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Comment by Animats | Hacker News Reader

It should be impossible for any set of non-damaged, non-defective, spec-compliant set of USB-C cables and peripherals to cause fires.

Then there's the crap offered for sale on Alibaba which somebody will resell on Amazon and which will show up on a checkout rack at the gas station. USB-C has very tight tolerances and unusual material requirements. Dirt or water can create a conductive path all too easily with USB-C pin spacing.

"Decreasing the risk of fire in USB-C connectors" is worth watching.[1] It's an ad for a plastic material, but covers the problems.

[1] https://youtu.be/jYqDh9q5H6I

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I’ve never heard of USB-C causing a fire. The control ICs should cut the current the moment anything is out of spec. Do you have any examples of that?

https://www.reddit.com/r/Android/comments/7j3k38/anker_usbc_...

https://wccftech.com/macbook-survives-disables-all-usb-ports...

Researchers even developed an exploit for some USB-C fast chargers that forces it to deliver max power and try to catch the connected device on fire: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Es2SqubYSfo

The problem is the gazillion of proprietary fast charging standards.

Some of them were designed for chargers with attached cable, and not disconnectable one.

Many charger ICs emulate the fast charging signalling to trick phones into charging faster, but they of course have no way to check if wiring is ok on micro-usb.

So you can end up with 5A-10A going over flimsy wires/contact pads. Or if they use type-c, they can end up using fake 5A cables. Or in case of VOOC, they don't check if the cable is an actual VOOC cable, which goes over 5A.

>Or in case of VOOC, they don't check if the cable is an actual VOOC cable, which goes over 5A

Actually they do. My OnePlus wich uses the same VOOC tech will not charge at full power with its fast charger if I don't use the cable from the box.

Do you use A to C cable, or C to C?

VooC A to C has a fifth pin mapped to CC pin on C side.

Rogue VooC C to C chargers just send VooC signalling directly on CC.

Mine is A to C.

The comment two above yours is not enough?

Red hot metal and smoking plastic.

Yeah but there will always be crap for Alibaba for anything you can think of. The solution would be banning charging altogether and adopt only proprietary standards.

No, the solution for the US would be to refuse imports of any power device that lacks UL/CSA approval.

What about the 96% of human beings that buy their electronics outside of the USA?

they have their own corresponding government entities enact the corresponding regulations

I don’t even think that is required. I think what might be required is simply making it more explicit when a device is or is not UL listed. I shouldn’t have to search Amazon’s “questions” thing on a product listing to see if it is UL listed.

Of course I suppose products that actually are UL listed on Amazon will already mention the fact somewhere in their description.

That being said I’ve had more issues with low voltage crap letting the magic smoke out than mains powered devices.

The solution is obvious, they just need to be constructed of prefabulated amulite.

That's not entirely a joke. "Halogen-free polyamides are explicitly recommended by the USB-IF in the USB 3.1 specification."[1] Most common plastics do not have a high enough resistance to surface tracking, where, as the connector wears, a conductive path appears across the surface due to dirt and moisture.

[1] https://www.dsm.com/content/dam/dsm/electrical-electronics/e...

...as long as you have the necessary hydrocoptic marzlevanes. You don't want side fumbling.

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