We put the TV on top of an old cabinet that we use to store our modem, Apple TV, and a few extra electronics. All of these items plug into a power strip that gets plugged into a wall. The trick is to store the power strip inside of the cabinet rather than having it hang out behind the media unit. There are several holes drilled into the back of the cabinet to run the cords and for ventilation. (Hot tip: I face the modem backwards because I inevitably need to restart it and it's easier to do so when its oriented this way.) We keep the router on top as to not cause internet interference.
Up until recently, our Apple TV used an infrared receiver, so hiding it behind the doors would have meant the TV wouldn't know when we clicked a button on the remote. So, we used this infrared transmitter that discretely hid on the bottom of the TV. Now that the newer AppleTV remote is Bluetooth and we don't have an infrared cable box, we nixed this extra bit of wires.
Hot money-saving tip: we cut the cable cord long ago and only use internet from our cable provider. Logic says it's cheaper to only use one of their services, but every once in a while they do a promo that discounts the bill while simultaneously upgrading your internet speed if you bundle cable TV. So, every 6 months I call to change to whichever promotion has the cheapest bill and the fastest internet. Then, when the promo is over and they increase the bill, I call back and cancel cable or change the bundle. They make their $$$ because people forget to switch their bundle and end up paying more - but not me, and not you! (P.S. If you cancel cable after a promotion, make sure you return the cable box to your provider or they'll charge you $80+!)
Like all digital packrats, Ive amassed a huge array of USB-C to USB-A cables over the yearsbut it wasnt until recently that I realized how many of them were dangerous to my electronics and should be destroyed. Yours probably should, too.
Why destroy a perfectly good USB-C to USB-A cable? Well, it all goes back to the introduction of USB-C in . The reversible connector was a big break from previous USB designs and was so complicated, many cable makers didnt know how to build a safe USB-C cable. In a nutshell, each cable is supposed to have a 56k ohm resistor in it. This lets your , tablet, or laptop know if the USB-C port is connected to an older square USB-A port or not.
If the device senses the 56K resistor, it limits the amount of power it draws from the port. If, however, there is no 56K resistor, the or tablet assumes its connected to a higher-power USB-C port. In that state, the cable can potentially draw too much power from the port its plugged into, burn the port out, and sometimes cause damage to connected devices.
Got a pile of USB-C to USB-A cables? Some may be dangerous to your hardware.
Got a pile of USB-C to USB-A cables? Some may be dangerous to your hardware.
Gordon Mah Ung
Got a pile of USB-C to USB-A cables? Some may be dangerous to your hardware.
Gordon Mah Ung
Gordon Mah Ung
The good news? This problem was fixed years ago, and even the cheapest dollar store USB-C to USB-A cables Ive bought recently were built to spec.
The bad news happens if you stumble upon a older cable that was built incorrectly. That may seem unlikely since this problem stopped being a problem four years ago or more, but no one ever throws away useful cables. We all dump them in a shoe box or coil them up and put them in a bag. Sure, Ill eWaste old serial cables and printer cables as well as the odd MicroUSB and MiniUSB stragglers sometimes, but USB-C rules the world. Even I dont need the cable, someone else might. Into the box it goes.
So in the interest of seeing how many actual bad cables are in my own collection, I grabbed just about every USB-C to USB-A cable I could to find out how good they are. Turns out Im a digital pack rat and have amassed no fewer than 43 cables.
You can see the result of my testing below but one of the surprises was just how many of my cables are absolutely terrible for transferring data. USB-C to USB-A cables can support up to USB 3.2 10Gbps if they have the extra wires. Without the extra wires, you typically get the basic 40Mbps transfer speed of USB 2.0. That means using a USB-C to USB-A cable for your NVMe SSD would make a large file transfer minutes instead of seconds.
Of the 43 cables I tested, only one cable supported USB 3.2 10Gbps speeds. Only one.
Besides grading the cables on data transfer rates, I also put them in bins based on the resistance each one had. For cables used mostly to charge devices, a cable with lower resistance generally means thicker or higher quality wires were used in construction, and more power gets to the device youre charging.
The good news is most of them were decent, but I did find six cables that I tossed into the bad for charging bin because the resistance was so high. As a practical matter, it may not be much of a difference in the total time charged, but if a cable was going to be culled, I wanted a good reason for it.
