Hi, guys. Welcome back to ChargerLAB.
Today, we got a special cable, which is fiber-optic cable.
If you're an Oculus Quest user, you may be familiar with it.
It's just the link cable of Oculus or Meta Quest.
Let's see how this cable takes us to the Metaverse announced by Facebook.
The first feature you'll feel is its weight and length.
And it's very durable.
This connector adopts "vertical" design, which can better fit quest 2,
as shown in the thumbnail.
Both connectors are pretty long, which means it contains lots of components.
The USB-C port adopts full-pin design.
This cable is way longer than the tape measure we use.
So, we have to measure it twice.
And the total length is about 5.09m (16 ft),
allowing you to move around.
The diameter is 4.5mm (0.18 inches).
Weight is about 218g (7.69 oz).
Use the ChargerLAB POWER-Z KM001C to test it.
It's an active optical cable with E-Marker chip.
And it can support 20V 3A 60W and USB3.2 Gen1, 5Gbps.
Use the Dremel to remove the plastic cover.
The PCB is reinforced and protected by steel sleeve.
Remove it, and we can see the insulating tape and copper foil are covered on the PCB.
And all chips and junctions are protected by glue.
Here are the front and back.
After removing the copper foil, we can see the optoelectronic components and drivers are below.
This large chip can convert USB-C signals into electrical signals.
And then, the two small chips on the lower right corner can convert
electrical signals into optical signals and transmit them through optical cable.
There are three chips on the other side.
The MCU is used for controlling and comes from STMicroelectronics STM8S003.
The E-Marker chip is marked with 3F10 L16.
This is step-down IC, marked with AX07,
and is used to power the chips on PCB.
Next, remove the plastic case and steel sleeve of another connector.
It's almost the same as the other side.
It is also equipped with MCU, step-down IC, and photoelectric conversion chip.
Then, cut off the cable.
There are lots of Kevlar wires under the shielding net.
And then, remove the shielding net.
And separate the Kevlar wires.
Let's take a look at those wires.
The two thick red wires and the bare wires are used for power.
The green, white, and bare wire are wrapped in tin foil for USB2.0 data transmission.
And those two optical fibers are wrapped in white plastic
for long-distance USB3.0 data transmission.
The red wires are tinned copper wires, and the rest are the same.
Finally, those Kevlar wires can greatly improve tensile performance.
Well, that's all parts of this optical cable.
After taking it apart, we found both connectors on two sides are almost the same.
The difference is that the straight end will have an extra E-marker chip.
This wire is not heavy, considering the length, only 218g (7.69 oz).
So, it won't affect your actions while using and won't damage the USB-C port of your Oculus Quest.
Moreover, the fiber-optic cable is very fragile.
That's the reason why we need Kevlar wires to protect it.
Ok. That's all for today's video.
You can also click the corners to see the teardown video of other cables.
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See you in the next video. Bye.