USB cables 2 wire or 4 wire help

Mikeadoo · 2019-02-26T21:45:11.000Z

Yokiamy:

That is, unless you use USB-C

Try googling on ‘USB pinout’ it might give you what you’re looking for

I’m using micro USB for my bike light. My phone uses type C

Yokiamy · 2019-02-26T21:50:58.000Z

This?

Mikeadoo · 2019-02-26T21:54:55.000Z

Yes that is what im looking for. Insides look just like that. 5 toothy things inside and the 2 things on top

flydiver · 2019-02-26T22:15:24.000Z

If all you care about is charging (no data) just get a GOOD USB cable. Lots of them are poor, some are downright rotten.

These are the best I’ve found: Products no longer Available
Thin but low resistance. I’ve tested EVERY USB cable I have and these have the lowest resistance for their length of any of them. I’ve been using a short one for daily charging phones, earphones, power banks, etc. for a couple years and the connector is still good. I have Anker and Aukey with fatter cable, but they simply aren’t better, though they are fine also.

Mikeadoo · 2019-02-26T22:24:49.000Z

@flydriver yes i just want it to charge. my short cable says “AWM and 30V” all over it along with “80C”
No idea what all that mess means

I have the Anker Powerline plus 6 foot. I dont need that much length for the bar charging

flydiver · 2019-02-26T22:36:12.000Z

Don’t worry about that. These are ‘technical details’ that are supposed to mean something, but these are all made in China so they don’t actually mean squat. You want low resistance in the length you require. I got one of those little plug-in USB testers and tested everything I have. I threw a bunch out, mostly stuff that came with cheap flashlights, power banks, and chargers. That monoprice came out tops in all lengths tested up to 6’. I was surprised as I thought some of the beefier looking cables would do better.

You can get them from 6” (my favorite) on up and in a bunch of colors if you want.
They simply work, charging and data.

Mikeadoo · 2019-02-26T22:36:25.000Z

thanks flydriver! gonna order a few. Is monoprice shipping like banggood and Aliexpress where it takes forever?

flydiver · 2019-02-26T22:59:46.000Z

No, state side. Get it in a few days. They have a huge site and sell lots of stuff. So far I have only gotten good results with them.

Mikeadoo · 2019-02-26T23:05:02.000Z

I just bookmarked them! Good prices. I use HDMI cables a lot. Might try them with HDMI soon with all these cheap ones i got here. Rocketfish from Best Buy is pricey and not long enough :-\

Thanks. Don’t think i’ve ever heard of monoprice

raccoon · 2019-02-26T23:06:59.000Z

Monoprice has some very good stuff at good prices.

Be sure to read the customer feedback because not everything they have is worth buying.

Mikeadoo · 2019-02-26T23:11:07.000Z

raccoon city:

Monoprice has some very good stuff at good prices.

Be sure to read the customer feedback because not everything they have is worth buying.

I always do read the feedback.

Thanks for the help guys. Much more helpful than the folks at mtbr……

Marc_E · 2019-02-26T23:38:30.000Z

The only non-destructive way i know how to tell the difference between a 2 (power only) and 4 (power and data) USB cable is to use it to connect a data device (phone, camera etc) to my PC and see if it shows up as a device (4 cable) or just powers on but doesn’t talk to the PC (2 cable).
Although if you’ve got small enough multimeter probes you could test for continuity at each end of the cable, i don’t have small enough probes though.

If you’re talking about knowing the difference when you’re buying then you need to choose a data cable. But if you’re going to use it for charging only then it doesn’t matter whether it has 2 or 4 wires, those extra 2 wires are not used for power transfer and as mentioned by Flydiver it’s the quality of the cable that matters so go with his/her recommendation, testing is the only way to know for sure and he/she has already done that for you

HDMI is another matter though, it’s used for communication only, not to power a device, and as a standard it has built in error detection so the cable either works or it doesn’t (except for a very fine margin of error where it’s obvious you’re dropping blocks). If an HDMI cable is working there’s no way for another one to work better.
It’s the same with a USB cable, it either communicates or it doesn’t, a better USB cable won’t transfer data any differently (unless there is an obvious problem), it will only affect the power being delivered to a powered device which is a separate thing.

To summarise, for data a cable either works or it doesn’t, there’s no such thing as a ‘better’ cable. That applies to both HDMI and USB.
For USB charging, or USB power, you’re looking for the lowest resistance in the cables that transfer the power.

Mikeadoo · 2019-02-26T23:39:42.000Z

I went with flydrivers mono cables. Hdmi i know the cheap ones work. Dad got me$60 hdmi cable for my Roku ultra and it didn’t work. $10 from CVS works perfect lol.

I just need the charging. Thank you. i don’t have one of them testers and dont feel like buying one lol.

Idk what comes with these thrunite flashlights like the Cat V6 USB wise, but if the mono cables are the least resistance then good purchase

Mikeadoo · 2019-02-26T23:42:57.000Z

I’m going to try that PC thing right now actually. I just have cables that came with phones and them tiny cables that Sofirn sends with those cheap chargers

Lightbringer · 2019-02-27T00:00:03.000Z

If you wanna go crazy, get some zipwire and a set of usb sockets in the right size, and solder ‘em up. You could use 100’ of 16ga wire if you want just power.

BlueSwordM · 2019-02-27T00:01:56.000Z

@Mikeadoo, get these cables:
https://www.amazon.com/UGREEN-Braided-Charger-Charging-Controller/dp/B01NAGJ49R/

UGreen makes great cables, and I’ve actually tested them to be quite low resistance and have good build quality.

Pete7874 · 2019-02-27T00:04:07.000Z

These are excellent. Very low internal resistance:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01MTXZ3U8/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_U_ZoDDCbKXB23WD

Mikeadoo · 2019-02-27T00:09:30.000Z

just bought one of those too. I like the braided stuff

flydiver · 2019-02-27T00:23:27.000Z

I used a UM24C USB Color Display Tester + USB resistor load, to check the resistance. If it had not been for the info of this forum and the spectacular and tireless work of [HJK] I would not have had a clue that this was even an option. He’s tested a number of devices of this sort: Test of RD Tech USB Meter TC64
This is the one I got but there are a bunch of this sort:https://www.vipprogrammer.com/um24-um24c-color-screen-display-usb-tester-dc-voltmeter-ammeter-programmer-5206
I’d go with HJK suggestion if you were getting one.

Prior to figuring that out I was using: UNI-T UT658 USB tester
I thought that was pretty cool, and for everyday work it is. I hardly use it now.

HKJ · 2019-02-27T09:36:07.000Z

I is best always to get 4 wire usb cables.
The 2 wire is power only, i.e. no data and will not support any fast charge schemes with phones or tablets, some may even refuse to charge with a 2-wire cable.

Other usb powered equipment will often work fine with 2 wire cables, because they ignore any fast charge schemes and just draw the power they need.

To test if a cable is 2 or 4 wire, use it to connect a phone/tablet to a computer, if the computer sees some new equipment it is a 4 wire cable (It do not matter if it recognises it).