Why is the micro USB so fragile compared to mini USB cable ends?

It's deliberate ... with USB and miniUSB the contacts and retaining springs are in the socket and wear out after 1,000 to 2,000 insertions; with microUSB the wear is intended to happen within the plug, because the cable can be more easily replaced, they're also rated for more like

I have sometimes managed to persuade the "nibs" back into life with the end of pin, but cables are cheap.

Andy Burns wrote, on Wed, 20 Aug 2014 07:34:46 +0100:

These cables are probably a month or two old, so, the number of insertions was probably about a hundred to three hundred before they failed.

Sounds like you got some of a bad batch of cables. Or else you are inordinately clumsy with micro-USB connectors. Or else one of your devices has an out-of-spec micro-USB socket that is breaking your, otherwise perfectly sound, USB plugs...

FWIW: I have /never/ experienced this problem myself.

-- chris

Chris Uppal wrote, on Wed, 20 Aug 2014 11:07:55 +0100:

I wonder if there is a way to tell if a cable is good

Avi,

Not likely. Your protection is usually a 30 day warranty. You have my sympathies. In my experience USB, Mini USB, and Micro USB do not seem to hold up well under lots of insertions. These designs just do not work well. And they are currently ubiquitous.

Dave M.

Price ? Brand ? If the cable comes from a supplier with enough of a name to care about quality control (and therefore test the stuff they get from the /actual/ supplier) then that's probably the best you can do. In particular if it comes from a brand that you have had good quality (not necessarily premium priced) stuff from before.

Perhaps also a visual inspection of the overall build quality will tell you something about the quality control, but it's difficult to see how to apply that effectively to something as simple as USB cables.

-- chris

Sounds like you are using the cables a lot . That would be plugging the cables in betwen 3 and 10 times each day.

My cell phone uses a charger with a micro-USB plug. If these were of such poor quality that they went bad after a few hundred insertions, you can imagine the reactions of the manufacturer and owner.

Chris Uppal wrote, on Wed, 20 Aug 2014 13:47:03 +0100:

I don't have the original shrinkwrap, but it was generic Frys stuff. I will have to go back and look at the brand, but, how does *that* help?

Let's say the brand is "made in China" stuff? Is that necessarily better or worse than "made in anywhere else" stuff?

I'm sure if the brand were "Belken", it would be good, but, I think this was just generic stuff. Why should something as simple as a cable need to be name brand anyway?

And, what is a name brand (other than Belken) anyway, for cables?

L-com

Their prices are good and the quality is excellent. Plus, you can get right angle cables ... and left, up, or down as well.

Replace the connectors, they are cheap enough.

I just bought some from Dollar Tree for $1 each. They are bright green, so they'll be easy to spot, when I need one. :)

'cause the phone makers got together and decided on a "universal" connector for charging. Under pressure from the consumer about the being fleeced for chargers with only difference being the propritary connector.

Do people keep a phone that long? People here seem to upgrade every tweleve months or when ever they can twist their provider in to it.

Personally I don't like micro USB. It's too small, doesn't self guide on insertion, the orientation is non-obvious and with the lack of self guidance is the thing not going together because it's miss aligned or the wrong way up? Mini USB doesn't suffer those problems.

Physically, I will admit the apple lightning connector is nicer, it's still small, is reversible and it inserts smoothly, but I wouldn't want a proprietary connector.

Michael A. Terrell wrote, on Wed, 20 Aug 2014 14:02:13 -0400:

I didn't know you *could* (easily) replace the connectors! And, at 5 cents each, no less.

How can they possibly make money selling those micro usb connectors for 5 cents each, with shipping from Szechuan China being 80 cents?

BTW, are they crimp on? Glue on? Solder on? What?

Avraham Bernholz wrote, on Wed, 20 Aug 2014 14:35:12 +0000:

Here is a picture of a few of the bad microUSB cables:

This 6 foot long Belken cable no longer has any nubs:

So the Belken (on the right) didn't have any more nub than the no-name brand on the left (in this picture below):

I'm confused how I'm supposed to buy a good micro USB cable when even the Belken brand loses its nubs.

Ralph Mowery wrote, on Wed, 20 Aug 2014 09:15:02 -0400:

I don't think I'm using it any more than anyone else. I was just guessing at the number of insertions. It's only a couple times a day that it's used, on average.

Anyway, they failed in far fewer than 10,000 cycles, so, I'm assuming the micro USB standard is seriously flawed, or, I'm just getting bad cables from Frys.

Here is what Frys had today for USB cables in the components area:

So, I bought a 3 foot and 6 foot replacement:

We'll see how they fare, but, most seem to lose their nubs in a few months like these two cables did:

The one at left is no name, the one at right has Belkin molded on it. Maybe it's a fake? But I bought it at Frys, for sure.

Michael A. Terrell wrote, on Wed, 20 Aug 2014 14:02:13 -0400:

I also have to replace the Duracell USB wall charger I bought from Frys, as it just fell apart in my hands today!

That could have been dangerous because it left that missing pin in hot port of the wall socket!

Dave Liquorice wrote, on Wed, 20 Aug 2014 20:13:06 +0100:

I agree with you that miniUSB was easier than microUSB, and I'm all for standards, but for the newer micro USB plugs to last far fewer insertions is crazy.

At least they should have come up with a standard where the number of insertions goes *up*, not down, as they improve the connector!

BTW, you'll notice the pink nail polish? I saw that trick on a forum here. It let's me know right away which way to insert the plug as there's a matching dot on the device also! :)