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All USB cables are not alike

The barells are suppressors to prevent noise (electrical emmisions) from entering the cable and interfering with it's intended operation, they're normaly ferrite.


All cables are the same, or at least they should be if they're made to the USB standard, of course who's to say they all are, way back when to cary the USB symbol they had to be but nowadays any cheap assed factory in teh far east can slap what they want on it and call it a true USB cable.

Point in case (photo nicked from other thread);
The pictogram circled in red, is mis-shaped, the pictogram circled in yellow, is the wrong colour, wrong shape, wrong age grade and shouldn't be on the cable, The CE mark circled in green is also the wrong shape. And what's "overland" protection, maybe overload instead.

Based on that I'd say if they can't get the simple stuff right what chance do you stand on them making a fully compliant cable.
Don't get me wrong it may work perfectly, it might be a fake, the next batch might not work at all, they may have crap printers.
When it costs them pence to make and they sell for a fiver on ebay they don't care.
 

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I'm still as baffled as I was, but thanks for answers. I think I may just get a USB extension things.
 
HYCAET said:
I'm still as baffled as I was, but thanks for answers. I think I may just get a USB extension things.
Click to expand...

In very basic terms it turns the cable into a low pass filter. This only allows lower frequencies through whilst attenuating the higher ones. As most noise is at high frequency this means it acts as a noise blocker.
 
staz1000 said:
In very basic terms it turns the cable into a low pass filter. This only allows lower frequencies through whilst attenuating the higher ones. As most noise is at high frequency this means it acts as a noise blocker.
Click to expand...

Does this explain why i can feel minor vibrations in my cable when charging via pc usb? Or did htc build sheilding into cable covering? Fairly certain its not pc vibrations as i can feel it stop when i select another connection type to"charge only"..
 
Can anyone confirm the 1.8m Belkin cable charges at the normal rate? I just bought a 2m cheapy cable from ebay and it was "slow" charging. Thought it was a length issue but it is slightly thinner than the stock cable.
 
I would also like to know if this Belkin will charge at the maximum rate, looks a good deal if it does. I don't trust these chinese imports on Fleabay.
 
A friend of mine has just bought a couple of these. Appear to charge ok via USB and he's going to test with the charger. Will report back.
 
I bought a "genuine" Nokia cable from deal extreme which gets USB errors when connected to the computer.

I cut the cable open and it turns out the data wires are straight rather than twisted which probably explains why data doesn't work through it.

I'm going to search around for a usb-1 hub to see if the lower speed allows it to work without errors to confirm my theory...
 
FYI...

I recently bought a "Nokia CA-101 Micro USB Data Cable" off of Amazon (notice the Samsung phone in the image). What I ended up receiving seems to be a "Nokia CA-101D" but whatever -- it's shorter, but that's okay for me.

What's not okay is that, although the cable is able to charge my Android phones (Samsung Galaxy, HTC Desire), they do not appear as USB devices at the PC end. Apparently, Nokia is doing some non-standard voodoo to their USB "data" cables. Now you know.

Edit: I've contacted the seller (via Amazon) to ask about their return policy. They refunded me in full and said I could just keep the cable. Nice customer care.
 
I just thought I should report that the Belkin cable is definitely worth the money.

I paid
 
Do you have the

"Applications", "Developer", "Stay Awake" setting "ON".

Mine takes for ever to charge via a PC USB when this setting is on, most of the time it will not charge to greater than 90%. This is because of the 500mA limitation on the USB port. I guess the consumption when the phone is fully on means that there is little left for charging.

When on the dedicated charger that is rated at 1000mA the problem goes away.

I suspect in reality that it has nothing to do with the cables, its a combination of phone settings and USB port settings.


Martin
 
Wooo..
Never thought one cable could be any different from another. Thanks, interesting topic!
 
g4rvd4 said:
Wooo..
Never thought one cable could be any different from another. Thanks, interesting topic!
Click to expand...

i thought all usb to micro usb cables would be the same but apparently not, ive also bought 1 of the belkin cables and ill post back with what its like
 
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