they were USB Extentions, or Micro USB then I did NOT use any adapters. If they were Mini USB I used an adapter, and if they were USB A to A I used an adapter. Please be aware of this when trying to compare 2 types of cables against each other. I imagine the adapters did cause extra power loss, if only minimal
• The iPad had an OEM Apple Lightning cable attached, so the actual measurements at the iPad would have been lower than recorded. This means an Apple iPad Mini 3 would probably still accept charge at as low as 4.3v
• the iPad was powered on, with the screen on. At 50% charge
• All length measurements are my own

Some observations:

• Good quality cables are a MUST if you are charging a modern device, and in my opinion required if you are using a power bank
• Length plays a role, but not nearly as much as quality 
• Monoprice are fantastic bang for buck
• Anker is fantastic Bang for buck
• Belkin is disappointing 
• Be very careful of buying ANY cables from eBay
• I still don't really understand how an iPad chooses its charge speed as the results are dramatically different to the 2A load tests
• The iPad can get the charger to actually pull more current at times than the load tester at the same ampage, probably because it can sense the voltage and ampage, and communicate with the Anker charger to fine tune the output voltage?
• I now have a bag labelled "Shit" where I store all the bad, but still functional cable. I threw out that really bad Mini USB one. Here is what the connectors look like, if you want to identify yours. I had 2 of them for some reason, but can't remember what product they came with

Some tests that were not recorded:

• A guy at work had a dollar store "Apple style" fake USB charger. This could not even deliver 500ma without the voltage dropping below 3.5v - Don't buy
• A guy at work had Micro USB cables from the dollar store, these performed VERY bad and were worse than any of the Micro USB cables in my test
• All name-brand chargers exceed their output ratings
• A 2017 Ford Escape will do 5.2v at 3a out of the built in USB Ports
• A Lenovo ThinkCentre M73 Tiny will do 5v 2.4a out of the yellow "Charging" port
• a Mid 2014 MBP will charge an iPad at 5.1v 2.1a out of either port, even on battery

There is no image...

[Pancake]

Check now, they are links instead of images. I am going to edit the post to make them display instead of links

[Nuluvius]

12 minutes ago, Pancake said:

Some observations:

You have way too much time on your hands...

[kokakolia]

And I thought that belkin made good cables....

 

For the ignorant consumer with dozens of cables lying around like myself, I don't think that this will change my habits. Every cable I own (including the Belkin) charges my devices just fine. 

[porina]

Will have to look at this in more detail when I have time, but interesting work.