USB power meter - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / testgear

author: artag
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 15, 2025, 11:29:47 pm
content: Looking for a USb power meter than understands PD.Yes, there are lots on ebay but they all seem to use tiny OLED displays. My experience is that they fade and are unreadable in 2-3 years. Uni-T make the 658 that looks decent but it appears to understand only the obsolete QC protocol and not PD.

author: mwb1100
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: February 16, 2025, 02:10:42 am
content: You may want to check this thread:Does anyone make an affordable USB-C power sink tester?

author: wraper
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: February 16, 2025, 02:18:58 am
content: Quote from: artag on February 15, 2025, 11:29:47 pmOnly if defective, or if run 24/7. I have 10+ year old devices with OLED which are absolutely fine.

author: artag
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 16, 2025, 12:43:32 pm
content: Quote from: wraper on February 16, 2025, 02:18:58 amI don't run them 24/7 and I couldn't say if they're defective. I suspect they're run at higher brightness than ius good for them. The fastest I found to fade was a minware TS100 iron, but I have a cross-shaped USB power meter that's going as well now after abouit 3 years occasional use.

author: artag
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: February 16, 2025, 12:47:41 pm
content: Quote from: mwb1100 on February 16, 2025, 02:10:42 amI not only reads it, I already participated in it.It's mostly about cable checkers though. The ST protocol analyser sounds interesting but I really just wanted a device likem the common chinese meters but with a better display. Maybe I need to hack it myself.

author: cte
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: February 16, 2025, 01:20:23 pm
content: I can recommendWITRN C4/C5. It has support for USB-PD up to 48V and 10A. Can do cable E-mark detection and cable resistance, but the latter seems to need an external module now or I'm not using it right.And the company puts out new firmware for the C4/C5 line pretty often.Google-translated manual:https://www-witrn-com.translate.goog/?p=1315&_x_tr_sl=auto&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en&_x_tr_pto=wapp

author: wraper
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: February 16, 2025, 01:36:06 pm
content: Quote from: artag on February 16, 2025, 12:43:32 pmMy early TS100 unit is fine, AFAIK OLED displays fade if they are poorly sealed. For example Agilent U1273A had display issues, even some new old stock multimeters were already bad after a few years despite that they were never used. But others are still fine.

author: mwb1100
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: February 18, 2025, 03:13:07 am
content: Quote from: cte on February 16, 2025, 01:20:23 pmDoes the WITRN C5's e-mark detection work reliably? I have a FNIRSI FNB58 and I find that it's e-mark detection is very finicky. With cables that I know have an e-marker ship I usually have to fiddle around with trying the different ends of the cable and/or rotating the connector to get a reading. And with some cables the reading flashes for a moment then it goes to re-read the chip in an endless loop. I can get the data by watching for the info screen to flash, getting one bit of data with each iteration. Obviously, that's a pain.The worst part about it is that when I'm reading an unknown cable and it gets no reading I'm left wondering if that cable really doesn't have an e-marker or if there are hoops I need to jump through to get a reading. I flashed the FNB58 to firmware v0.68, which I think is the most recent.Also I see that there's a gray "16 bit" C5 and a red "20 bit" C5 available with the 16 bitter about 20% less ($10). Any idea if the additional bits might be worthwhile for someone like me who is generally only interested in resolution to one or two decimal places?

author: cte
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: February 18, 2025, 01:45:40 pm
content: Quote from: mwb1100 on February 18, 2025, 03:13:07 amHaven't found any issues with e-mark detection, yet. But this might depend on cable quality. On cables without e-mark (which is most 3A cables) it will just show "Accessing..." in the display, but this is normal behavior when there is no communication.Quote from: mwb1100 on February 18, 2025, 03:13:07 amThe device is sold in different colors. I bought the C4 about two years ago and got the C5 together with the U3 model last year. I decided to buy the C5 in a red color, to better distinguish them.I think C5 is the model currently offered and both models, C4 and C5, share the same firmware file. There is a small text in the header of this comparison chart that says C4 is discontinued (used Google Lens for translation).

author: artag
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 08, 2025, 02:19:51 pm
content: Conclusion :I tried to buy a WIRN C4 but was caught out by one of those listing scams where a cheap item is selected by deault. Ended up with an EPR adapter. Very pretty but I'm not even sure what it does. Seems to be some USB4 high power hackeryWasn't willing to pay the price of a C4/C5 but found the fnirsi FNB58 at £40. It just arrived and seems very capable. I won't review it as there are several reviews on youtube including people we know here.