What Goes Inside the USB Power Delivery Profile of the Apple USB-C Charge Cable (2m)

The Apple USB-C Charge Cable (2m) ships with the Apple 15" MacBook Pro (2018) and is used primarily for connecting the Mac with the Apple 87W USB-C Power Adapter for USB Power Delivery based charging. The Apple USB-C Charge Cable (2m) also supports data transfer over the USB-C interface at USB 2.0 speeds (up to 480 Mbps).   

We verified using the USB Power Delivery Compliance C2 Tester from Granite River Labs to run just a subset of the full USB Power Delivery compliance test suite for the Apple USB-C Charge Cable (2m) as below. Note a compliance failure was observed.

GRL-USB-PD-C2 Compliance Test Report

DUT Information

Manufacturer	Apple
Model Number	2m C-C USB 2.0 5A Cable
Serial Number	Comm Engine

Test Information

Date and Time:

20181126_224635

Controller and Instrument Information

Parameter	Value
GRL USB-PD_C2 Serial No.	078.023.078.067.121.
GRL USB-PD Software Version	1.3.8.0
GRL USB-PD Firmware Version	1.3.8.0.0
GRL USB-PD Eload Firmware Version	9.4/9.4
Board Calibration	Calibration Success.
App Mode	COMMUNICATION_ENGINE_TESTS
Tx Mask	true
Rx Mask	false
RX mask Power selection	Neutral Power
Device Type	Cable
VCONN voltage	5.75V
Cable IR drop Imp(R)	0
Cable Type.	GRL-Spl-Cable
COMMUNICATION_ENGINE_TESTS CTS Version	1.09
Noise Pattern Generation:	Two-Tone Noise
VIF info	*Since VIF was not loaded below test results are information Only.
Test cases Execution Time:	0h:0m:0s

Product Capabilities

Parameter	GetCapabilities
VENDOR_NAME	Apple
TID	0
STRUCTURED_VDM_VERSION	Version 1.0
MODAL_OPERATION_SUPPORTED	YES
USB_VID	0x5AC
PID	0x1781
BCDDEVICE	0x100
XID	2598
DATA_CAPABLE_AS_USB_HOST	NO
DATA_CAPABLE_AS_USB_DEVICE	NO
VBUS_THROUGH_CABLE	YES
CABLE_SOP_PP_CONTROLLER	NO
NUM_SVIDS_MIN	1
NUM_SVIDS_MAX	1
SVID1SOP	5AC
SVID1Modes Min	1
SVID1Modes Max	1
SVID1Modes Fixed	NONE
SVID1Mode1 Enter Mode	NO

USB-IF High Level Mapping Summary

Sl No	Test Category	Test Group Description	Test Result
1	TDA.1.1.1.1.1	TDA.1.1.1.1.1 CABLE PHY TX EYE	PASS
2	TDA.1.1.1.2.1	TDA.1.1.1.2.1 CABLE PHY TX BIT	PASS
3	TDA.1.1.2.2.1	TDA.1.1.2.2.1 CABLE PHY RX INT REJ	FAIL
4	TDA.1.1.2.1.1	TDA.1.1.2.1.1 CABLE PHY RX BUSIDL	PASS
5	TDA.1.1.3.1.1	TDA.1.1.3.1.1 CAB PHY TERM	PASS

Result Summary

Sl No	Test ID	Test Name	Test Result
1	TDA.1.1.1.1.1	TDA.1.1.1.1.1 CABLE PHY TX EYE	PASS
2	TDA.1.1.1.2.1	TDA.1.1.1.2.1 CABLE PHY TX BIT	PASS
3	TDA.1.1.2.2.1	TDA.1.1.2.2.1 CABLE PHY RX INT REJ	FAIL
4	TDA.1.1.2.1.1	TDA.1.1.2.1.1 CABLE PHY RX BUSIDL	PASS
5	TDA.1.1.3.1.1	TDA.1.1.3.1.1 CAB PHY TERM	PASS

BMC Eye Diagram

We also used the new USB Power Test App from Granite River Labs (beta version) with the Granite River Labs USB Power Delivery Compliance C2 Tester to generate the following test report for the Apple USB-C Charge Cable (2m) that shows IR loss.

GRL Power Test Report

Instrument Information

GRL-USB-PD-C2 Serial No.	117.181.117.091.159.
GRL-USB-PD-C2 API Version	1.3.8.0
GRL Power Test App Version	3.0.23

Test Item

Cable E-Marker and Power Cap.

Test Result

PDO	Port1 (V)	Port2 (V)	%	Port1 (A)	Port2 (A)	%	IR drop (mohm)
PDO#1 Fixed: 5V 5A	4.23	3.77	89.2%	4.99	4.94	99.1%	92
PDO#2 Fixed: 9V 5A	7.8	7.33	94%	4.99	5.04	100.9%	94
PDO#3 Fixed: 15V 5A	13.67	13.2	96.6%	5.03	4.99	99.2%	93
PDO#4 Fixed: 20V 5A	18.54	18.11	97.6%	5.01	4.96	98.9%	87

Port1 Plot

Port2 Plot

Vendor Defined Messaging

Key	Value
Vendor_ID	65280
VDM_Type	Structured VDM
VDM_Version	Version 1.0
Reserved[12:11]	0
Object_Position	0
Command_Type	ACK
Reserved[5]	0
Command	Discover ID
USB_Vendor_ID	Apple
Reserved	0
ModalOperation_supported	YES
Product_Type_UFP_Cable	Passive_Cable
Data_Capable_as_USB_Device	NO
Data_Capable_as_USB_Host	NO
XID	0x00A26
Reserved[31:0]	0
bcdDevice	0x0100
USB_Product_ID	0x1781
USB_Superspeed_Signalling_Support	USB 2.0 only
SOP_PP_Controller_present	[2:0]
VBUS_through_cable	[4]
VBUS_Current_Handling_Capability	5A
SSRX2_Directionality_Support	0
SSRX1_Directionality_Support	0
SSTX2_Directionality_Support	0
SSTX1_Directionality_Support	0
Cable_Termination_Type	Both ends passive, VCONN not reqd
Cable_Latency	10ns - 20ns
TypeC_Plug_To_PlugOrReceptacle	Plug
TypeC_Plug_To_TypeA_B_C_Captive	TYPE-C
Reserved[23:20]	[23:20]
FW_Version	1
HW_Version	10