USB cable headaches

Reserved for modern gaming discussions.
User avatar
VideoGameCritic
Site Admin
Posts: 18102
Joined: April 1st, 2015, 7:23 pm

USB cable headaches

Postby VideoGameCritic » January 28th, 2023, 10:16 am

There is a veritable birds nest under the TV in my game room where all the video cables and power cords run. The other day I needed to replace the main power strip, so I took the opportunity to untangle those wires and weed out a few that were no longer needed. Damn I should have taken a pic of that mess.

Anyway a lot of the newer systems and LED lights use USB cables for power and/or connectivity. One end is usually a normal, big plug that's easily recognizable (they plug into blocks). The other end however is a crapshoot. There are so many variations, and some are really hard to discern with the naked eye. I ordered a few of what I thought were "micro" plugs from Amazon, but they were something else apparently. I ended up ordering "PS4 charging cords" instead because I didn't feel like I could identify it by name.

The cord that plugs the controller in my Retro 5 is a real mess. I think it has a mini plug on one side and a micro on the other. Of course it broke. As they get smaller, the pins on the end get more fragile.

Anybody else struggle with these USB cables? Or is it just me?

User avatar
Atariboy
Posts: 956
Joined: April 7th, 2015, 11:07 pm

Re: USB cable headaches

Postby Atariboy » January 28th, 2023, 10:44 am

I've never struggled with them or telling them apart, but I sure can't ever remember which one is micro and which one is mini-USB.

They're too similar sounding for their own good so I always jump onto Google Images when I need to know which names goes to which style, or I'd be ordering the wrong cables too.

It's 3.5 mm headphone jacks that are the bane of my existence. More often than not I'll only hear one audio channel instead of stereo, no audio unless I fiddle with it, etc. Doesn't matter if it's a cheap no-name piece of electronics or something like a Nintendo handheld, these always seem messed up with me when I go to use the headphone jack every once in a while.

Heck, even the 3.5 mm audio port of my Chevy Impala only was receiving one channel when I plugged in a mp3 player for the first time in a couple of years recently. Same cable as I always used, yet somehow the jack on my car's stereo broke just by sitting idle (The cable and mp3 player were fine when I tested them later).


Return to “Modern Gaming”