What did dude think was coming out of the VGA port? Tiny photographs? It's all electricity through wires, of course it'll send some electricity into a phone
With USB power delivery, you can get 9V, 12V or higher over USB. Usually the device requests higher voltage from a PD charger, but it's not impossible for a modern device to be able to cope with just having 12V shoved into it.
That's probably only true for USB power supplies - a USB adapter isn't set up to do anything with voltage and probably just passes the positive and negative pins through.
The VGA adapter feeding power back through USB in the first place, yeah, that's not supposed to happen.
Put it this way, either the standard on the other end of the adapter specifies 5V, or the adapter doesn't just pass it through, or the adapter is broken!
If, hypothetically, VGA didn't have a 5v rail then how would power get from the monitor to the HDMI adapter. It would absolutely have to be a part of the spec.
If the vga/hdmi adapter is active then this abomination could actually pass display information provided you had a micro-usb device that supported display out over usb (idk if there is such a thing and if so it probably doesn’t work all that well but still)
I think if we had the scenario where we had a higher voltage than needed, we could have a toasty voltage regulator making something happen, but going the other way would need boost circuitry unlikely to exist in these parts, in my understanding
I don't know shit about cables but it's plugged into a monitor. My intuition is that a monitor shouldn't be pushing power out through a video input port.
DisplayPort has a +3.3V 500mA pin specifically for pushing power. In theory, great for powering an active adapter. In practice, has killed motherboards because Dell can't design a computer for shit.
Friendly reminder that if you use a Dell charger on a HP, nothing happens but vice versa, you damage the motherboard. It kills a chip used for charging. Dell used the same size barrel jack, but they wired it differently from everyone.
The monitor has to send some data to the computer to tell it what screen resolutions it accepts. VGA, HDMI, and DisplayPort will all do that for sure. Less certain about component, composite, and S-Video.
Technically, even an optical port can deliver power. Light is just a particular form of electromagnetic wave that just happens to use another method of transmission (and you might need a different mechanism to transform its energy), but it also has an intensity, potential energy and resistance in the medium of propagation.
Maybe somewhere in the chain, the 5V from pin 9 is being converted to 5V shared across power and the video signal. So even if this chain worked in carrying a video signal it could be very weak or distorted.
At this point, I’m more impressed that there’s always someone ready to share the relevant xkcd, than I am that there happens to be a relevant xkcd for everything.
IF the phone can output enough power with it's OTG port AND has the correct drivers for that cheap-ass looking USB framebuffer graphics thing AND that's an active HDMI to VGA adapter rather than some shitty vendor-specific implementation based on some unholy bastardisation AND the phone supports external displays... then I still don't think it'd work, tbh (but it won't (it might though (it won't))).
Even with a data-capable cable I don't think most microUSB ports have video output capabilities. You'd have to find a cable/adapter specifically designed for video out, and a device with the explicit capability (usually cameras and phones).
The only time I've encountered VGA was my first year as an intern, my office had given me a 4:3 flat screen monitor which frequently gave me migraines. Thing had to be older than me. That was 7 years ago.
If I encountered it before that, I wasn't aware of it because I was a child and wasn't responsible for plugging in the monitors I was using.
What did you use then? I remember cheap monitors in the early 00s ONLY having VGA. By the time I'd moved on, HDMI was so ubiquitous, I skipped DVI instead.
BNC connections were used on professional level video equipment, if you were rich enough, you could get an extremely high quality computer monitor and video card that used those.
Older computers, especially early home computers sometimes just had composite connectors to a TV. Older computer monitors often had a composite input, but SCART was also an option.
Higher end computer monitors sometimes had similar inputs to early HDTVs, there's a lot of crossover.
Monitors at Walmart still have VGA available, so someone must be using it.
Also a bit weird in that they have a “modern” set of just VGA/HDMI, as a monitor of the period would have DVI, too. Think DVI wasn’t ever really a thing except for power users though.
What did dude think was coming out of the VGA port? Tiny photographs? It's all electricity through wires, of course it'll send some electricity into a phone
It's sending out the pixels, silly! A stream of little pixels in neat little rows.
Yeah but is the voltage correct? It should be 5V to charge a phone over USB, is that part of the VGA spec?
With USB power delivery, you can get 9V, 12V or higher over USB. Usually the device requests higher voltage from a PD charger, but it's not impossible for a modern device to be able to cope with just having 12V shoved into it.
The USB device would have been made wrong if it just shoved 12V down the power lines without negotiating it.
That's probably only true for USB power supplies - a USB adapter isn't set up to do anything with voltage and probably just passes the positive and negative pins through.
The VGA adapter feeding power back through USB in the first place, yeah, that's not supposed to happen.
Put it this way, either the standard on the other end of the adapter specifies 5V, or the adapter doesn't just pass it through, or the adapter is broken!
Doesn't matter. The VGA to HDMI adapter is active, not passive, so it matters if HDMI has a 5v rail, not VGA
If, hypothetically, VGA didn't have a 5v rail then how would power get from the monitor to the HDMI adapter. It would absolutely have to be a part of the spec.
It doesn't need to be 5v. An active adapter can have a buck converter.
