Monoprice Premium USB Cable Charging Speeds

I ordered some of the 6ft premium usb cables ,will let you know when i get them. My original usb cable that came with the phone has a bad connection wobbles. Using Battery Monitor Widget the highest i got was

980mA - OEM Nexus charger and cable. Charging from 60%, will test more when battery depletes.

Was looking to try either Ecomoto or the Monoprice premium cables. Looking forward to hearing both your opinions on them.

I have the 6ft Premium cables and did a quick comparison using Battery Monitor Widget suggested above. Both screenshots are using the OEM wall wart and at ~80% battery.

OEM Cable


MonoPrice Cable


Not much of a difference, but a more thorough comparison might show a bigger difference. I'll leave that to the others in the thread.

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

I have the 6ft Premium Cable from Monoprice and I see up to 1050 mA using the stock charger.

raptir said:

I have the 6ft Premium Cable from Monoprice and I see up to 1050 mA using the stock charger.

Click to expand...

Click to collapse

I get around 850mA~1,050mA depending on the % i plug the phone into charging.

And i got this one http://amazon.com/gp/product/B003L18S0E/ref=oh_details_o09_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Rambler76 said:

raptir, that doesnt seem to be good news.

Are there any markings on the cable to tell whether it has 28AWG/2C or 24AWG/2C power conductors?

From what I've read it appears that you need 24AWG/2C power conductors to be able to handle charging above the 1,000mA mark.

I'm still waiting on delivery of the Motorola Ecomoto cables, but for those who are interested I purchased them from this US based seller on ebay http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/360885775315?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2649

I also purchased this cable from another ebay seller http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/111292267460?var=410287001944&ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2649. The cable states it supports a 2.1A fast charge and the cross section in the ebay listing shows 24AWG/2C power conductors, so it looks promising.

Its going to be a few weeks until I get these cables and provide a review, so please subscribe to this thread to get updates when I do.

Click to expand...

Click to collapse

If it's "not good news" then it's bad news about the charger, not the cable. You said you get slightly less from your stock cable with the stock charger. A 1.2A charger is never going to actually give you 1.2A charging speed. They're just not 100% efficient.

Edit: Fast charging is also not the best thing for your battery, and that's why they don't just ship every phone with a 2A charger and let you have at it. A higher charging rate leads to increased battery degradation.

Mmmm... Not sure about that... Battery damage?

NEXUS 5

I've had the monoprice cables for over 5 months and they charge fast and great, one problem is that the tips start separating from and you can start seeing the inside. It'll still charged fast and without problems, I have 2 in my car and 4 in my house only 2 don't have this problem. Overall these cables charge fast partnered up with my HP touchpad and nexus 7 chargers.

Rambler76 said:

Thanks Noriega813.

Any chance of a test with the cable and the HP touchpad charger using CurrentWidget?

I dont know which N7 charger you have but I do note that the 2013 edition is rated at 1.35A so you be limited to about 1A with it. The 2012 edition should be OK as that outputs 2A.

Click to expand...

Click to collapse

Sure, soon as I get home I'll test it out. I have two of them and post results of both to show how they're doing.

I have the monoprice 3 and 6 foot premium cables. I've also got an inline USB current meter so I can test current directly.

According to an email from monoprice they are 28 gauge. I also got some 24 gauge monoprice USB extension cables (3 foot) that i planned to use with some adapters.

For testing I used a 2A Samsung power adapter (belonging to the Note 10.1 tablet) and either my Nexus 5 or my Samsung Note 10.1 tablet. The Note 10.1 when around 50% charge pulls slightly under 1.7A from it's own charger using the OEM cable. I have an adapter to allow me to charge the Note 10.1 using any micro USB cable so it's a better test for the cable as it pulls more current than the Nexus 5. The Nexus 5 with a good cable pulls under 1.3A from the 2A charger.

Interestingly, I had no problem getting full current (up to 1.7A) from any of the Monoprice premium USB cables. I've read good reviews of these cables but was a little skeptical since they are 28 gauge but they do seem to work well for fast charging. I don't have a device that pulls more than 1.7A so I can't test its limits.

In contrast, when I add the 24 gauge extension (3 foot with a 3 foot cable so the total length is the same as a single 6 foot premium cable) I can't get any higher than 1A. I don't understand why it's so limited. I've used a number of additional adapter on the end such as a right angle adapter or the micro usb to Samsung connector without any noticeable loss in current. So either there is something wrong with monoprice's 24 gauge cables or they are using some seriously bad connectors.

I haven't had the premium cables for very long but have been using them happily in the car (3 foot) and at home (6 foot) for when I need to charge while using the phone (otherwise I use a Qi wireless charger). The connectors at the phone end could be a little slimmer - they do fit all the cases I've tried but it's a bit tight for some of them. The fact that the cables aren't too thick is nice for storage and flexibility. Only time will tell how durable they are.

I also have some older monoprice standard 26 gauge USB cables which also seem to be limited to 1A. (Correction: these are 28AWG not 26/28)

I've got some Startech right-angled USB cables which are convenient for my car due to the right angle but can't support currents above 500 mA. These are 30 gauge cables.

In summary:

1. The cable's gauge doesn't tell the whole story.
2. Monoprice premium USB cables do seem to be a good buy.

Rambler76 said:

I don't quite agree with the battery degradation due to fast charges. I've always been of the opinion that it has to do with chargers that have a higher voltage spec, eg higher than 5V rather than the amps they're pushing out.

Click to expand...

Click to collapse

Charging voltage determines that final charge capacity. And yes, overcharging the battery does cause additional degradation. So does keeping the battery in too warm an environment. And charging speed. And discharging speed. And percent charge during storage. It's not just a single factor.

---------- Post added at 12:49 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:39 PM ----------

tmagritte said:

According to an email from monoprice they are 28 gauge. I also got some 24 gauge monoprice USB extension cables (3 foot) that i planned to use with some adapters.

Click to expand...

Click to collapse

My guess it that they didn't give you the whole story on the cable gauge. The data lines are always 28 gauge, only the power lines are 24 vs 28.

That said, a 28 AWG wire can carry 2A without too much of an issue. Your only problem is going to be an increased voltage drop which may lead to incomplete charging of your battery.

I finally received the USB cables from monoprice, shipping was slow took over a week. Here are the results I got with Battery Monitor Widget.

Stock USB Cable 90% charge.

922mA
927mA
953mA
919mA
930mA

Monoprice 6" Premium USB Cable 90% charge.

873mA
710mA
805mA
714mA
863mA

This was just a quick comparison, will do another comparison when the battery discharges more. I'm not sure how accurate the battery monitor apps are. For most accurate results we probably need one of theses USB Volt Meters.

ACHILLES R32 said:

I finally received the USB cables from monoprice, shipping was slow took over a week. Here are the results I got with Battery Monitor Widget.

Stock USB Cable 90% charge.

922mA
927mA
953mA
919mA
930mA

Monoprice 6" Premium USB Cable 90% charge.

873mA
710mA
805mA
714mA
863mA

This was just a quick comparison, will do another comparison when the battery discharges more. I'm not sure how accurate the battery monitor apps are. For most accurate results we probably need one of theses USB Volt Meters.



Sent from my Nexus 5

Click to expand...

Click to collapse

I am curious if the differences have to do with length of cable. 6 feet is a long way to travel.