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I got a USB-C hub with a broken plug (the end which is inserted in the computer) from a friend. Since the connector was completely destroyed inside, he did cut the cable behind it (probably that wasn't too smart...).

Now I'm trying to find out which wire has which function to solder it on a new plug I got from AliExpress. There are 16 wires, 8 of which are loose (I found that these are the same as for standard USB-A 3.0) and 8 of which are in shielded twisted pairs.

These seem to be the ones needed for the higher transmission or additional functionality like HDMI. Which pair (which color) is which function/which pin on the connector? Colors of the pairs are yellow/white, red/white, blue/white, brow/white.

Loose wires at the connector

Giacomo1968
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Chris H
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2 Answers2

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The best thing to do here is replace the hub. Incorrect wiring could lead to damage to the device and/or the controller. And there is no guarantee the colors of the wires match any normal convention. Its not worth destroying hardware, for something as cheap as a USB hub.

Keltari
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8

The colors of the signal wires do not appear to follow any common conventions. As such you are left guessing a bit.

  • The thick red and black wires are almost certainly VBUS and GND.

  • Unshielded green and white wires are likely to be USB2.0 D- and D+

  • One of the other 4 unshielded wires is CC, which is necessary for the host to detect hub connection. You can find this wire by measuring resistance to GND, it should be between 4.6 kohm and 5.6 kohm.

  • The other three wires are some of CC2, SBU1, SBU2, PWM_Vconn. None of these would be normally required for a hub, unless it has some special options like audio or HDMI output.

  • Four shielded differential pairs are the SuperSpeed TX and RX pairs

As long as you get VBUS and GND correct, there is little risk of damaging equipment. You can work step-by-step:

  1. Once you get VBUS, GND, D+, D- and CC correct, it should work as USB2 hub.
  2. When you also get the SuperSpeed pairs correct, it should work as a USB3 hub.

It is pretty unlikely to be able to just guess right the order of all these wires. The hub PCB might contain some clues, for example you can track the traces to the chip and compare with the chip's datasheet.

jpa
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