Testing non-charger USB cables

#1

Is there utility in using the qualMeter or qualMeter X for testing “Standard” USB 2.0 or “Standard” USB 3.x cables that are used for device-to-device communication most of the time?

Some examples:

  1. If I were to find a USB 2.0 “B” female (e.g. printer end of USB printer cable) to USB 2.0 micro-B male adapter, would it be useful to use that adapter to test a USB printer cable?
  2. If I were to find a USB 3.0 micro-B female (wide-micro receptacle) to USB 3.0 C male adapter, would it be useful to use that adapter to test a Samsung Galaxy S5 USB 3.0 data cable?
#2

@brendanhoar

Thanks for asking!

qualMeter is basically a charging quality tester. It uses quick and dirty way to do the trick.

To test the data communication is a totally different story. The data communication is in a very high frequency which requires much more efforts and costs to test it. Only expensive professional equipment can do the job so far.

However, by testing the charging quality for the power wires in the cable, we can get rough idea about how the manufacture was making (or using better or worse material on) the cable. So that if the cable testing result is the best on qualMeter we would be able to assume the making of the data wires inside could be also good. This isn’t an accurate way but it could give you a general idea.

Unfortunately, we currently do not have those type of adapters as you were asking. It’s impossible to have manufacture to make them if there isn’t enough quantity. You’d have to DIY such type of adapters on your own.