Anthropy
anthropy@mastodon.derg.nz
I hope it doesn't need saying but:
Do NOT use USB splitters if one of the devices supports quickcharge or USB-PD.
If you use a splitter to e.g charge a phone while also connecting a DAC or speaker or whatever, the phone might negotiate 9, 12 or even 20V from the USB port the splitter is plugged into, which will cause everything else on that same splitter that only supports 5v to get fried.
I've seen some reports of people accidentally running into this.. So please be careful with splitters.
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@anthropy
I've read that USB-C extenders do not conform to the USB standard as they (iirc) lack the ability to negotiate their capabilities... I assume splitters would be the same case.
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Yep, proper hubs should be able to negotiate power delivery, but they are probably getting more expensive as USB itself is getting more complex and people are resorting to buying cheaper less safe solutions 🤷
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I just noticed there's also a Hackaday article on this exact thing: https://hackaday.com/2025/04/07/why-usb-c-splitters-can-cause-magic-smoke-release/
so just to reiterate;
- USB *hubs* and alike devices are fine
- dumb chipless splitters are NOT, unless you can confirm none of them support USB-PD or QuickCharge (or the adapter doesn't)
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