USB Cable
If you are the type of person who likes even the smallest details of your electronic devices, then you surely should not have missed laying your eyes on your USB cables. For those who would like to know, USB cables are… you guessed right, cables! Nothing special? Well, if you would only look from the outside, you, and maybe everyone in the entire world can say that. But if you try to look more closely to the all the wires that are inside it, you would learn more about these wires and how each of these works.
USB cables come with any computer peripherals you buy and link peripherals to your computer not only to make it work but to receive and transmit data to and from the computer. The USB cables have two ends: one, connecting from the device and the other, the connector that is inserted to the USB port or USB hub. If the USB cables are not attached to a computer peripherals, you would notice that one end has an A plug and the other has a B plug.
The A plug is usually flat at the same time rectangular. It is the end where the cable and the USB port meets. The B on the other hand is usually attached on the device. Connecting both ends should not confuse you. All you have to do is to locate the A plug and connect it to your USB port and the B plug to your device. However, if you still cannot identify the A from the B (which is not very common), try to plug each end to your USB port. If one does not fit, try the other one. You should not worry about misconnection because USB cables are polarized. Meaning, if one end would not fit to a socket, the other would.
USB Pin Connections
Since USB connectors have 4 pins, all USB cables whether independent or attached on computer peripherals have 4 wires (divided in two pairs: the first pair is for the data and is untwisted, the second pair is for the power lines and is twisted). Each wire has its own task to perform and each has designated color for easier identification.
For the data lines, the first wire that leads to the number 2 pin is white. It is also called the D- (negative) or data -. This line is responsible in sending data from the USB device to the computer. The second wire that leads to the 3rd pin is coded green. It is called the D+ or the data positive. This particular wire sends data from the computer to the USB device.
The second pair is red and black. The red wire is also called as the VCC or the VBus. It leads to the first pin. As part of the power lines, the VBus acquired as much as 5 volts of power from the computer. It gives power to the small USB devices such as the mice and the keyboard. Meanwhile the black wire that leads to the fourth and final pin is the ground.
These wires compose the interior of your USB cables. So the next time you would see these wires, you already know their purpose.
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