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alvarop
usb_c_cable_tester
OPEN SOURCE2022–2023
alvarop / usb_c_cable_tester

usb_c_cable_tester

Discover this repository through its Hacker News conversations.

5Distinct people
6Mentions
0Explicit recommenders
800GitHub stars
REPOSITORY AT A GLANCE

What to know before exploring

What it is

A public description has not been verified.

Where it is used

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What people are saying

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No classified warning is attached to this page. Read the discussions before treating silence as approval.

Also in these discussions

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This week on Hacker News

Nov 7–Nov 14 UTC · Direct repository links and separately labeled related project stories. Indexed through 11/14/2026, 3:56:07 PM UTC.

No direct repository links were found in the indexed HN discussions over the past seven days. Older discussions are available below.

Mentions over time

HN mentions by month6 dated mentions

Observed mentions: 2022-11-19 23:44:00 UTC to 2023-10-18 21:00:55 UTC.

012342022-11-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2022-12-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 1 mentions; 1 submissions, 0 commentsNov 20222022-12-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2023-01-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 4 mentions; 1 submissions, 3 comments2023-01-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2023-02-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 0 mentions; 0 submissions, 0 comments2023-02-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2023-03-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 0 mentions; 0 submissions, 0 comments2023-03-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2023-04-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 0 mentions; 0 submissions, 0 comments2023-04-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2023-05-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 0 mentions; 0 submissions, 0 commentsApr 20232023-05-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2023-06-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 0 mentions; 0 submissions, 0 comments2023-06-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2023-07-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 0 mentions; 0 submissions, 0 comments2023-07-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2023-08-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 0 mentions; 0 submissions, 0 comments2023-08-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2023-09-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 0 mentions; 0 submissions, 0 comments2023-09-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2023-10-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 0 mentions; 0 submissions, 0 comments2023-10-01 00:00:00 UTC to 2023-11-01 00:00:00 UTC (exclusive): 1 mentions; 0 submissions, 1 commentsOct 2023

Counts come from the repository’s dated source evidence. Index cutoff: 2026-11-02 08:16:59 UTC.

View mention counts and date ranges
UTC ranges include their start and exclude their end. Select a period to filter the source evidence.
PeriodStart (UTC)End (exclusive, UTC)MentionsSubmissionsComments
Nov 20222022-11-01 00:00:00 UTC2022-12-01 00:00:00 UTC110
Dec 20222022-12-01 00:00:00 UTC2023-01-01 00:00:00 UTC413
Jan 20232023-01-01 00:00:00 UTC2023-02-01 00:00:00 UTC000
Feb 20232023-02-01 00:00:00 UTC2023-03-01 00:00:00 UTC000
Mar 20232023-03-01 00:00:00 UTC2023-04-01 00:00:00 UTC000
Apr 20232023-04-01 00:00:00 UTC2023-05-01 00:00:00 UTC000
May 20232023-05-01 00:00:00 UTC2023-06-01 00:00:00 UTC000
Jun 20232023-06-01 00:00:00 UTC2023-07-01 00:00:00 UTC000
Jul 20232023-07-01 00:00:00 UTC2023-08-01 00:00:00 UTC000
Aug 20232023-08-01 00:00:00 UTC2023-09-01 00:00:00 UTC000
Sep 20232023-09-01 00:00:00 UTC2023-10-01 00:00:00 UTC000
Oct 20232023-10-01 00:00:00 UTC2023-11-01 00:00:00 UTC101

What Hacker News says

6 sources
Have a look at this tool to help find out what 'capabilities' your cables have: https://github.com/alvarop/usb_c_cable_tester It has a number of connectors, the cable gets plugged into the board with both ends and labelled LEDs will light up for wires that are connected. It runs off a coin cell, no microcontroller, no single-board computer, no nothing. Just a power source, LEDs and connectors. From what I remember, the creator said that the repo should contain everything required to have some manufactured by JLCPCB (that's a large Chinese PCB prototyping service that also populates boards with components if you like).
In All About USB-C: Illegal Adapters
I had a recent brush with the chaos of USB-C. A device I built was using what I assumed was a "standard" 6-pin usb port (https://www.lcsc.com/product-detail/USB-Connectors_Korean-Hr...) - but it wouldn't work with the cheap usb-c cables I had bought for it. After a bunch of time with a continuity tester and ultimately ripping one of the cables apart, it turns out the it was a 6pin cable, but it had a different 6 pins connected. One of them was "left handed" while the other was "right handed". Maddening. To help with this in the future, I recently ordered a run of these usb cable testers from jlcpcb with some friends - https://github.com/alvarop/usb_c_cable_tester - totally worth it to never have to guess about a cable again. (for the curious, a technical description of what was happening: the cable had pins A1, A4, A5, B1, B4, and B5 all
Read the rest
connected. The port had pins A12, A9, A8, B12, B9, and B8 connected - If you look at this in a pin diagram like the one on this page https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2015/01/usb-3-1-and-type-c-t... you can see that no matter which way around you put it in the port you'll never get contact)
In All About USB-C: Illegal Adapters

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