USB cable worth the Fairphone community for charging of the mobile devices without loose contact problems

I usually have to replace at least one of my USB charging cables every year. Usually this is because of a loose contact (german: WACKELKONTAKT!) near the connectors. This is due to normal wear and tear.

Now I saw this gif on reddit. Crikey, there are USB cables which you just can “reconnect” and continue using? That is an awesome idea!

I did a quick quack and found they are from the GARAS brand. I am now looking to find a supplier which is not amazon and then buy one to see if my Fairphone 2 allows me to work with it.

I wish there were in-ear headphones like this (wink wink Fairphone Headphones with proprietary cable connectors)!

Looks interesting, but I wonder if it’s usually this easy to determine where exactly a cable wire has broken?

From my experience, it usually breaks within 2 cm of the connector.

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Since when is MMCX proprietary?

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Today I learned about MMCX cables. Thank you Johannes! You read the important parts of my posts :slight_smile:

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I don’t think this is normal at all.
What on earth are you doing to your cables?

Instead of cutting happily away on them as a solution you could consider using magnetic adapters.
They primarily protect the port in the phone, but of course they just disconnect when the cable end gets bent or stressed too much, too. Could be educational.

https://forum.fairphone.com/search?q=magnetic%20usb%20adapters

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It seems, that at least the homepage and shop of the GARAS brand are down.
Maybe they have gone out of business?
On amazon there is another brand offering those kinds of cables: “STMT creations”.
I have no idea, how well that is working and if there really are no troubles to keep the connection, when the cable obviously is just pressed into place and not soldered.
Any bending, tearing or other impact on the cable could possibly to loosing the connection.
But I might be wrong there, since I have no experience and just a wary/skeptical and slightly cautious mindset. :wink:

The idea of @AnotherElk to use a magnetic connector seems to be a good compromise.

Thank you for sharing your thoughts Elk.

I have multiple different USB cables. Most break after one or two years, but there also is one cable which came with my Logitech mouse. That son of a gun still works pefectly after five years of near-daily use.

While browsing the repairable cables, I have seen that the magnetic connectors exist as well. I do have a knack for loosing stuff like those tiny magnet connectors tough. I think I will have to pass on them. Or maybe I will just try them if I see some in the shop. We’ll see.

Well, so much for the post. Lookie here. Repairable cables. I like the idea. Sharing it to whom it may concern.

https://duckduckgo.com/?t=ffab&q=garas+repairable+usb

https://duckduckgo.com/?q=stmt+creations+repairable+usb+cable

With USB-C? Or is it because the USB port is badly soldered?

One could also use a magnetic cable. That’s what I use. It does turn your USB-C/lightning/microUSB into a proprietary connector, but you can reverse it. Also, there are situations where you don’t want a magnetic cable because you want the cable to remain fitting in position (for example a peripheral you want to keep connected).

Looks interesting but not new. The technique is very common since decades for different purpose though such as e.g. various different computer ribbon cables, also many types of network connections.
This shown type is a “reusable insulation displacement terminator” or in German wiederverwendbare Schneidklemme for USB connections (actually Lightning).

Never have seen them for USB. Maybe common in industrial environments where soldering is too time consuming. Could be interesting for me when working on electronic projects but not for regular use.

Anyway I think this solution is not to be favored. I would prefer to having a magnetic connector attached to a proper cable with flexible wires robust insulated and tough outer coating.
Such cable should withstand any mindful usage and not break within a few months.

One part sticks and stays in the phone, the other part sticks on the cable. Your choice to let it stay on the cable and thus not lose it :wink: .

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I think the problem is that most usb cables are very low quality by design. The manufacturers want it to break after the warranty expires for obvious reasons.

Here’s an a example of a heavy duty usb cable

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Looks durable, but I could not read anything about an USB-IF certification which makes it a 50/50 working candidate for the FP3.

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Sounds like some kind of industry standard. What do you mean by 50/50 working candidate for the FP3?

By now it’s often been discussed in this forum that the FP3 is very choosy if it comes to charging. The original charging accessories from the Fairphone store work, but finding an alternative (due to being sold out at some point) to them can be very challenging as users here reported.

If there is no IF certification given to the charging equipment one may be lucky to get the FP3 charging at all or only very slow.
I believe meanwhile users who had to experience this the hard way would not purchase any charger or cable not specifically being IF certified just to asure it will work straightaway.

I see. In that case I would recommend Anker, it is an established brand and comes with a lifetime warranty so it must indestructible or the company would go bankrupt.

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Looks better and is still within an acceptable price range.

Lifetime warranty is my favored :grinning:

While I agree, that they must be confident of their cables.
They most likely take the risk, as only a fraction of buyers will return a defective cable bought for less than 10 $/€/£ years ago. :wink:
And to claim the warranty, you have to send in the proof of purchase from an authorised reseller. Purchases from non authorised resellers are not covered:

Not Covered Under Warranty:
● Products without sufficient proof of purchase
● …
● Damage from misuse of products (including, but not limited to: falls, extreme temperatures, water, operating devices improperly)
● Purchases from unauthorized resellers

On amazon it’s “Anker Direct”.

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Good point, but judging from reviews it is Anker themselves. My initial point was we don’t have to invent the wheel :sweat_smile:

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Hi @technorati, I hope you don’t mind that I corrected loading to charging in the topic title. The word loading has been a frequent source of confusion for non-German speakers on the forum.

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