跳至主要内容
How to choose a good USB data and charging cable for your mobile phone
Like Us on Facebook
Most of us will have a few USB data and charging cables for our mobile phone, i.e. one at home, one in office, one carrying together with our laptop, etc.

Do you encounter the problem of slow charging, or worst still, unable to charge with the additional USB cable that you bought? Perhaps you can find the solution after reading this.

First of all, although most of the USB cables look alike from their external appearance, they might be different inside the cable, and probably that is the ready why certain USB cable unable to charge your mobile phone, certain can charge but at a very slow rate, certain just work as fine as the original USB cable that come with your phone, and certain even can charge faster than the original cable.

There are 5 wires inside the USB 1 and USB 2 cables, and there are more inside USB 3.0 cable. Since most of the mobile phones nowadays are using USB 2.0 connector, so USB 3.0 is out of our topic here.

The 5 wires are:


2x 28 AWG data lines
2x 20-28 AWG power conductors
1x drain wire
and those 5 wires are connected to the 5 pins in your micro-USB connector.

In fact, there are two kinds of USB cable: fully-rated and sub-channel. The main difference between them is that fully-rated cable can be used for typical peripherals operating at the rate of 480 Mbps (high speed) signalling, while the sub-channel one at the rate of 1.5 Mbps (standard speed) signalling. The construction inside the cable fully-rated and sub-channel cable is different.


As you can see from the diagram above, the fully-rated USB cable is shielded by braid and aluminium foil.


You can probably see some printed codes on the good quality USB cable, including something like this: "28AWG/2C and 24AWG/2C" or "28AWG/1P + 24AWG/2C".

The first code is normally the specification of the data signal pair, which is normally 28AWG. "2C" means 2 conductors, and "1P" or "1Pr" means 1 pair. "2C" and "1P" are basically the same.

The important part is the second code, which is the specification of the power distribution pair. The minimum requirement is 28AWG, and the lower the AWG number the better. This is because lower AWG wire is thinker, and therefore the electrical resistant is lower.

Therefore, charging with a "28AWG/1P + 28AWG/2C" USB cable is normally slower than a "28AWG/1P + 24AWG/2C" cable.

Certain USB cable comes with a ferrite bead at one end, which function is to filter high frequency noise to improve signal transfer.

As a conclusion, when you buy additional USB cable to charge your mobile phone, you should look for:

USB 2.0 support
High speed 480 Mbps data transfer rate
The packaging mentions it is a "charging" cable and not only a "data" cable
Power conductors of 24AWG/2C or better (for faster charging speed)
(optionally) the ferrite bead
Remember not to only look for the information on the packaging of the cable. Sometimes you will find the specification printed on the cable is different from that mentioned on the packaging.
Like Us on Facebook

评论

发表评论

此博客中的热门博文

Better batteries ahead mean big changes for mobility Like Us on Facebook Tired of having your battery drain too fast on your phone? Some amazing new developments are taking place in the realm of batteries. Find out what's coming next. I went on a camping trip last month in the next town over from mine, a rural community where 3G/4G mobile access is as a sparse as the thinly-populated countryside itself. As is usually the case in these situations, my Samsung Galaxy struggled gamely to get a signal, causing it to chew through battery life like a New Year's Eve partygoer popping Advil on January 1. My robust ZeroLemon extended battery drained within a day even after I switched it to airplane mode, and attempting to charge it with my Energizer Instant Charger (which runs on AA batteries) merely resulted in a flurry of annoying "connect your charger" prompts; no actual charging took place. I wound up charging the phone in my vehicle but even after a couple of ho
发表评论
阅读全文
Why Spring clean your mobile devices ? Like Us on Facebook Even mobile devices need a spring cleaning to ensure the latest in productivity and security enhancements. Spring cleaning is for more than just your house. Even mobile devices can benefit from an annual cleanup, which amounts to an OS update so that users can get the latest in productivity and security enhancements. David Lingenfelter, the information security officer at Fiberlink, an IBM company about mobile device maintenance in a corporate environment, offered tips for a spring cleaning for mobile devices in corporate, Corporate Owned Personally Enabled (COPE), and Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) environments. Mobile devices are an extension of us according to Lingenfelter. To me, this position should be central to how consumer and business users maintain their mobile devices. Make updates and upgrades to mobile devices Lingenfelter is an advocate of making sure that mobile devices have the lates
发表评论
阅读全文
How to Revive a Cell Phone Battery like us on Facebook When mobile phone batteries have reached their limit or are left discharged for a long period of time, they eventually lose their ability to hold a charge. If your cell phone battery dies, you don’t need to throw it out right away, why not try reviving it first? Maybe all the battery needs is just a little push to make it functional again. Learn how by proceeding to Step 1. Method 1--Jump-starting the Battery 1. First, gather your supplies. You’ll need the following: 9-volt battery—Any brand will do. Electric tape—You’ll need no more than five inches. Electrical wire—Basic thin electrical wire will do. Red (+) and black (-) are preferred. 2. Connect the electrical wire to the positive and negative terminals of the cell phone battery first, as these are smaller. You can identify the terminals of the battery by simply looking at the side of the battery. It will have a plus (+) and minus (–) sign to
发表评论
阅读全文