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Comment by hwillis | Hacker News Reader

To my knowledge (electrical engineer) there is no usb-c connector with solid strain relief. I haven't been looking for one specifically but I've been looking at upgrading a project to usb-c.

All the usb-c connectors I know have soldered body connections, which makes for a really poor mechanical bond. Solder joints are full of mechanical stresses and the only thing preventing a bend is the copper delaminating from the pcb.

In usb-a, any bending has to break the entire substrate. Decent plated contacts will outlast the connectors they're plugging into. On top of that you can plate something like a yubikey on both sides if you wanted to, so the only advantage is size and it's not like you're plugging these things into your phone. As long as computers still have a single usb-a (and they should, if only for backwards compatibility) it's a non-issue, IMO.

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USB-C connectors also accumulate dust in a way that prevents the connector from staying fully plugged in. They are very hard to clean out if the dust clumps together. The original USB-A and USB-B connectors did not have this problem and they could be cleaned easily (as long as the equipment was powered off...)

Similarly to how some cheap electronics cover the "confidential" portions of their PCBs and some components to obscure them with epoxy, wouldn't you be able to cover the connector with that for some strain relief?

Yeah, with a waterproof connector. However there's a reason yubikey uses just a float board connector and most of those itty bitty wifi/bluetooth usb-a dongles have custom connectors: the connector and solder joint are much more rigid than the surrounding epoxy. It's just a reality of them being metal joints.

What I mean by solid strain relief is basically a plastic float that bridges the soldered connections to the connector body. I haven't seen one like that, but it's necessary to isolate the connector itself from the board and soldered bits. Covering the whole thing in goop helps for excessive force, but does almost nothing for the everyday wiggles that eventually cause connections to loosen. You need built in flex for that.

You should be able to place a USB C connector on one end of a flexible cable/ribbon connector.

Sure, but integrating cords into manufacturing is a huge pain in the ass and usually done by hand. Honestly I'd rather see something kind of like this[1], where the body was totally flush with the computer (or as close to as possible) and the reader was facing outwards instead of up. That wouldn't fit in the pocket for shit though.

[1]: https://cdn10.bigcommerce.com/s-u7jmw/products/93/images/840...

My macbook has only usb-c ports

Same here. That's why I got their mini USB C key so it's barely noticeable.

Solokey is also pretty good.

They've got the best kind of connector I've seen[1], with soldered joints on both sides of the board and a little wrap around, but it's still not as solid long-term as the USB-A keys. Over time the solder will start to crack. It also requires a much thinner board, so it's fragile because of that.

With a high-quality product like a 2factor key, this may not be an issue. But wifi/bluetooth/SDR dongles and adapters get made to much lower standards and with cheaper solder. Cheap solder is far more prone to degradation.

[1]: https://i.shgcdn.com/25b75d64-fced-4845-acc5-91c39d0029bd/-/...

And one of mine already jiggles and has unreliable connection because of stress. I've cringed when I accidentally yanked my computer not realizing it's charging or connected to something else.

My next macbook, I'm definitely buying those 3rd party magsafe-like dongles that sit in my usb-c ports!

> My next macbook, I'm definitely buying those 3rd party magsafe-like dongles that sit in my usb-c ports!

Do you have any recommendations on brands by any chance? I don't know anyone who has them, but I've been considering getting a couple for my phone and random devices that use usb-c.

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