Why USB-C multiport adapters can be dangerous
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USB-C splitters or extensions can be convenient, but may also break your devices if used in the wrong combination. This can be annoying, but worst case dange...
  • tal@lemmy.todayEnglish
    14·
    19 hours ago

    I mean, that splitter device cannot be USB compliant, if it’s giving more than 5V to a device that never negotiated more than 5V.

    I’d also guess that if it’s just silently feeding the second device from what the phone has negotiated, it’s probably not compliant in that it’s probably drawing more from its power source than the phone has negotiated – USB devices are responsible for indicating what they’ll draw.

    You could make that multiport device USB-compliant, but it’d require having the splitter be a DC-DC power source and having it negotiate some PD draw sufficient to power both devices.

    • JasonDJ@lemmy.zipEnglish
      4·
      11 hours ago

      A lot of junk in the Usb-c world.

      One of my kids tried to charge their Kindle Fire with a 8-inch cable that came with some cheap AliExpress gizmo. The cable glowed and then melted. Fun times, since they left it on the couch.

    • fubarx@lemmy.worldEnglish
      5·
      16 hours ago

      USB hubs.

      Plain old splitters will almost certainly damage the port, and if this is with a machine where USB-C is part of the motherboard, it could cause even more damage and be really expensive to repair.

      The power-only ones are not too pricey. But if you also need high speed data transfer (like drives) those cost a bit more. Be careful that even the ones that claim data exchange may not support drive speeds. It took me three tries to finally find one that worked.