USB3 cables

[cunim]

I have a generic USB3 cable I got at my local computer outlet. It works well enough for tethering the IQ180 with my Surface Pro 2 computer, but is getting kinked and twisted to I thought I would replace it.

In a fit of fashion awareness, I bought a lovely orange Tether Tools cable. With that, the Surface keeps recognizing and then losing the back. Put the old cable back in and all is fine. Hmmm.

I communicate with the nice people at Tether Tools (I am not criticizing them at all) and they tell me to make sure my computer is plugged in to a power source - so the cable gets power on the USB port. That might be enough but more likely, I need to use their "booster" thingie, which looks like a small usb hub powered by a wall wart. Then, it should all work.

Sadly, there isn't always a socket handy. Anyway, I have external power via usb turned off in the back menu - because of rumors it is flaky. So here is the question. Why would I buy a $50 cable that needs me to be locked into a wall socket, vs a $10 generic cable that doesn't? Just trying to understand.

 

[bdp]

Is the TetherTools cable longer than the original one? If so, it may be loosing the signal or power due to the length. Just an idea.

Ben

 

[kdphotography]

Sounds more like a bad cable or a bad connection.
Unless you need the power for a longer cord or charging, I wouldn't buy the booster.

ken

 

[vjbelle]

Really does sound like a bad cable. I would move on. Just go to Amazon and buy two or three of the inexpensive cables readily available. If one is bad just throw it away. I purchased three cables recently and one was bad out of the box. Too much hassle to send it back and cheap enough to throw away.

Victor

 

[dkyle]

Are both of the Cables 15 feet?

The shorter the cable the better.

These guys make high quality cables at a good price.

https://www.bluejeanscable.com/store/data-cables/index.htm

From Wiki the maximum practical length is 3 meters (9.8 ft

The USB 3.0 standard does not directly specify a maximum cable length, requiring only that all cables meet an electrical specification: for copper cabling with AWG 26 wires the maximum practical length is 3 meters (9.8 ft).[85]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USB

 

[cunim]

Thanks to everyone who replied. These are both 15' cables. One (cheap generic) works, one (expensive proprietary) doesn't.

I don't know if this is a problem with just the one cable I received, or if it is generic to the type of cable that Tethertools uses. What is interesting is that the problem is specific to certain PCs so they may not have noticed it. The failure occurs when I am tethered to the Surface PC (whether it is on battery or wall power), but not when I am tethered to my desktop computer. Both are running all the same OS/stuff, but maybe the little Surface is putting noise into the cable and the Tethertools wire - being higher bandwidth - is passing it to the back. Beyond my pay grade so I will ask Tethertools for a next step.

I should just buy another cheap cable but I get stuck into these things.