91–100 of 164 posts
> The paranoid side of me suspects that a cable like this one would be an ideal place to hide a malicious chip. Why hide a malicious chip in a cable with display -- why not in one without a display? Wouldn't that be more, uh, malicious?
What I like for USB-C cables is not only a tester that tests how much power it can transmit but also what data rates. I wish I could get a device where I could plug in all my cables and it would rate them for me. Such a device probably exists and it probably costs thousands of dollars.
"That’s when I found out that there exist cables that have little screens on them that show the power consumption of the connected device." Useful to get an idea how much your USB light draws and to check if your phone is really fast charging. I'd be careful with the numbers when the USB drives a more complicated load. Measuring the true power consumption of a microcontroller is surprisingly hard.
Any good ones that would essentially replace a USB load tester? I'm thinking applications where I want to monitor power draw from a battery pack to say: a phone, or power being produced from a small solar panel (small, off the grid stuff)
I've been using the cheapest aliexpress cable ($1.79 for "100W" model) for a few month, and it seems to work fine for 40W charging of my laptop. The display is extremely useful, as the charge light is hard to see when the laptop is in the bag.
> $1.79 for "100W" model
However, how bright is that display? Enough to read in bed while your phone is charging on the nightstand? :)
I might eventually get some of these from the toy budget. However, how bright is that display? Enough to read in bed while your phone is charging on the nightstand? :)
These power meter cables have been out for a couple years, but it's only recently that manufacturers have caught on that previously the display would be upside down for most(?) people (or 100% of people who are me, anyway) when plugged in on the left side of the machine. Which I find hilarious, because the pictures in the AliExpress listings always showed the cable plugged in on the left, display upside down, like it…
I had one of these and quite liked it. Then one day I plugged my phone in before bed as a million times before and the cable display popped and started emitting smoke.
Thanks for the heads-up, I'll look at mine in a different light from now on.