A promise made, a promise kept. This week, Yoctopuce announces its first production module with a USB-C connector. It's the Yocto-Meteo-V2-C.
Last May, we organized a permanent survey to find out if our customers were interested in migrating our products to USB-C connectivity, and which products we should migrate first.
As expected, the result was about 50-50: half the people who responded said they wanted USB-C connectivity as soon as possible, the other half had no desire to change and wanted to stay with micro-B for as long as possible, and a small minority didn't care at all, as long as it worked.
However, it became very clear that the module to be migrated first was the Yocto-Meteo-V2. So we did just that.
The Yocto-Meteo-V2-C and the Yocto-Meteo-V2
Compatibility
The only notable difference between a Yocto-Meteo-V2 and a Yocto-Meteo-V2-C is the USB connector. Everything else is 100% compatible, both mechanically and in terms of software. If your software isn't locked to a specific model name, you can swap a micro-B module and its USB-C version without the software noticing.
The enclosures
The Yocto-Meteo-V2-C fits into the same enclosure as the Yocto-Meteo-V2, namely a YoctoBox-Long-Thin-Black-Vents. As the USB-C connectors are a little bigger than the micro-B ones, we had to fight a little to get them to fit, but in the end we managed.
Recognizing USB-C versions
Visually, it's very easy to distinguish a Yoctopuce USB-C module from its Micro-B version. On paper, it's more subtle. We decided that the prefix of a USB-C module's serial number would always end in "C", and that the module's name would be suffixed with "-C". Obviously this conflicts a little with the Yocto-Thermistor-C, but we've decided to live with this little exception for the time being.
The revisions
To minimize the risk of confusion, we've also decided to synchronize the revisions of the micro-B and USB-C versions. The problem doesn't arise with the Yocto-Meteo-V2, which is still at revision A, but expect to see USB-C versions of modules released directly with revisions B, C, and so on ...
Cables
Cables are the big problem for devices with USB-C connectivity. This connector is literally used for anything and everything. As a result, if you buy the first USB-C cable you come across, there's no guarantee that it's going to work for a particular purpose. However, as Yoctopuce modules only use USB 1.1 - the simplest USB there is - there's little risk that a simple USB-C cable won't work with Yoctopuce modules. Just make sure you choose a data cable, not a charging cable. In case of doubt, Yoctopuce now offers a number of Delock cables on its online shop, which we've tested.
- USB-A-C-50 (Delock #83869)
- USB-A-C-100 (Delock #83870)
- USB-C-Micro-B-13 (Delock #86793)
- USB-C-Micro-B-100 (Delock #83602)
We took the trouble to gut them to check that they are properly shielded, no problem for the A to C cables, but we think the shielding on the two C to Micro-B cables is insufficient. We'll have to make do with them until we find something better.
You'll notice that a USB-C cable is considerably more expensive than a Micro-B cable.
Price
It's not just USB-C cables that are more expensive: the Yocto-Meteo-V2-C is slightly more expensive than the Yocto-Meteo-V2, for two reasons.
- The USB-C connector costs us more than a micro-B connector
- The unit price of a Yoctopuce module in Swiss francs is strictly proportional to its component cost. This price is calculated when the module is launched on the market, and remains unchanged thereafter, except in exceptional cases. In the case of the Yocto-Meteo-V2, the price was decided in 2018 and has not been changed since. But the price of Yocto-Meteo-V2-C is based on the current cost of its components, so there is a catch-up effect.
How to order a USB-C version
We didn't want to duplicate the number of entries in our online store, so the micro-B and USB-C versions share the same product page, and on each product page you can easily switch from one version to the other.
Yocto-Meteo-V2 and Yocto-Meteo-V2-C product page
Conclusion
The Yocto-Meteo-V2-C is just the first of a long list of USB-C modules to be migrated. The next modules are likely to be the Yocto-Light, the Yocto-Thermocouple, and the Yocto-Volt. If you'd like to influence the order in which the migration to USB-C takes place, feel free to take part in our ongoing poll.
