USB Type-C is a trending standard in gadgets these days, and one of the particular draws is the ability to plug the cable to the port in any orientation with no fear of doing it upside down and damaging the port on your device in the process. But USB Type-C cables have been put in a rather bad light these past few months as third-party manufacturers and even gadget manufacturers have been shown to bend a few rules in manufacturing these cables, resulting in accessories that are not up to spec. We look now to the cables that come with Google’s current flagships, the Nexus 5X and the Nexus 6P. If you own one or both of these devices, listen up.
Reddit contributor “Nathan K” – who fashions himself as a tech guy who does “independent USB-C cable, charger, and device verification and analysis on the side” – has put out a video that basically shows the dangers of using your Nexus 5X and 6P stock cables with other accessories such as third-party chargers, or even swapping and using the Nexus 5X cable on your Nexus 6P. See the video below.
The video shows us a number of things. One, that swapping cables of the Nexus 5X and 6P leads to outputting the wrong amount of current on the devices – which can lead to overheating, overcharging and a number of other dangerous things. When used with a third-party USB hub, the hub incorrectly becomes powered, and this burns out the hub’s on/off button, preventing it from being powered down.
In the video’s description, it says that “Nathan K” has already reported “within the framework of Google’s escalations process” and “received permission” to reveal his findings. But what’s the safest course of action? Nathan says to use your stock Nexus 5X cable only on your stock Nexus 5X charger and only on your Nexus 5X device. Same goes with the Nexus 6P. It’s seems like good advice right there.
SOURCE: Reddit
I interchange the chargers for my Pixel C and 6p all the time and have never experienced any issues related to the chargers. Sometimes my phone will not rapid charge (or charge at all) until I reset it, but that only started happening with the latest Dev 5 beta
Something weird, when my 5x doesn’t rapid charge on a cable, if I take out the USB C plug rotate it 180 and plug it in, it works in rapid mode. Shouldn’t be any difference. This isn’t with the stock cables, third party USb A – USB C. I hope they get all the quirks ironed out soon, on paper USB C is amazing.
Are you running the latest beta? Also this is happening to me using the charger that came with my phone or pixel. From what I have read USB A shouldn’t allow you to rapid charge because it can’t handle the voltage
I wouldnt be surprised if my phone was lying to me – though when it says, slow charging it really charges slow. I am actually using a powered (to 3amp) USB hub attached to my computer at work. At home my charger is the one that came with the phone C-C. I would actually guess, also, that the A-C implementation is incorrect, so plugging one way supplies more power than the other.
Type A doesn’t support the same charging capabilities as type c. Type C is both faster and can carry a higher electrical load so it can charge a phone or even a laptop. Type A can’t handle that which is why they came out with a new format that wasn’t just a smaller form factor like micro USB was
I own both and charge them with the other charger all the time. I have one charger at home and one in office. Never had an issue.
I’m going to get the specs and try to build an American made version that works. This is what you get when you let China control your cheap ass life.
What’s ironic is that any charger is made in China both good and bad.
I have a 5X and a 6P and have interchanged the stock chargers along with a third charger purchased from the Google Store and have had no problems at all. I don’t even notice any extra warmth when rapid charging like my previous Motorolas would on their Turbo Charger. I’ll have to re-watch the Youtube video again, but the main thing I took away from it was that he was testing either the stock charger block with the USB-C end plugged into the charger and the USB-A end plugged into some testing unit and it was sending too much power. But that is not the intended use for that wall charger and cable. Then he used the stock wall charger with aftermarket cables to show that they were sending too much power. While that is a good P.S.A. for the general public, it still doesn’t show that there’s anything wrong with the stock charger and stock cable for charging the Nexus devices. Maybe I missed something in the video, but it got a little preachy so it is possible I missed something. I guess I would be interested to see some further third party testing, possibly from Benson Leung or a reputable company to show that this is the huge catastrophe that it is being paraded around as.
My 5x cable fell apart within two months. Cheap construction.
“some guy on Reddit” is not a credible source and his “experiments” are not scientific in the least. Please stop with the nonsense. You’re better than this, AC.
Actually, they’re worse than that… there’s video of the tests, which actually are methodical, but the problem wasn’t the cables, it was the chargers.
The problem was the OP. The research was sound.
Ironically, this “some guy on Reddit” is more credible than this writer. What a joke.
John Hoff, you completely misinterpreted my video and my findings. Please pay closer attention and correct your article as soon as you read this.
#1 – The issue is not with the included cables. The issue is with the included CHARGERS.
#2 – The hub power switch was not burned out. You are completely fabricating that. The hub was powered by BACKFEED which was not supposed to occur, so the switch was BYPASSED.
#3 – The 5X and the 6P have different charger problems. The 5X charger doesn’t have voltage safeties, the 6P charger the voltage safeties are faulty and easily bypassed.
#4 – The 6P charger acts funny with active/eMarked USB-C cables. These are not “Lightning cables”. These are all USB3.1 cables, and Thunderbolt 3 cables. Thunderbolt3 and Lightning are DIFFERENT connectors.
You should seriously consider having a technical expert watch the video and fact-check your article. Also, please link the primary source, the Reddit thread, there I answered questions.
Thanks for your hard work trying to help us all. It truly is appreciated.
Why you did not linked the primary source here?
Nathan thanks for doing this research. Can you tell us which chargers are safe?
I have the Nexus 5x and the Pixel-C, and I have been swapping the USB-C chargers on those devices for several months with absolutely no issues. Maybe the tester had faulty units, or maybe the test results aren’t credible.
I have a 5x and pixel c too and have used both chargers regularly on both devices too no problems for me either.