Help with identifying USB cables?...

Chadford

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Can anyone tell me what these USB lead connector plugs are called?...

IMG_0743.JPG


...particularly the middle one, the cable is damaged and I'd like to replace it if I can.

Ta.

:)
 
Shape-wise it looks like a Mini A or B but I don’t think it is a USB at all as it has too many connectors.

Looks like it might be a proprietary connector.

Cheers,

Nigel

It does have the USB 'Trident' symbol on the side of the plug and on the other end is a standard USB plug. It's a charging cable for a MP3 player thingy, but maybe it's a proprietary connector as you say.

:)
 
It does have the USB 'Trident' symbol on the side of the plug and on the other end is a standard USB plug. It's a charging cable for a MP3 player thingy, but maybe it's a proprietary connector as you say.

:)
Well it is USB on one end - at the other it looks like it is proprietary - it has seven terminals rather than five. It may well be using the USB standard - perhaps two terminals are not used or they have doubled up some - like using two together for 5V.

Cheers,

Nigel
 
It does have the USB 'Trident' symbol on the side of the plug and on the other end is a standard USB plug. It's a charging cable for a MP3 player thingy, but maybe it's a proprietary connector as you say.

:)
What’s the make of the MP3 player?
Google ‘make+USB charging cable’ will probably give you results or a name if not proprietary.
 
What’s the make of the MP3 player?
Google ‘make+USB charging cable’ will probably give you results or a name if not proprietary.

It's a 'noname' cheapo thing from China and no longer available and worth nothing. I think I'll do the 'Sugru' fix and label the cable so I'll know what it's for.
Example fix using Sugru here...

sugru-fix-macbook-charger-01.jpg


I think I've got more than one thing with non-standard USB connectors on a USB lead. I suspect most of my stuff is going to be Mini A and Micro B.

Time for a bit of a sort out to see just what I've got and label up anything weird.

Thanks guys.

:smashin:
 
I thought 'A' was always the host end, and 'B' for the slave device. Until USB-C.
So that makes left is a Micro-B and right is a Mini-B. I saw the middle one recently, probably on a selling site like Amazon but didn't take any notice.

Whoever thought Micro-B and Lightning connectors were suitable for devices needing charging at least daily, wants shooting.
That's probably been overcome with USB-C, too late we now have wireless charging with no socket stress.
 
Last edited:
Whoever thought Micro-B and Lightning connectors were suitable for devices needing charging at least daily, wants shooting.
That's probably been overcome with USB-C, too late we now have wireless charging with no socket stress.
What’s wrong with Lightning? It’s reversible and I’ve had zero issues over the years, to the extent that I’ve probably got three or four cables in the drawer unused.
 
That's probably been overcome with USB-C, too late we now have wireless charging with no socket stress.
Don’t a lot of the good wireless charging plates connect to the mains via USB-C/Lightning cable to the plug, so we still need them.
The lightning cable is much better than the old 30 pin connector that Apple used to use.
 
Now...

After reading @PsyVision's post I had a bit of an Oops moment and thought I better try connecting leads to things to check if they fit. As it turns out I'd labeled a lead incorrectly. :blush::blush::blush: So the cable in the middle (pic on post #1) seems to be an oddball USB cable and actually connects to a Fuji compact camera that's been languishing on a shelf for a long while.

So... feeling confident most of my stuff is going to be Mini A and Micro B I came across this (cable on the left)...

IMG_0744.jpg


So...
Center Micro B.
Right Mini A.
Left ??? Mini AB ??? any ideas?.

I've got/had a piece of kit that the cable on the left plugs into but I've no idea what it is.

I'm normally very organised but I seem to have made a real dog's dinner organising my USB cables.

:rolleyes:
 
Last edited:
Don’t a lot of the good wireless charging plates connect to the mains via USB-C/Lightning cable to the plug, so we still need them.
Yes, but you don't have to repeatedly insert/remove it. Both the cable and the socket are a weak point, indefensible when it's the important part of a £500+ mobile device.
The lightning cable is much better than the old 30 pin connector that Apple used to use.
Maybe, but it's still a point of early failure.
And get this; Apple chose to incorporate the function of a decades-old robust standard jack connection into the lightning standard, so by the time you've repeatedly swapped between charger and headphones you've definitely killed the charging socket. Unless it was done to upsell users expensive Bluetooth earbuds.
 
Now...

After reading @PsyVision's post I had a bit of an Oops moment and thought I better try connecting leads to things to check if they fit. As it turns out I'd labeled a lead incorrectly. :blush::blush::blush: So the cable in the middle (pic on post #1) seems to be an oddball USB cable and actually connects to a Fuji compact camera that's been languishing on a shelf for a long while.

So... feeling confident most of my stuff is going to be Mini A and Micro B I came across this (cable on the left)...

View attachment 1324804

So...
Center Micro B.
Right Mini A.
Left ??? Mini AB ??? any ideas?.

I've got/had a piece of kit that the cable on the left plugs into but I've no idea what it is.

