This is another episode that, sorry, shows you that people are blabbering idiots (would have used a stronger word - if I could have though of one), when it comes to problem dissemination, who will take idiot shortcuts (brands, names, review - by "that person"), over anything resembling an objectified fact.
tldr; is still "buy your "certified 56k ohm resistor cables only"".
But the whole story is far from what people in here believe it is.
So here is the thing. All "fast charging capable devices" (devices capable of negotiating/drawing 3A (amps)) are affected. The Switch can negotiate/draw up to 3A so it falls under that category.
BUT. No really. BUT.
Benson "i leave amazon reviews as a google engineer, because thats my venue of talking to the world" Leungs "potentially harmful" scenario suggests the following.
Charger is of the "fast charging type", and will permit 2A. Resistor in the cable is 10k ohms instead of 56k ohms, so the 3A capable end device (think Nintendo Switch or Nexus 6) identifies the 2A providing device as "capable of providing 3A" and will draw 3A, thereby potentially damaging the power source. So not the Switch, the charger.
Theres a Verge journalist that would tell you otherwise, but more on that later.
I'll reference this chart provided by "we use 10k ohm resistors despite spec requiring 56k ohm resistors, because we think its funny" Oneplus:
- which although marketing "outfall mitigation", makes sense to me. (src:
https://forums.oneplus.com/threads/in-response-to-the-type-c-cable-discussions.412344/)
Benson "lets talk through amazon reviews" Leung also had an unrelated issue - where CHARGING his Chromebook (in this case the power receiver) through a 2A providing fast charger, fried his Chromebook, but this was not due to the "wrong" 10k ohm resistor, but due to the cable being entirely misswired:
I directly analyzed the Surjtech cable using a Type-C breakout board and a multimeter, and it appears that they completely miswired the cable. The GND pin on the Type-A plug is tied to the Vbus pins on the Type-C plug. The Vbus pin on the Type-A plug is tied to GND on the Type-C plug.
https://www.amazon.com/review/R2XDBFUD9CTN2R/ref=cm_cr_rdp_perm
Thats an unrelated, and presumably much, much rarer issue.
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Now on to the curious case of the questionable (?) Verge journalist.
Dieter Bohn, executive editor at the Verge "fried" his "Macbook Air usb ports" (Power Source) while charging his Nexus 6P with a "10k ohm cable". according to this cnet article (
https://www.cnet.com/news/usb-type-c-cable-problems/ ) which actually provides more information, than his own article on the verge.
How he managed to do so - is entirely suspect.
Here is why. The phone only should enter "3A quickcharge mode", when mistakingly detecting a 2A power source, as a 3A power source, due to the wrongly used 10k ohm resistor. He used the right, wrong cable (faulty cable, 10k ohm resistor), but how a Macbook Airs USB ports would provide anything close to 2A, so the phone could enter fast charge mode and draw 3A is entirely alien to me.
This one goes out to all the electrical engineers in the audience. If you know of any way, that this configuration could fry a USB A port on part of the charger, please provide your thoughts even though they might be speculative. (500 mah output being overdriven, by the phone wrongly drawing 1.5A, or 2A because of the 10k ohm resistor?) In all likelyhood, what should have happened is trickle charging, as the phone doesn't identify a 3A source. (Macbook AIr USB ports shouldnt be able to fast charge anything.)
Nothing that our Amazon loving google engineer provided concerns anything close to this. But still, it might be a thing.
Although, its a "as speculative as they come", isolated report, from a "the verge" hipster. So ask yourself - would you trust this guy?
Also, according to Dieter Bohn, he "fried" his Macbook Airs USB ports into a state where, sometimes they would work, and sometimes they wouldn't. Which only adds to the highly suspect nature of the report.
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Now notice, that the device that gets charged - only was damaged in ONE of those cases, namely the "completely misswired USB cable" in our Leung review listed above. In all 10k ohm resistor (which is also not spec, and wrong, but not completely misswired) related cases - only the power source has taken damage, or ever was under risk of doing so.
Which means all the reports of 3RD party hdmi hocking stations frying the Switch likely are due to an unrelated (to "needs 56k ohm resistor") issue (wrong wireing, shorting out...?).
Also, if the Switch in RCM mode doesnt, for an unknown reason, decide to be a host that "charges things" - it never should be negatively effected.
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But thats just pure logic.
Something all articles from the verge, and the guardian fail at - completely. And the cnet one does partly.
Also - please never use youtube videos from "proessional youtubers" as sources. In most cases, they are even more confused, than the journalists which articles they read out loud proclaiming, that its their "knowledge". Also - sifting through a 10 minute verbal operetta, to "feel" the point a youtuber is making, is unfit for any even pseudoscientific elaboration. You simply can't reference arguments, by just linking to lengthy youtube videos.
edit: This randomly pulled up superuser.com report lends potential credence to the verge report:
Since the cable does not know which port you will plug it in, the safe cable pull-up should be 56k, otherwise the phone can try to suck 1.5A or even 3A from the cable. If the port is a regular USB, the requested cable power may vastly exceed port's capability. With cheap uncontrolled power delivery (some cheap PC mainboards connect the VBUS directly to internal +5VSTBY), it will cause system shutdown.
- if Apple would have used cheap usb power delivery not connected to a power regulator.
(The part in question that this one seems to "verify" is, that the 3A capable end device may negotiate voltages in between 500mA and 3A, which still might potentially be harmful to the power source (so not only 3A), which was one of my white spots before. Also, please notice "system shutdown", not "permanent damage".
). Credibility level is "random guy on superuser.com".
https://superuser.com/questions/1100903/how-do-i-work-out-if-a-usb-c-cable-is-safe-to-use
