Replacement USB cables for charging.

KxMx

Looking for recommendations of decent USB replacement cables... have a tablet & smart phone, the ones that come with devices only last so long. To plug into wall socket charger.

Manufacturers don't offer official replacements- when I had a Fire Amazon's was £10 and lasted little beyond 3 months!

I tried a couple from eBay then but they were cheap, thin rubbish which charged slowly, not at all when in use or wore out super quick- I am a heavy user.

Now the tablet (November 2015) needs a new one and while i'm sure the smartphone one will do both devices for a while I do need to look into replacements and would appreciate voices of experience.

basill

I have had good results from Anker cables. The regular ones give good charge rates and fit snugly. Mine get heavy use at home, in the car and with battery pack. They seem as good as new after 8 months use.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00QT2BLC4


They now do an extra strong version, I have not tried these but they seem to attract good reviews.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B016BFFV6K

Not bad value at £5.99 for a three pack.

They all have an 18 month warranty.

B

[Deleted User]

I have a Hudl 2, and needed a longer charging cable, than the one that came with it.

I got a 2m Belkin one, from Carphone Warehouse.

It wasn't cheap, but it's well made.

grumbler

KxMx wrote: »

...
I tried a couple from eBay then but they were cheap, thin rubbish which charged slowly,

I don't think that the charging speed can depend on the quality unless the cable is several meters long.

basill

grumbler wrote: »

I don't think that the charging speed can depend on the quality unless the cable is several meters long.

The difference between a good quality and a nasty cable can be quite dramatic, I have the usual pile of charging cables and I regularly use my phone connected to a battery pack with long screen on times ( Ingress )

I noticed early on that using certain cables my phone would use more power than it was getting from the charger whereas with better cables the phone charged up while it was in use.

If you have an Android phone Apps such as Ampere and Current monitor will show the charge rate allowing you to compare cable and charger combinations.

Using Ampere I saw my worst nasty cable allowed approx 350maH compared with more than 1A for the best one.



B

zenmaster

grumbler wrote: »

I don't think that the charging speed can depend on the quality unless the cable is several meters long.

Indeed it does. The thickness of the internal charging wire (not the cable itself) is of paramount importance.

It's explained rather succinctly here and in great depth here.

grumbler

Yes, I am surprised that 50 cm copper cables exist with 0.33 Ohm:eek: resistance...
I stand corrected

notmebug

Amazon has banned non compliant USB cables recently.
http://www.droid-life.com/2016/03/30/amazon-bans-usb-type-c-cables-n/
Should be safe to buy from them. Avoid ebay though.

Cheap cables not only charge slowly, they can also kill your devicees.

Yolina

notmebug wrote: »

Amazon has banned non compliant USB cables recently.
http://www.droid-life.com/2016/03/30/amazon-bans-usb-type-c-cables-n/
Should be safe to buy from them. Avoid ebay though.

Cheap cables not only charge slowly, they can also kill your devicees.

That applies to USB-C cables which are fairly recent and not widely used as yet.

bod1467

I still use (in my car) the charging cable that came with my Nexus 4 in September 2013. This works fine with both my Nexus 4 and also my Lumia 640.

(The USB charger unit has 2 ports ... 1A rated and 2A rated ... I have the lead connected to the 2A port).

Strider590

I get my USB cables on eBay, there are sellers selling genuine phone/tablet cables for under £3, I tend to buy the HTC cables as they're nice and long and well protected. Ironically however the only cable that will charge my Nexus 7 at full speed is a 15cm cable I got for about 50p on eBay.

Also anyone who tries to sell you gold plated USB cables is a complete scam artist, just as with HDMI and SCART before that, gold plating is pointless.