Tooling Tuesday: USB Tester Bonanza!
Need to check that your new #pounderland USB power bank can truly deliver the capacity that you require? Then you need one of these!
So what are they?
USB Testers that check the voltage, power consumption and current draw of a device plugged into it. They are typically used to measure a device that is either charging such as a power bank or mobile phone, or to monitor the power consumption of a device such as a Raspberry Pi.
How do they work?
The plug in between the power source and the device to charge. For example a #pounderland USB battery is our power source, we plug in the USB tester to the power source and then connect the device that we wish to test.
Your help makes this blog possible!
Sorry to interrupt! It would be great if you could buy me a cup of coffee / make a donation via Ko-Fi. It helps me to pay for hosting this blog, and to buy stuff to hack from Poundshops / Dollar Stores / Aliexpress which are used in free projects on this blog. Thanks!
Show me a few different testers, please!
Ok!
USB Safety Tester (USB A) Model J7-t £5-6 ebay
eBay keyword search here.
This device will work with USB A (normal USB port) devices and can measure voltages between 3V and 30V, with a maximum current of 5.1A.
Pressing the Key button will cycle through the interface...
A simple quick reference screen for useful data.
An indepth screen with voltages for VCC and Data +/-, handy for checking if your USB cable can handle higher current draw. We can see the current temperature of the device, and the resistance of the charging cable.
UNI-T UT568 (USB A) From £7.50 on eBay
eBay keyword search here
This is the most reliable and used USB tester in my set. UNI-T make multimeters and the quality shows in this little device.
I can monitor voltage, current and capacity (mAh) for devices connected via USB A. I can also save the data to one of ten "channels" for later review. If I am checking the capacity of a #pounderland USB power bank then I use this!
Keweisi KWS-1802C (USB C) From £8.50 on eBay
eBay keyword search here
This is a dedicated USB C tester that offers USB C testing between 4V and 30V at a max current of 5.1A.
There are ten channels where I can store data for each device I test. I can measure voltage, current, power, capacity and temperature with this little device.
I've tested it up to 20V with my Thinkpad X390 laptop.
How do I check if these USB Testers work?
USB Load Tester From £3 on eBay.
eBay keyword search
For that I use a USB load tester.
I plug this in to the USB Tester and then set the switch to 1A or 2A (1 Amp or 2 Amp current draw) and it shows me if the tester is correctly showing the current draw.
Take care! Those green parts get HOT so don't leave it plugged in for too long. Take your calibration reading and then turn off the power.