2507: USV-C

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USV-C

Title text: Ultra-Serial Violet C light is unpolarized, so you don't have to flip the polarizing filter over when you get the orientation wrong the first time.

Explanation

This explanation may be incomplete or incorrect: Created by THE CURATOR OF THE EVER EXPANDING CURSED CONNECTORS COLLECTION - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon. If you can address this issue, please edit the page! Thanks.

This is the fourth installment in the series of Cursed Connectors and presents Cursed Connectors #280: USB-C to UV-C. It follows 2503: Memo Spike Connector (#102).

The comic depicts a cable with a USB-C connector on one end and a UV-C LED on the other.

USB-C is a type of USB connector which supports many different types of data. UV-C is a type of Ultraviolet light.

This comic depicts a cable that converts from USB-C (at the top of the picture) to UV-C (at the bottom).

USB-C is a rotationally symmetrical Universal Serial Bus connector.

UV-C is a range of ultraviolet light with wavelengths between 100 and 280 nm. This is often used as a germicide, so this comic may also be related to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The title text mentions that UV-C is unpolarized. This mirrors the fact that USB-C is symmetrical. So neither of them requires you to get the orientation right when using it.

Transcript

This transcript is incomplete. Please help editing it! Thanks.

[A cable with a USB-C connector on one end and a UV-C LED on the other end is shown]

Cursed Connectors #280

USB-C to UV-C

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Discussion

I just did my first edit! It'll definitely get changed, but I guess this is good enough for a start

162.158.89.204 16:30, 25 August 2021 (UTC)

that's not as absurd as it sounds. there are optical usb cables which work by converting the usb signals to and from light signals.162.158.92.83 16:48, 25 August 2021 (UTC)

I bet this is going to be an xkcd that gets recreated in real life.

108.162.215.87 17:01, 25 August 2021 (UTC)

There are ultraviolet LED lamps that are powered at 5V with an USB connector. xkcd in real life it's already done. 141.101.105.27 17:57, 25 August 2021 (UTC)

I've been unable to find one with a hardwired male USB-C plug in a quick Google search. Though, there are many portable UV-C lamps which would count as USB-C socket to UV-C, so you could add on a USB-C plug-plug adapter and emulate this XKCD with two chained adapters. 172.69.71.69 19:20, 25 August 2021 (UTC)

Am I the only one to think "from C to shining C"? And I'm not even American. 141.101.76.209 20:00, 25 August 2021 (UTC)

It could be as simple as a UV lightbox integrated into a USB EPROM programmer. Have a few in the back erasing while you're programming a few in the front. --Tepples (talk) 22:42, 25 August 2021 (UTC)

It could be that the light flashes on and off for data or something. --198.41.238.51 05:35, 26 August 2021 (UTC)

Regarding getting it backwards the first time: an old engineer I worked with back at the beginning of my career 40 years ago used to say (speaking of serial cable pins, but applicable here also): always just try connecting it at random. That way you'll have a 50% chance of being right. If you try to figure it out first, your odds go way down. Gbisaga (talk) 13:03, 27 August 2021 (UTC)

Germ killing can't be connected to COVID. COVID is a virus, not a germ. --141.101.77.69 15:19, 28 August 2021 (UTC)

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/germ Definition 3: : "a microorganism causing disease : a pathogenic agent (such as a bacterium or virus)" Kempsridley (talk) 16:02, 2 September 2021 (UTC)

Is this article still incomplete, or can the tag be removed now? Kempsridley (talk) 16:10, 2 September 2021 (UTC)

Looks like someone's actually prototyping this, using Far-UVC (222nm) which is safe for human skin and eyes Sabik (talk) 01:02, 29 June 2022 (UTC)