Aaargh20318 5 days ago

> This problem seems prevalent on cheaper devices.

I’ve seen it on plenty of higher-end devices as well; and even worse.

The worst offender I’ve encountered is the TermoWorks Billows. ThermoWorks is a well established brand that makes high end thermometers and is considered one of the best on the market. So I was quite surprised to discover how their ‘Billows’ product is powered.

The device itself needs 12v and has a USB-C port for power. You’d think it would do USB-PD to negotiate it’s power needs so you can just use any old USB-C adapter. Not the case. It comes with a USB-A to USB-C cable and requires a special adapter with a USB-A port on it that puts 12v on the pins that normally supply 5v.

I have no idea how they came up with this abomination. Why even use USB-A connectors if it’s not going to work with a standard USB-A adapter, and why supply an adapter that’s basically going to kill most USB-A devices you plug into it? If you have a custom adapter anyway, why not just use a simple barrel connector? Why put a USB=C port on the device if it can’t use USB-PD?

I can imagine some Chinese ali-express product using such an abomination to save a few cents on components, but why would a well-respected brand like ThermoWorks ship such a thing? It boggles the mind.

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gizmo686 3 days ago | parent | next [-]

I've seen even worse. I was upgrading an old device that had a 12v barrel connector, and was happy to see the new one used USB-C instead.

It came with a power brick that I happened look at and noticed that the output voltage was listed simply as 12v (instead of all possible outputs like usbc bricks normally do). I hooked it up to a USB-PD breakout board I had and tested it. Sure enough, it output at 12v regardless of what is asked for.

Luckily, the device itself actually did USB-PD, so I was able to throw away that monstrosity before it fried anything. Annoyingly, the device only supported 12V, which is hot or miss on being supported by chargers, but at least a mismatch there isn't going to fry anything.

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numpad0 5 days ago | parent | prev | next [-]

So it's based on Qualcomm Quick Charge? QC is a competing, slightly older, slightly simpler standard to USB-PD that can do what you described. It's...useful sometimes.

	▲	Aaargh20318 4 days ago \| parent [-]
		No, it’s not based on anything. A QC charger will output 5v by default and only increase the voltage after a negotiation. This is exactly as described: a USB-A style charger brick only it outputs 12v instead of 5v, no negotiation, nothing preventing you from plugging in a device expecting 5v and getting 12v. The only ‘safety feature’ is that it has ‘12V’ printed on it. You can find it here: https://www.thermoworks.com/12volt-ac-adapter/

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KnuthIsGod 5 days ago | parent | prev [-]

ThermoWorks products are made in China

and marketed to gullible Americans.

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OJFord 5 days ago | parent | next [-]

There are high-end brands that spec products to a high standard and have them made (to that standard) in China. But I agree, GP is confusing high-price with high-end.

That said, thermometry is pretty easy and well understood and you don't need crazy accuracy for cooking, so 'low-end' is fine really, just don't pay high-price for it.

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Yeul 4 days ago | parent [-]

The year is 2025 not 1985. If you pay them the Chinese can make you anything you want.

The thing is that there are lot of dollar stores in the West that want cheap shit for the paupers. And that is were the bad reputation comes from.

	▲	SR2Z 4 days ago \| parent \| next [-]
		I think there's a (wrong) expectation that an American manufacturer would idiot-proof their products and not do anything dumb like double the voltage while keeping the connector the same. The number of times I've heard people complain about "cursed" M-M 3 prong AC power cables suggests that there is no amount of idiot-proof proofing that will keep a determined American safe from themselves.
	▲	OJFord 4 days ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		Yes, not sure if you meant that to be disagreeing, but I completely agree. China has is at par with if not surpassing the most advanced manufacturing capability of anywhere else in many areas. It can just also offer very cheap poor tolerance mass produced crap.

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Aaargh20318 5 days ago | parent | prev [-]

> ThermoWorks products are made in China

Not sure what you are trying to imply here. Products manufactured in China are of poor quality? iPhones are made in China and it would be a challenge to find any device with higher build quality than that. On the flip side, we all know how terrible the quality of US made cars is.