Most of my USB-C to USB-A cables are lousy at data transfer and almost a quarter are down-right dangerous.
Most of my USB-C to USB-A cables are lousy at data transfer and almost a quarter are down-right dangerous.
IDG
Most of my USB-C to USB-A cables are lousy at data transfer and almost a quarter are down-right dangerous.
IDG
IDG
You will get efficient and thoughtful service from FSW.
Charge-only cables
You know a cable connector standard has made it when companies start to truly butcher it by making cables that are literally charge-only cables. So it goes with USB-C to USB-A. Among my cables I discovered four charge-only cables that only had wires for charging. Why build cables this way? The main reason is to save money making them. But the problem with charge-only cables is they look identical to charge and data cables.
Perhaps worse, though, is these charge-only cables actually registered very high resistance. That ironically makes them terrible charging cables.
But on the plus side, all of the cables Ive mentioned so far all were correctly wired with 56k ohm resistors. Even the most awful charge-only cable would prevent your or tablet from blowing up the USB-A port on your laptop.
That luck didnt hold out. The remaining 10 cables were constructed improperly. Five were built incorrectly with either a 22k ohm resistor, or incorrect wires with the 56k ohm resistors. The remaining five had no 56k ohm resistors at all and should be classified as dangerous to use and probably slated for destruction. These were the cables that red flags were raised about in , and are likely still floating around in similar boxes around the globe.
These compromised USB-C to USB-A cables could probably be used safely if plugged into dedicated wall chargers that cant exceed the wattage your might ask for. The problem is two years from now, that dangerous cable might be used in a pinch and again get mixed in with good cables, potentially blowing up the port on a laptop.
And dont make the mistake of thinking the dangerous cables only came from shoddy manufacturers. Having a name-brand cable wont necessarily save you. Of the five dangerous cables without any 56k resistors, two came from a well-known maker, and another came from a very popular aftermarket cable maker that I still buy cables from today. Of the cables that were incorrectly wired, two came from another manufacturer. Another USB-C cable that didnt make the cut that was supplied with a very expensive high-performance SSD. So clutching brand name to your chest may not always work.
This $65 cable tester is one of the easiest ways Ive found to cull bad cables.
This $65 cable tester is one of the easiest ways Ive found to cull bad cables.
Gordon Mah Ung
This $65 cable tester is one of the easiest ways Ive found to cull bad cables.
Gordon Mah Ung
Gordon Mah Ung
How do you avoid a bad cable in your collection?
The easy way to fix this is to pick out the bad cables from your collection. Unfortunately theres no easy way that I know of without spending money. The easiest way Ive found is ADUSBCIMs Cable Checker 2. It lets you easily gauge the capability of a USB-C-to-C and USB-C-to-A, as well as Micro and Mini USB cables. The small display gives you a quick and dirty view into the resistance of the cable as well as the presence of the 56K resistor. It can also tell you if its wired strangely (56K on two lines instead of one) or if it uses incorrect resistors.
At $65 on Ebay (Ive not found it retail in the US otherwise), its probably the easiest way to test your cables, even though there are other, somewhat cheaper methods available.
The obvious problem? Spending $65 to test your collection of free USB-C cables makes zero sense financially. The cheaper option for most people is a thing no one wants to do: Destroy your current pile and just buy new USB-C cables which are known to be safe and good, for far less than $65.
Should you destroy your cables?
Whether you should take scissors to your older USB-C to USB-A cables depends on your comfort level with risk. If youve been using the same cable for years, then its likely fine. The bad USB-C cables mostly run the risk of damage when you connect a computer to the USB-C device, so if you only use them with chargers, the risk is greatly lowered. If a relative comes over, however, and unplugs that cable to transfer a few quick files from a to their laptop, you run the risk of it being damaged.
The last thing you may want to change is your behavior on abandoned cables. If Bob flips the bird at the company and storms out, leaving a couple of USB-C to USB-A in his cubicle on his last dayleave them alone. Rather than seeing it as a free pair of cables, you should probably just buy a new set of cables that you know are going to be safe.
My USB-C cables all suck
.My USB-C cables all suck
.Gordon Mah Ung
My USB-C cables all suck
.Gordon Mah Ung
Gordon Mah Ung
If you want to learn more, please visit our website Charging Pile Cable.