Please help me find another connector...thing.

October 21, 2018 4:57 PM

I had this thingy, which I could use to connect my phone to either a plugged in charger "base" thing or directly to my laptop, even. Unfortunately, the one I have now is broken. What is this called, and where can I buy another one?
posted by KChasm to Computers & Internet (8 answers total)

Which of the connectors did you use? (From left to right in that photo: USB A, USB Mini B, USB Micro B, old Apple dock, Apple Lightning). You can probably buy one or two cables that will be more durable.
posted by Alterscape at 5:11 PM on October 21, 2018

It's a multi dongle and googling that brought up many different options and vendors.
posted by AlexiaSky at 5:13 PM on October 21, 2018

I can find something similar on Amazon by searching "cell phone multi-charger cable."
posted by 4ster at 5:13 PM on October 21, 2018

We call them "squids" when ordering for giveaway purposes. But that doesn't provide anything useful on Amazon - I think 4ster has it. Oddly Amazon says that people often buy a 24 pack of barf bags when they buy the multi charging cable two pack.

I am horrified and fascinated by the potential story behind this.
posted by jzb at 6:25 PM on October 21, 2018 [20 favorites]

Are you trying to charge different types of devices with the same cable? If not, you're better off just getting a dedicated cable of the type that you need. The multiformat cables often don't provide as much power as your device wants to charge so you'll charge much slower or possibly not at all (iDevices can be especially picky). Even if you need more than one type of device, you're probably better off going with two separate cables.
posted by Candleman at 7:39 PM on October 21, 2018 [5 favorites]

i bought this one not long ago and it works fine:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00WFNNJB2/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o09_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
posted by alchemist at 3:34 AM on October 22, 2018

I've always called those 'charging squids' if the links above don't get you there. I recently bought this one for my dad and he loves it.
posted by ApathyGirl at 10:54 AM on October 22, 2018

I was mentioning the weirdness of Amazon offering charging squids and barf bags together to my partner, and she immediately put it together: Lyft and Uber drivers. Barf bags for obvious reasons, and a multi-charger to offer riders to help boost tips.

Makes total sense, though I was sort of enjoying the more weird possible explanations.
posted by jzb at 4:25 AM on October 24, 2018