Although devices and motherboards have evolved a lot over time, many of them continue to offer various problems in their USB, related not only to its functionality, but in terms of voltage. This is worrying for the simple fact that we could experience an overvoltage or short circuit in the connected component, so when in doubt, it is better to check the operation of a USB, its current, amperage and voltage with this utility.
Surely on some occasion you have seen a device die due to issues related to USB. Whether due to bad contact, incorrect charging or a short circuit, USB is still a very extensive component, interface and port and of course not without problems.
Therefore, and with the slightest doubt, the best thing is to keep the component or device disconnected and opt for a simple verification method like the one that we are going to show you below.
How to check the current, voltage and amperage of a USB
We could recommend several options in this article, from an RMS digital tabletop multimeter, through a common multimeter, to some USB voltmeters, but we are going to go to something simpler and not too expensive, but equally effective if we do not intend to spin too fine, where then if we would have to scratch our pockets.
The chosen option will be a multiport security tester, a very simple system to use and that is not expensive at all for the function it performs. Therefore, it is a somewhat more advanced and above all more versatile multimeter, since most of these tools are very simple and do not offer much information.
This Faderr is capable of controlling the voltage, current, capacity, electrical quantity, power, temperature, charging impedance, D + / D voltage, charging time and other data of the USB interface and has some really amazing features for its size and price. :
- Voltage measurement range: 3.30V ~ 30.0V, resolution precision: 0.01V.
- Current measurement range: 0.00 ~ 5.10 A, resolution accuracy: 0.01 A.
- Cumulative capacity range: 0 ~ 99999 mAh, resolution precision: 0.001 Ah.
- Cumulative range of electrical quantity: 0 ~ 9999 mwh, resolution precision: 0.001 Wh
- Power measurement range: 000.00 ~ 150.00 W, Resolution accuracy: 0.01 W
- Impedance measurement range: 1 ~ 999.9 ohms, resolution precision: 0.1 ohms.
- Temperature measurement range: 0 ~ 80 degree centigrade 0 ~ 80 ℃, resolution precision: 1 degree Celsius.
- Maximum time: 999 hours, 59 minutes, 59 seconds resolution: 1 second
- Alarm settings: 24 hour countdown to arbitrary value.
- USB D + voltage range: 0 V ~ 2,999 V. Resolution accuracy: 0.001V.
- USB Voltage Range: 0V ~ 2,999V. Resolution Accuracy: 0.001V.
- Measurement rate: about 0.5 times per second.
- Alarm mode: alarm sound + double warning.
- Display type: LCM LCD module, English white font.
Types of USB and pinout connections
Although with this tool we will not need the pinout schemes of the different types of more conventional USB, it is always good to have it at hand. That said, we have to understand that each device has different characteristics in terms of current, amperage and consumption, but like any standard it is defined by maximum parameters according to its version.
In the case of USB 2.0 or earlier, we will have a current intensity that can range from 100 mA to 500 mA . In the case of USB 3.0 the figure increases to 900 milliamps , taking into account that we are referring to USBs on the motherboard.
Keep in mind that other USBs such as mobile chargers skip the standard to offer fast charges, so we could see up to 2.1 amps at 5 volts, for example. This is something that the PC industry is also implementing in certain ports, so let’s not be alarmed if we see very high values, since it could be the case of one of these ports.
