Here at Charger Harbor, we’re a quite a great advocate of Anker’s charging electronics products; However with recent events regarding their Type-C charging cable, you need to steer clear.
What’s wrong with Anker’s Type-C cable?
Type-C is a new charging cable that is introducing a new way to charge. With most new things, there are bumps in the beginning and the same goes for charging technology. In this case, Anker’s Type-C cable can somehow remember the voltage from the highest voltage rated device it’s connected to and when connected to a device that requires less voltage, it sends out the same high voltage. As a result a devices like a smartphone or similar that require 5 volts to charge can get damaged because the Type-C cable is somehow remembering that it should sent out 15 Volts of power.
This problem was brought out in the open by Nathan K., whom heavily looks into problems with charging electronics. When he was using the Type-C cable from Anker, and using a voltage checker, the voltage for a smartphone (He was using a simulator device) would read 5 Volts. Then he connected it to a Laptop and it read 15 volts; The 15 volts for a laptop is absolutely normal, but after he disconnected it from the laptop and then back to a smartphone simulator, the voltage was 15 volts.
If the Type-C cable was actually connected to a smartphone, such as the Nexus 6P as he had in the video, then it would damage the phone. Smartphones can’t handle that much voltage and will get fried. This is a strange case because the USB Type-C cable is somehow remembering the voltage from its highest rated voltage charged device and is able to input that into other devices. Along with this serious problem, Anker has notified people that have purchased the cable and will provide refunds:
Anker Message:
“We are offering all of our PowerLine USB-C A8185011 users a full refund. In addition, we would like to offer a free Anker PowerLine USB-C cable to affected customers once we have improved Anker PowerLine USB-C A8185011.”
In short, this is a recall from Anker and even though their Type-C cable is faulty and some have suffered from it; It’s good to see that they have responded rather quickly to a very serious problem.
So for now, absolutely avoid purchasing your Type-C charging cables from Anker, until we’re notified that the cable is back to being usable.
Here’s the video of Nathan showing the problem with the Anker Type-C cable. He seems to be quite stressed out! Just as any other user would be or even more stressed if your smartphone got damaged.
Since 2016, Usman has flourished as an independent tech journalist, reveling in the evaluation of diverse tech gadgets, with a particular fondness for charging technology to ascertain product performance. Besides his journalistic endeavors, he helms the Charger Harbor YouTube channel, where he extends his tech insights to a broader audience.