Basically I’m trying to de-clutter the cables to my charging station, and was hoping to use a 3-way cable for my phone, watch, and headphones.

My main concern is if one device is able to successfully negotiate QuickCharge or PD, would that send 9-20 volts to the other devices?

e.g. if I grabbed the wrong cord and hooked it into my laptop, the laptop requests 20v, would that PD negotiation succeed and also send 20v to my 5v devices on the other two leads?

I’ve only used these kinds of cables with USB-A and chargers that can only output 5V. Most of my chargers now are QC/PD so I’m curious if I should avoid those or take any particular precautions.

  • Buffalobuffalo@reddthat.com
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    4 months ago

    Have you thought about 3 cables but running them through a cable sleeve? This way you can get a three port charger and three cables But have them feel like one big cable.

  • db2@lemmy.world
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    4 months ago

    My main concern is if one device is able to successfully negotiate QuickCharge or PD, would that send 9-20 volts to the other devices?

    Yes, but these cables won’t do that anyway. You’ll get 5V and maybe 1.6A if you’re lucky. They’re good for charging a flashlight.

    • Admiral Patrick@dubvee.orgOP
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      4 months ago

      That’s what I was thinking (basically assuming they lack the CC wires/pins to negotiate power delivery), but the listing does say one of the leads does support data transfer which made me wonder. I’m assuming they share the VCC and ground so if the data-capable one triggered a higher voltage from the charger, then they all would get the same output voltage.

      I’m not sure how QC is negotiated, but it doesn’t seem to need any extra pins like Power Delivery, so I still wonder about that.

  • NeoNachtwaechter@lemmy.world
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    4 months ago

    My main concern is if one device is able to successfully negotiate QuickCharge or PD, would that send 9-20 volts to the other devices?

    Yes.

    QC negotiation works by changing the voltage. This communication would be broken if you plug several devices to 1 charging port.

    So you better get a charger with several ports where each port is capable of delivering QC / PD. They have independent communication then, and each device gets it’s proper voltage.

      • PM_Your_Nudes_Please@lemmy.world
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        4 months ago

        That would actually be the safer scenario, as a failure in the PD handshake simply defaults to 5v which every USB device can accept. It would be more dangerous to only have the PD negotiation be on one of the three ports, because then you could potentially burn out devices on the other two by sending them too much voltage.

        I guess the best case scenario would be to have the PD signal run on all three, then default to low voltage if any of them fail. But that’s likely not what they’re doing, because then things would only fast charge if all three ports are plugged into fast charge devices. Because an unplugged tail would likely register as a failed PD handshake.

        • AVincentInSpace@pawb.social
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          4 months ago

          USB-PD changes thr main voltage in response to a handshake protocol on the C1 and C2 data lines, which this cable likely doesn’t connect for precisely this reason. Qualcomm QC still uses D+ and D- to negotiate the higher voltage, which this cable likely wouldn’t connect either.

  • Rooki@lemmy.worldM
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    4 months ago

    I would think only the power connection ports are connected ( sort of a “dumb” cable ) Only way i can imagine is either its in their specs or cut one of them open to see what is connected ( dont connect anything after cutting it open )

    Rule 3 applies here, expect here no professionals.

    • Admiral Patrick@dubvee.orgOP
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      4 months ago

      Two of them are just power (according to the listing) but one does support data transfer. I’m assuming the VCC and ground are shared among all 3. It may not have the CC pins needed to support PD, but QC might be something to worry about.

      Probably just going to stick with my hub + individual cables and deal with the spaghetti. lol

  • Cort@lemmy.world
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    4 months ago

    Do you use all the cables all the time? If not, you could get a couple retractable ones to keep things tidy. Then just plug in the 2-3 things you regularly use.

    • Admiral Patrick@dubvee.orgOP
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      4 months ago

      Usually, yes. It’s where my daily-carry devices (phone, headphones, and watch) get plugged in each evening.

      Someone recommended using cable sleeves to tidy things up, and I think that’s the route I’m going to go.

  • HeyJoe@lemmy.world
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    4 months ago

    I feel your pain for the declutter… I as well have about 3 cables plugged into a super charger and I love the charge times it provides, I hate the cables. I really wish they made a cable that rolled back up like those ID badge lanyards you attach to your belt. Only take the cable you need and once done it rolls back up into a small space.

    • CodingCarpenter@lemm.ee
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      4 months ago

      I actually looked for something like this and while they do exist, they all seem really shoddy and I would not trust them with my devices sadly

      • ChaoticNeutralCzech@feddit.org
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        4 months ago

        I don’t think they would destroy your devices but I do have a non-PD power-only triple-ended retractable cable and it is shoddy.

  • Kaiyoto@lemmy.world
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    4 months ago

    Yeah I wouldn’t trust it, you can get USB hubs for fairly cheap. I just googled and saw one for 10$-12$ from Anker.

    • Admiral Patrick@dubvee.orgOP
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      4 months ago

      Yeah, that’s my current setup. Was just trying to reduce the amount of cables overall. But cheap cables of questionable craftsmanship combined with two complex charging standards sounds like it’s going to be a recipe for blue smoke.