USB Cable Checker

Name: USB Cable Checker
SKU: 10745
Price: 35.00 USD
Availability: Discontinued
Rating: 4.77 (15 reviews)

(15 Reviews)

The USB cable checker is a cable checker for USB type C

Designed by LimePulse in Japan

Product Retired

This product is no longer available for sale.

The seller may be offering an improved version or it may be hanging out on the beach, enjoying the retired life.

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The USB cable checker is a cable checker for USB type C

Applicable Combination of USB Cable and Connector

A Side:　USB A(3.0) / Type C
B Side: Micro B / Mini B / Type C

This device is not applicable to the cable with large B plug (If C plug is used on one end, the internal resistance value and front and back can be confirmed).

This device is not applicable to the activity cable with repeater IC.

Specification

Width:78mm(3.0in) Depth:69mm(2.7in) Height:18mm(0.7in)
Weight: 49g(1.72oz)
Battery: CR2032

Review Breakdown

Average Ratings

Product: (4.93)

Documentation: (4.67)

Shipping: (4.73)

Communication: (4.73)

Roland | Dec. 16, 2019

Very fine Product, added some tuning

This Checker helped me to sort out bad usb cables. I added 2 things:

1.) A diagnose for the Shield connection, as i had a problem wit a usb 3.0 Cable and a ssd disk at a fritzbox. The WLAN was disturbed. The reason was that the shield was not connected. Therefor I added one 2k2 Resistor and one yellow LED to test this:
+5V - [2k2] - shield of all B-conectors
GND [K LED ye A] - shield of all A-connectors.
If the shield is connected, the yellow LED lights up.
If the shield has an additional connection to GND the yellow LED does not light, as the -now parallel - red GND LED has a lower working voltage.
About 25% of my cables had unconnected shieldings. Some hat GND connected to shield.

2.) For the SSD Cable from USB 3.0 A to USB 3.0 Micro B i made an adapter USB3.0 micro B to USB Type C from two adapter PCBs found on Aliexpress. For type C i found only the male Connector with a pcb, so i need an extra usb-C cable between checker and adapter, but it works. On the pcb of usb-C i lifted the 4 GND Pins of the connector, as they were connected to shield and connected them to GND of the usb 3.0 micro B.
The usb 3.0 ID pin i set on usb C CC2 The 56k LED lights up if connected. The usb 3.0 GND_DRAIN is connected to usb C CC1, but this seems to have no effect. I will change this to use the SBU1 LED at the USB3A DRAIN and connect usb 3.0 GND_DRAIN to usb C SBU 1 on the adapter.
For the USB 3.0 Micro B VBUS, GND, TX1+ TX1-, RX1+, RX1-, D+, D-, Shield and ID are connected and can be tested. A test for GND_DRAIN follows.

I used enamelled copper wire, a fine pitch solder station and a stereo microscope.

As metioned by Daniel | Aug. 20, 2018 it would be nice to have the usb 3.0 micro B Plug. It would be possible to replace the usb 2.0 micro B, as micro 3.0 is backwards compatible.

Perhaps we see a 5.0 with the mentioned additions.

Stefan | Sept. 5, 2019

great product but...

Impressed with the product but if you live in EU country triple check with the seller not to put the invoice inside the package to avoid high customs fees.
I asked precisely not to add the Invoice and to mark the package as gift BUT done exactly the opposite ,put the invoice inside and printed my comment to mark the package as gift ... Image what happened to the customs :)))

Funny but not funny .

Michael | Sept. 2, 2019

Nice product, works well

This is for testing usb cables, and it does that just fine, with almost all different cable end types.

Massimo | Aug. 10, 2019

Cute little cable tester

This is a very nice USB cable tester!
I was looking for some way to check USB-C cables, and this tester looks up to the job.
Being self-powered, it's very handy to use.
So far I tried it only on a couple of cables, it works well and it's easy to use.
I hope the USB connectors on the PCB are up to the mechanical stress and inevitable abuse.

The order+delivery process was excellent: signed for notification waiting for the item to be in stock, received the notification just in a couple of days, ordered the device, delivered (to Northern Europe) in 2 weeks (including a couple of days lost for customs clearance). The item is quite well packaged, no danger of being damaged in transit. button battery included.

