Like all digital pack rats, I’ve amassed a huge array of USB-C to USB-A cables over the years—but it wasn’t until recently that I realized how many of them were dangerous to my electronics and should be destroyed. Yours probably should, too.
Why destroy a perfectly good USB-C to USB-A cable? Well, it all goes back to the introduction of USB-C in 2014. The reversible connector was a big break from previous USB designs and was so complicated that many cable makers didn’t know how to build a safe USB-C cable. In a nutshell, each cable is supposed to have a 56k ohm resistor in it. This lets your phone, tablet, or laptop know if the USB-C port is connected to an older square USB-A port.
If the device senses the
