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USB-C mechanical design is flimsy and pathetic.
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CatalinaWOW:

--- Quote from: wraper on September 18, 2020, 02:39:44 am ---
--- Quote from: CatalinaWOW on September 18, 2020, 01:34:14 am ---And have had cable failures in all of them.  My observation is that the failure rate is more dependent on the user than on the configuration.  With a couple of family members able to generate high failure rates on the "respected" Apple products.

--- End quote ---
It's because apple bent the knee to goddamn stupid Greenpeace activists and doesn't use PVC since 2009. The result is cable insulation splitting after a few months of use which results in tons of e-waste filling landfills.

--- End quote ---

You may be right about a weakening of Apple's design.  But the differential failure rate applies to different users of the same products.  Some people are just hamfisted.
Psi:

--- Quote from: wraper on September 17, 2020, 11:40:08 pm ---

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This, more than anything, is why I love USB-C
I don't care about anything else, just this.
SilverSolder:

--- Quote from: dl6lr on September 18, 2020, 06:13:20 am ---
--- Quote from: CatalinaWOW on September 18, 2020, 01:34:14 am ---And have had cable failures in all of them. 

--- End quote ---

A failing cable is easy to replace, a failing connector on the PCB is not that easy to replace (for the end user). The latter was a major problem with Mini-USB, where the contacts of the "sockets" failed and the cable side stayed OK. One of the design goals of Micro USB was, that the cable "plug" will fail and not the contacts of the PCB side. In my personal view, they reached that goal. A weakness of Micro-USB cables seems to be the rather poor springs that should hold the cable in the socket and that will fail easily, requiring a new cable more often than necessary. I had several cables that will just fall out of the device on minor movements within a year of usage.


--- Quote from: CatalinaWOW on September 18, 2020, 01:34:14 am ---If you want a truly reliable connector system go with military or industrial connectors.

--- End quote ---

Anyone remembers the IBM multi port Microchannel cards? They had a multi contact connector and a thick cable (going to the break out box) that stiff, you could use it to push back your truck. A colleague broke the card and the slot it was in by moving his PC, not minding the cable in the back... A more robust connector alone is not a solution for every situation.
And I have seen industrial/military grade devices where the user has "successfully contacted" a D-SUB or ribbon connector the wrong way. :clap: Do not use force, just grab a bigger hammer...

Regards, Bernd

--- End quote ---

The old school GPIB parallel cables are also strong enough to be used as spare parts for your local suspension bridge!  :D

The downsides of such high quality are:  size, weight, and cost!
wraper:

--- Quote from: CatalinaWOW on September 18, 2020, 11:29:41 am ---
--- Quote from: wraper on September 18, 2020, 02:39:44 am ---
--- Quote from: CatalinaWOW on September 18, 2020, 01:34:14 am ---And have had cable failures in all of them.  My observation is that the failure rate is more dependent on the user than on the configuration.  With a couple of family members able to generate high failure rates on the "respected" Apple products.

--- End quote ---
It's because apple bent the knee to goddamn stupid Greenpeace activists and doesn't use PVC since 2009. The result is cable insulation splitting after a few months of use which results in tons of e-waste filling landfills.

--- End quote ---

You may be right about a weakening of Apple's design.  But the differential failure rate applies to different users of the same products.  Some people are just hamfisted.

--- End quote ---
It's a wide known issue. And I haven't seen it on products from any other company. Cheapest knockoff cables last many times longer in this regard  :palm:. Before apple silently removed user rating from their website it was around 1 out of 5 stars for their cables.

asmi:
I love USB-C for power delivery. Previously I had boards which needs to be powered by various voltages (5V, 9V, 12V, so I had to buy different power supplies and remember which one to use when working with a board), now all of them use the same USB-C PD power supply and the board itself chooses the voltage it needs using simple 3$ MCU (STM32G071), and that addition doesn't take all that much space. If you don't require programmability, you can use CYPD3177 which allows setting required voltage with a few resistors, and is about $1.5 for single quantities.
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