I'm normally very organised but I seem to have made a real dog's dinner organising my USB cables.

:rolleyes:

8 pin usb came up with an amazon link to a nikon cable...
 
Yes, but you don't have to repeatedly insert/remove it. Both the cable and the socket are a weak point, indefensible when it's the important part of a £500+ mobile device.

Maybe, but it's still a point of early failure.
And get this; Apple chose to incorporate the function of a decades-old robust standard jack connection into the lightning standard, so by the time you've repeatedly swapped between charger and headphones you've definitely killed the charging socket. Unless it was done to upsell users expensive Bluetooth earbuds.
I have had three iPhones and one iPad with Lightning ports over the past six years. Not once has any port given me any trouble at all, let alone been killed by using it as it’s intended to be used every day. The same is true for my iPhone/iPad-owning family members and friends. Maybe we’re just lucky, I don’t know.
 
I have had three iPhones and one iPad with Lightning ports over the past six years. Not once has any port given me any trouble at all, let alone been killed by using it as it’s intended to be used every day. The same is true for my iPhone/iPad-owning family members and friends. Maybe we’re just lucky, I don’t know.
I’ve had issues with the old 30 pin cables in the past, but likewise have had no issues with the lightning cable.
 
I thought 'A' was always the host end, and 'B' for the slave device.

USB uses client or peripheral terms rather than slave.

But yeah. Mini A was an attempt to shrink the ubiquitous rectangular type A connector for smaller devices.

It was a bit of an odd situation since the socket for it was Mini-AB that took both A and B connectors as it was intended for portable devices that could connected peripherals and connect as a peripheral itself. Mini A never really took off and got abandoned in favour of USB OTG.

The cable in this thread is a Mini B cable, not the rare Mini A.


The connector on the left of the second photo is another device specific one. Cameras were common users, as were early phones and MP3 players. Anything from that sort of mid to late-2000s era that's small enough and likely to be connected to a computer is a candidate.
 
Now...

After reading @PsyVision's post I had a bit of an Oops moment and thought I better try connecting leads to things to check if they fit. As it turns out I'd labeled a lead incorrectly. :blush::blush::blush: So the cable in the middle (pic on post #1) seems to be an oddball USB cable and actually connects to a Fuji compact camera that's been languishing on a shelf for a long while.

So... feeling confident most of my stuff is going to be Mini A and Micro B I came across this (cable on the left)...

View attachment 1324804

So...
Center Micro B.
Right Mini A.
Left ??? Mini AB ??? any ideas?.

I've got/had a piece of kit that the cable on the left plugs into but I've no idea what it is.

I'm normally very organised but I seem to have made a real dog's dinner organising my USB cables.

:rolleyes:

Still think it is proprietary. It has too many contacts for any of the proper USB connectors.

My thought is that it is using the USB protocol for power, charging and data but it also supports other leads such as video. So the manufacturer has used a connector that can be used for both.

Cheers,

Nigel
 
I have had three iPhones and one iPad with Lightning ports over the past six years. Not once has any port given me any trouble at all, let alone been killed by using it as it’s intended to be used every day. The same is true for my iPhone/iPad-owning family members and friends. Maybe we’re just lucky, I don’t know.
My experience with lightning is the two second-user iPhones my daughter's mother acquired for her, which both suffered unreliable charging sockets; my son's iPhone and both their iPads (the latter supplied new by me) haven't succumbed.
But I assumed they eventually would, like the Micro-USB B data/charging sockets on my daughter's earlier Android phones, our Hudl and Hudl2 Android tablets and my current Xaomi Android phone.

Of course my father's ancient Android tablet hasn't suffered, its charging port is a separate from the data port coaxial type DC connector.
 
Now...

After reading @PsyVision's post I had a bit of an Oops moment and thought I better try connecting leads to things to check if they fit. As it turns out I'd labeled a lead incorrectly. :blush::blush::blush: So the cable in the middle (pic on post #1) seems to be an oddball USB cable and actually connects to a Fuji compact camera that's been languishing on a shelf for a long while.

So... feeling confident most of my stuff is going to be Mini A and Micro B I came across this (cable on the left)...

View attachment 1324804

So...
Center Micro B.
Right Mini A.
Left ??? Mini AB ??? any ideas?.

I've got/had a piece of kit that the cable on the left plugs into but I've no idea what it is.

I'm normally very organised but I seem to have made a real dog's dinner organising my USB cables.

:rolleyes:
Hehehe I was about to say it looks like a camera to me, I've got a few of those for my cameras.

On top of my head and without (cheating) searching for my cables, this one on the left, could it be a mini-dv cable?
 
8 pin usb came up with an amazon link to a nikon cable...

Bingo! I do have another little used camera, not a Nikon but a Konica Minolta, and guess what, the mystery oddball cable is for that camera.

I suppose I've mistakenly believed there are loads of different standard USB cables when there are not.

Thanks everyone.

:smashin:
 

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