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109

Surprisingly enough, shady USB-C multiport adapters can be dangerous (www.youtube.com)

submitted 1 day ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

13 comments fedilink hide all child comments

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.dbzer0.com/post/41325747

geteilt von: https://lemmy.dbzer0.com/post/41324008

I have one of those shown and never knew that they can make my devices go boom...

Any other things that may cause a surprise bonfire in my cable drawer?

top 13 comments

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[–] [email protected] 15 points 1 day ago

I mean, that splitter device cannot be USB compliant, if it's giving more than 5V to a device that never negotiated more than 5V.

I'd also guess that if it's just silently feeding the second device from what the phone has negotiated, it's probably not compliant in that it's probably drawing more from its power source than the phone has negotiated -- USB devices are responsible for indicating what they'll draw.

You could make that multiport device USB-compliant, but it'd require having the splitter be a DC-DC power source and having it negotiate some PD draw sufficient to power both devices.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 day ago

Tl;dw: if one device uses Power Delivery, the other gets that too.

[–] [email protected] 17 points 1 day ago (6 children)

I have one of those splitters, and now I'm afraid to use them. Any recommendations for alternatives?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 14 hours ago

Just use decent quality USB C to C cables and power adapters. Don't use splitters or weird adapters that go against the USB C spec.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 day ago

A lot of junk in the Usb-c world.

One of my kids tried to charge their Kindle Fire with a 8-inch cable that came with some cheap AliExpress gizmo. The cable glowed and then melted. Fun times, since they left it on the couch.

[–] [email protected] 17 points 1 day ago (2 children)

A regular USB-C hub would be an idea, but may not work with regular chargers..

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 day ago

Thanks!

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 day ago

I don't see why a hub shouldn't be able to supply power... it will disable PD modes and limit everything to 5V though

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 day ago

USB hubs.

Plain old splitters will almost certainly damage the port, and if this is with a machine where USB-C is part of the motherboard, it could cause even more damage and be really expensive to repair.

The power-only ones are not too pricey. But if you also need high speed data transfer (like drives) those cost a bit more. Be careful that even the ones that claim data exchange may not support drive speeds. It took me three tries to finally find one that worked.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Just breathe deeply when the smoke starts.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Thanks, but I would rather get my cancer from a trusted source

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 day ago

I'm glad I read to the end; your comment got me laughing and checking my life insurance

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 day ago

Just make sure to use it on 5V-only chargers. You can glue it to one of them.