USB A port high resistance

[oliver602]

I seam to be plagued with crappy USB chargers or cables. The connection seams to go flaky at the USB A connector at the usb charger. Wiggling the cable or propping it up at an angle is usually a temporary fix.

Is this a common issue?

Any advice for purchasing cables and replacement connectors?

Thanks

[electr_peter]

Some USB plugs and sockets are very low quality, especially sockets. They are too loose. Sometimes solder joints or inside cables break.
Higher quality ones always seems to be a bit tighter.

I suggest to test with known good cables and throw away bad ones. Buy new USB socket/cable and replace. This means de-soldering/re-soldering, but USB A/B cables, sockets and plugs are easy enough repair (4-5 cables at most).

[Jeroen3]

I seam to be plagued with crappy USB chargers or cables.

Buy proper ones. Not 5$ supermarket c**p.

[electr_peter]

Another tip - if you see a good USB cable for a decent price, buy at least few so you won't need to constantly search for them. You will probably lose some cables here and here, some will be stolen/borrowed/etc. so having few extras does not hurt.

Same goes with all types of connectors, including the newest USB C form factor. Cheap USB C cables are worthless - one can read reviews online.

[SeanB]

If you can get genuine Nokia or Samsung USB cables, they are a lot better quality wise. You can even buy the genuine parts ( at a price) from most large cellular retailers.

[wraper]

Cheap/fake USB cables have hair thin strands in the power wires. Also they completely lack any king of shielding. No chance to charge at more than 500mA current with them, voltage will drop ridiculously low at the other end.

[oliver602]

Thanks everyone.

I purchased 3 Amazon basics branded chargers in the past, had to return 2 because they were bad out of the box. After that I purchased some from CPC Farnell in the UK a couple months ago and one of them is on the fritz already. They had a recall on those too because of insufficient adhesive holding the cover closed. I'll have to step it up.

[Monkeh]

Full size USB connectors are not rated for large cycle counts. Don't keep disconnecting them. I'm running out of ports on my desktop hubs, it's a pain.

Micro-USB is much better suited.