Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

USB-C is about to go from 100W to 240W, enough to power beefier laptops

theverge.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

351–360 of 498 posts

Re: USB-C is about to go from 100W to 240W, enough to power beefier laptops

#351

Post by xsmasher »

pantalaimon wrote: post #169
_Microft wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe with an attached labelling machine to print the results in a way that could easily be affixed to the cable? ;) Oh, and please with an integrated wirecutter that automatically destroys cables if their results are too bad?

Heh I had a cursed micro-USB cable at the office that only carried power, no data - had fun debugging why my board did not work.

It seems that half of the micro-USB cables I get only work for charging, not for data. When I find one that does reliably connect I label it and then hide it where even I can't find it.

Re: USB-C is about to go from 100W to 240W, enough to power beefier laptops

#352

Post by xsmasher »

ectopod wrote: post #197
pantalaimon wrote: post #169

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Heh I had a cursed micro-USB cable at the office that only carried power, no data - had fun debugging why my board did not work.

My micro-USB charging cable is worse than that. It appears to transfer data but it always flips a few bits. Quite surprisingly, no part of the protocol stack catches this. The cable quietly delivers slightly broken files.

I've seen a lot that are JUST good enough for android debugger to connect, but then drop as soon as data is sent.

Re: USB-C is about to go from 100W to 240W, enough to power beefier laptops

#353

Post by varenc »

The next hurdle will be the TSA's 100Wh limit on batteries. It's illegal to fly with anything larger.

That's why Apple's largest 16" Macbook Pro has an exactly 100 watt-hour battery. If some laptop can charge at 150W or 200W, then presumably it would draw enough power during normal use that'll it need more than 100Wh of battery to be usable for a long time.

Re: USB-C is about to go from 100W to 240W, enough to power beefier laptops

#354

Post by megous »

OnlyOneCannolo wrote: post #97
baybal2 wrote: post #86

Uh.... Melting USB-C connectors at 65W are already bad enough. The problem is that there is no way to detect a bad contact, and they tend to be. Few specs of dust, and you have 5 amps going to a single pin. Even if you have split seconds momentary disconnects, you can get welds in contact pads, which will over time degrade the contact. On other note, Intel may be increasing laptop CPU power budgets into 60W-70W terri…

Is it really undetectable? A smarter USB PD controller and maybe some extra sensors should be able to mostly avoid that problem, no?

Ok, so you detect voltage drop of say 0.4V@5A on the phone end, so slightly out of spec. How do you decide whether it's a slightly underspecced cable (quite common) and 2W being radiated as heat from a 1m long cable (which is not really an issue), or great cable but high contact resistance (where 2W are concentrated into a tiny space that can't cool it)?

Re: USB-C is about to go from 100W to 240W, enough to power beefier laptops

#355

Post by berdario »

chrisacky wrote: post #209
andrewmunsell wrote: post #182

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Explaining to my aunt or uncle or grandparents that, no, the cable and charger they bought isn't the right one for their phone/laptop/whatever even though it fits isn't ideal. Sure, it might just charge slowly (cue family tech support call), but it could also just show "not charging" on OS X for example, which is just confusing for most people. It's a real problem, even if tech savvy people are fine with lower charge…

Even I have this problem. I bbought an amp reader and throw out anything reporting below 0.4ma/h. So many devices come bundles with poor cables my house is riddled with cables that I just never want to use for charging. I'm actually TERRIFIED of pluggin anything in to my kids Switch other than Nintendo's official cable, incase I brick i t. Does anyone know if they've patched this? I have some Dell laptop charger USB-…

I think I've used:

- a pixel charger - macbook charger - HP charger

and the Switch works fine with all of them.

OTOH, if you try to use one of those for the docking station, the docking station will refuse to work

I heard that it's because it supports only a lower amount of Watts than what the Macbook charger can provide, for example... (60W or 85W) While other chargers, like the pixelbook's (45W) work just fine

But I agree that it's unnerving: I connected a disposable switch to the cables that I didn't trust, before trusting to use my main Switch with them

Re: USB-C is about to go from 100W to 240W, enough to power beefier laptops

#357

Post by Tempest1981 »

ChrisMarshallNY wrote: post #308
dangerlibrary wrote: post #243

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Voltage can't go up arbitrarily, but voltage can safely be increased to ~48V or so in most applications. After 48V, humans start to get shocked / hurt, so that's probably the reasonable limit. Car batteries in ICE cars are nominally 12v. Grab both terminals and tell me it doesn't hurt.

When I was a kid, we had this massive high-voltage transformer that produced about 2,000 volts, at some sick amperage. We used it to make jacob's ladders. That was fun. Until I touched the two bars. I woke up on the other side of the room, smelling burning... me . That wasn't fun...

I learned this recently:

> If you receive a shock, if can affect the rhythm of your heart and cause problems later. We’re taught to go and get an ECG after receiving a shock. Like jump in the car and go to the doctor or hospital, and have someone else drive you. If you’ve received a shock - go get checked out. -jaidan

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27259589

Re: USB-C is about to go from 100W to 240W, enough to power beefier laptops

#358

Post by salawat »

omega3 wrote: post #194
spicybright wrote: post #158

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ha, I love the color idea.

This is terrible for colorblind people.

For accessibility, assign specific texture patterns on the outside of the insulation for different capabilities. Then you can tell the capabilities by running the cable through your hands.

Re: USB-C is about to go from 100W to 240W, enough to power beefier laptops

#359

Post by kyledrake »

Honestly, providing ridiculous power levels for laptops almost nobody will ever use feels a little lower priority than making a connector spec that is more durable. I've had multiple problems with USB-C connectors breaking (including one breaking on a monitor that ruined it), and damaged pins that actually caused a phone to be bricked. I've recently started having a galaxy ultra claim the connector is wet even when it isn't and even after I've cleaned it.

I can't be the only one having constant issues with USB-C, but I also haven't been able to verify that this is a common issue for other people so maybe I am just a reckless user of technology.

Re: USB-C is about to go from 100W to 240W, enough to power beefier laptops

#360

Post by stordoff »

amluto wrote: post #313
StrictDabbler wrote: post #256

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ok, done. Many many many times. 12v can't exceed the resistance of human skin so it doesn't matter how much current capacity it has. You can hold onto those terminals all day. It's settled science. If you doubt it, tests of this are all over YouTube. It's just true. Now your tongue, perhaps...

If t you short a car battery, you might not get electrocuted , but the results are unlikely to be pretty.

You aren't shorting the battery in this case. There's still a significant resistance (your body, particularly the skin contact resistance) between the terminals.
Post reply on HN