Last, two little wishes:
- it would be nice to be able to read the URL for the Github repo on the PCB soldermask as text, in addition to the QR-code
- the board is currently in rev. 4, but some of the links in the Tindie page still points to older versions (3, 3b).

Thanks, LimePulse!

Brett | June 15, 2019

Awesome product and great seller

The packaging and shipping was very good

The tester itself is built very well.

Functionality is great, makes checking what type of usb-c cable I grabbed easy.

Documentation included is good.

This is a quality seller.

Charlie | May 16, 2019

beautifully made piece

Simple to use, really well made and it works very well. nice to see form+function. spent an hour trying it out all cables and see the results

Ulrich | Feb. 15, 2019

absolutely perfect for my needs

I purchased the product because i was looking for a simple way to differentiate between usb cables for loading+data and data only (i.e. the connected pins). The product works absolutely fine, no complaints on my side. The delivery from japan to germany was extremely fast (around 5 days). Would buy again!

Tom | Jan. 24, 2019

excellent device with attention to details

Delivery took about 25 days, which is ok in regards to the shipping cost for germany.
lovely packaging! even has national flags printed in color.
it comes in a eco-friendly cardboard box. the 2-sided manual is printed well and sports quality english.
the device itself has a very good looking pcb, i love the overall typography design on it.
backside of the pcb even includes a qr-code pointing to it's github site.
so far so good... but does it work fine for testing usb cables?
yes it does - this is one of the tools i should have had 10 years ago :)
i tried all cable type possible as well as some adapters.
continuing to test adapters i quickly started to appreciate the "plug resistor check function" - i have quite a bunch of these due to using a recent macbook.
it also tested a thunderbolt 3/usb-pd cable fine.
so far i have not tried the "power isolation" function to measure the cables using a multimeter but i am looking forward to.

to sum things up.. it's a little piece of art well worth it's fair price.

Daniel | Aug. 20, 2018

Very helpful in checking USB 3.0/3.1 cable conformity

Very pleased with this tester.
It arrived in 10 days, well packed, with battery included.
It is very useful in sorting out cables with USB 3.0 plugs, but only 4 wires inside.
Also good for testing different current capabilities based on USB-C resistance included in the plug and direct measuring of the wires.

Only one reccomendation: if can be added another female plug on the tester (micro-USB 3.0), so it can test cables for external HDD too. I could't find yet adapters from micro-USB 3.0 female to USB-C or USB 3.0 male.

Sungmin | Aug. 13, 2018

GOOD PRODUCT

Packaging was also perfect and arrived quickly.

Operation and quality are also perfect.

It is a product that can easily test cable or gender anywhere.

Jeremy | July 14, 2018

Worked as Advertised, Looks Nice

Worked as I expected, and looks nice. Also, shipping to southeast US took less than 2 weeks if I remember correctly.

Only small complaint is that the GND and VBUS jumpers were slightly difficult to remove - needed pliers or perhaps smaller hands, and instructions for this step were somewhat confusing.

It seems I figured it out though. Also, did not ask any questions, but communication rating is required - 5 stars, but should really be not applicable in my case.

Michael | Jan. 17, 2018

Totally unique and impressive piece of test equipment

If you too are worried about recent revelations about the dangers of USB-C cables, this is the ONLY consumer-level turnkey test equipment available anywhere. It does what it says with clear and understandable LED indicators.

Design and fabrication quality are top-notch, the documentation is concise but practical, and shipping from Japan was amazingly quick.

If you routinely mix and match USB-C cables, especially those "legacy" adaptors for conversion to USB 2.0 or 3.0, this device allows you to test for dangerous design flaws that could otherwise fry your equipment. A must-have!

Emmanuel | Dec. 19, 2017

totally worth it

This kit found 5 of my USB cables to be defective since it's been delivered, now that I have it I wonder how I could live without it :-)

Ryan | Dec. 8, 2017

Utterly fantastic.

Not only is this incredibly useful I found the packaging. documentation and product to be very professional. I was really impressed. One of the better things I've gotten on tindie. Thanks!

Adrian | Nov. 15, 2017

Bautifully designed and manufactured

I received it yesterday from Japan to a destination in central Europe, less than a week since ordering. Carefully boxed (with manually-made cardboard inset, so it does not slide around in the oversized box during transport), with a printed copy of the two-page user guide and a receipt. It is beautifully designed and manufactured, a real engineering marvel, and works as advertised.

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