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micro USB/A vs micro USB/B vs micro USB/A-B

Roland

Well-Known Member
Join
Jul 30, 2019
Messages
178
Age
64
Never asked yourself why the female micro USB connector on the RC has a retangular shape while the male connector on the OTG has a trapezoid shape ?
We all know this trapezoid male fits in the retangular female micro USB but this connection gets loose very rapidly and causes sometimes an annoying/dangerous connection loss between phone and RC in the middle of a flight.
Well, it appears there are 3 versions of micro USB connectors.
The retangular is called micro USB/A , the trapezoid one on our OTG cable is micro USB/A-B and the one in our phone is a micro USB/B.
What is the difference ?
Shape and internal connections. ( USB hardware - Wikipedia )
Micro USB/A and micro USB/A-B have a floating power voltage . Micro USB/A has floating 5V and has retangular shape while micro USB/A-B has floating 5 V and a trapezoid shape . This floating 5V determines the whole OTG idea.
A device with micro USB/A or micro USB/ A-B is allways master and will act as a power supply .
So, the real OTG cable we need for our Spark is a micro USB/A to micro USB/B (or USB/C or lightning depending to your phone).
One small detail, no one on the whole internet seem tooffer this type of cable. DJI supplied one with my MP but this cannot be used ( too short) for a Spark.
If you can't live with an allways getting loose connection as I do, there is a cheap solution.


With this adapter the OTG cable fits secure and I think it will never fall out again an gives a much better prtection to the female micro USB/A connector in the RC .
 

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One small detail, no one on the whole internet seem to offer this type of cable.


I have one for my Spark.

USB-a to lightning cable.

Here is the one I have.


Looks rectangular to me.

Before I purchased this cable, I used an OTG adapter along with a regular USB cable and found that it was too awkward to use along with the possibility of permanently damaging the connector of the remote due to extra stuff protruding from it.

The adapter was also another link in the communication chain that could fail between the device and the remote.
 
Thanks for your reply . Starting from your link I succeeded in finding one to connect to USB c
But Amazon never gives a partnr. of even mentions the type of micro USB.
Makes it a difficult search
 
the important thing is, that micro-AB type is only for receptacle. and it's called "AB" as it fits plugs with A-type [rectangular] and B-type [trapezoid]. that's why AB is more like a rounded rectangle with the pins on little plate kinda hanging in the middle.

speaking about cables - I've got cables with micro-usb-A [rectangular] for OTG. bought them years ago on ebay. hard to find, tried couple of sellers [as they mistakenly send/sell B-type as A] but in the end bought the right one and kept my RC's port safe :) I tried adapters before that, and for me they're too dangerous to be broken out with the port. sure they fitted great, but the whole contraption being so sturdy and pointing out of the RC, it could be easily hit/caught/tripped [can't find the right word ;)] - I just didn't wanted to risk my port, and was happy to find the right cable.

also, I've got one remote controller with micro-B type. the original AB-type port was damaged, so I replaced it with regular trapezoid :) [as said in this discussion]
 
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