I repaired device like that a while back - it only took two half-cent resistors and a few minutes of soldering to make it compatible with standard USB-C cables and chargers.

Note: If it just needs 5V power (Like many microcontroller-focused devices), USB C is convenient, because chargers and cables are ubiquitous. And they all (WIth exceptions like the one you mentioned) support 5V DC power.

Bonus: YOu can enable USB 2.0 data transfer as well for firmware updates, computer interfaces etc.

So: Cheap/ubiquitous part, everyone has cables + AC adapters to their local plug: I think it's a great default power connector.

Ah that's a fun misuse of USB ports. The companies will often even dodge issues with the USB-IF by labeling the ports as Type C and letting the customer's mind fill in the word USB.

I wish these devices would just use barrel jacks, labeled with the voltage and polarity. But these manufacturers know that the USB-C port weighs into buying decisions (and they know that most people have zero clue about the difference between a physical port and the electrical/protocol specs).

I hate barrel jacks, it seems that every single time I encounter one it's different from any adaptor I have. Size, voltage, and polarity can all differ. People got sick of having 10 differnet power adatpters to charge stuff. Hence the demand for "single connector" which seems to have converged on the USB-C form factor.

Right, but if it's not actually USB-C, at best you're looking at the device not working when plugged into a proper USB-C power supply. At worst you're facing fried electronics.

Agreed that would be like wiring a standard North American household wall outlet with 240VAC. Technically possible, but will probably fry anything not expecting it.

I came across a group of racks in the IT room in a (US) factory once that had 208v on their standard NEMA 5-15R sockets.

Their global-market IT stuff didn't care at all. But some of the US-market audio stuff I was integrating came with old-school linear power supplies, and those items cared a great deal.

Have run into that exact thing also, not that the sockets were 5-15R but IEC C13 in a rack CDU. But someone had some adapter pigtails from C14 to a standard NEMA socket, of course that doesn't change the voltage at all. Hilarity ensued.

Or just include a $0.03 pd negotiator in the circuit

My aftermarket android auto display uses the type c connector for power input - wired directly to raw vehicle power. It will not run on 5v. It doesn't negotiate pd either. It just expects around 13 volts right on the power pins, and the supplied power cable does exactly that. It's portable too, which means that some poor person plugged their cable into their phone and blew it up.

I keep a few of these around to deal with this: https://www.adafruit.com/product/6323

Very annoying though! The devices are just missing a couple resistors which is probably less than a cent on the BOM.

Wow, thanks for sharing this. Like the parent commenter, I have an increasing number of cheap devices like this. I wonder if anyone sells an "enclosed" version of this product. This won't survive 5 minutes in my house, haha.

A quick google I found one but they're $17 each (!) and it's from a site I've never heard of and can't vouch for, so not bothering to link it here.

I'm really surprised there aren't a number of these all over Amazon. Or if there are, they're using different keywords to describe them, so I can't find them.

Adafruit sells enclosures for them, too.

On AliExpress I found some that were already packaged into neat little professional-looking adapter-sized widgets for about $2.50 each.

I'd link them here, but I have a US perspective on things and it wasn't clear to me how this listing would be delivered. And delivery method is important to me, here.

If with AliExpress Choice shipping, then that'd be fine: They'd show up on a doorstep in Anytown, USA for a few dollars each.

But if they'd be delivered using Approximately Any Other Method, then: Surprise! Your widget valued at less than $2.50 now costs you $80 to receive!

I don't want to encourage anyone to be surprised like that.

(I have no doubt that an enterprising person could negotiate a very good price on 1,000 of these widgets and sell them on Amazon if they were motivated to do so.)

Yeah, they got cheap. They either got cheap with the BOM, or they got cheap with the QC and never tested it with USB C power sources, or they got cheap with the spec and it's working as-designed.

It just takes a couple of insignificant resistors and a USB C socket that brings out CC1 and CC2 to pads on the board to do it right. I wrote about how that works in a sister comment if you want to read more.

But those devices will charge/work just fine with any bog-standard USB A to USB C cable, alongside any decent power brick with USB A outputs. It doesn't have to be the exact cables they came with.

It's annoying in the "you cheap bastards" sort of way, but regular A to C cables will work.

(If it's really important to you, then it can be possible to hack in a couple of 5.1k resistors inside the cheap-bastard devices and make them work with regular USB C power bricks and regular USB C to C cables. The resistors will tell the source to provide 5v at up to 3A. All compliant USB C cables are required to safely pass 3A.

The mod can range from very easy, to somewhat problematic, to "fuck this, I quit". In reality, there might already be pads on the board to connect CC1 and CC2 to ground; just solder in the resistors. Or, the pins are probably brought out at the connector itself, so it can be bodged with some extra wire.

But reality is a cruel mistress and not all available PCB-mounted USB C connectors expose CC1 and CC2 at all, although in a sane and pure world absolutely all of them should.)

[tl;dr, just keep an A to C cable with the devices, always have USB A where they get used, and forget about it. The next round of cheap stuff will be better, worse, or the same, and that's a future problem.]