In reality active HDMI adapters get powered by the HDMI device though, not the VGA monitor, so it's a moot point anyways
If the vga/hdmi adapter is active then this abomination could actually pass display information provided you had a micro-usb device that supported display out over usb (idk if there is such a thing and if so it probably doesn’t work all that well but still)
Yeah I don't think there's a 5V pin for VGA.
I think if we had the scenario where we had a higher voltage than needed, we could have a toasty voltage regulator making something happen, but going the other way would need boost circuitry unlikely to exist in these parts, in my understanding
There is! It's pin #9
Ah my memory failed me then! Thanks for the correction, I guess this is technically possible then!
I don't know shit about cables but it's plugged into a monitor. My intuition is that a monitor shouldn't be pushing power out through a video input port.
DisplayPort has a +3.3V 500mA pin specifically for pushing power. In theory, great for powering an active adapter. In practice, has killed motherboards because Dell can't design a computer for shit.
Friendly reminder that if you use a Dell charger on a HP, nothing happens but vice versa, you damage the motherboard. It kills a chip used for charging. Dell used the same size barrel jack, but they wired it differently from everyone.
The monitor has to send some data to the computer to tell it what screen resolutions it accepts. VGA, HDMI, and DisplayPort will all do that for sure. Less certain about component, composite, and S-Video.
Pin 9 on VGA is 5V out.
Signals aren't magic, they consist of electrical power. You can get at least a little bit of power from anything that isn't an optical port.
You cannot charge a phone off "a little bit of power".
Technically, even an optical port can deliver power. Light is just a particular form of electromagnetic wave that just happens to use another method of transmission (and you might need a different mechanism to transform its energy), but it also has an intensity, potential energy and resistance in the medium of propagation.
Of course electricity comes out of a VGA port, but it's only a signal, I wouldn't assume that it's anywhere near enough to charge a phone.
Pin #9 of the VGA spec is 5v, though it seems unusual that a monitor would provide power on that pin
Thank you, I call bullshit.
Maybe somewhere in the chain, the 5V from pin 9 is being converted to 5V shared across power and the video signal. So even if this chain worked in carrying a video signal it could be very weak or distorted.
Purely a guess though.
The VGA port on a monitor is an input.
Relevant xkcd
At this point, I’m more impressed that there’s always someone ready to share the relevant xkcd, than I am that there happens to be a relevant xkcd for everything.
IF the phone can output enough power with it's OTG port AND has the correct drivers for that cheap-ass looking USB framebuffer graphics thing AND that's an active HDMI to VGA adapter rather than some shitty vendor-specific implementation based on some unholy bastardisation AND the phone supports external displays... then I still don't think it'd work, tbh (but it won't (it might though (it won't))).
Society if VGA over MicroUSB was standardized
yeah? well I have a
wall outlet › USB-A › Micro USB › USB-C › THC
adapter, how about that? (it just ends in my rechargeable cart)
You convert electricity into tetrahydrocannabinol, the principal psychoactive constituent of cannabis?
Neat!
MicroUSB does it with MHL, which is the less addictive one
You get high from a wall outlet? Cool!
You can convert USB-A directly into THC!? Since when!? I'm about to get so fucking high, I've got a drawer full of those old cables.
If you had an old HTC windows ce 6.0 it might work. Like the HTC tilt 2.
Pretty sure those were mini USB.
Just need another adapter.
Might be, I misplaced mine and I've been looking for it.
The micro is probably charge only, no data. So no signal.
Yup. VGA - HDMI and HDMI - USB should be working as intended. I have a HDMI - USB-c for my tablet's second monitor that works just fine.
Even with a data-capable cable I don't think most microUSB ports have video output capabilities. You'd have to find a cable/adapter specifically designed for video out, and a device with the explicit capability (usually cameras and phones).
My old tower pc used to give wicked electric shocks off the hdmi ports. Pretty sure I could have run space heaters off those fuckers
This pissed me off so much that I accidentally backed out and up voted a post I didn't even look at. Fuck you, sir.
Mission accomplished
Am I in the minority of people who never used VGA?
Emphasis on Minor I guess
The only time I've encountered VGA was my first year as an intern, my office had given me a 4:3 flat screen monitor which frequently gave me migraines. Thing had to be older than me. That was 7 years ago.
If I encountered it before that, I wasn't aware of it because I was a child and wasn't responsible for plugging in the monitors I was using.
What did you use then? I remember cheap monitors in the early 00s ONLY having VGA. By the time I'd moved on, HDMI was so ubiquitous, I skipped DVI instead.
Very legitimate possiblity OP was born in the early 00's
Thats impossible, they aren't old enough to be allo-
FUCK
Nono, you’re right. Shun them! Shunnnnn! Shun the non-believer.
If you were rich enough, could have only used displays with RGB-BNC.
Or maybe they're kinda crazy and used Component video with a TV screen. (Or composite...)
Or maybe they're just not that old.
I've never even heard of video over BNC, and my searches turn up SCART adapters, so I'm guessing it was a British thing?
I think we were talking about computer monitors, not televisions.
BNC connections were used on professional level video equipment, if you were rich enough, you could get an extremely high quality computer monitor and video card that used those.
Older computers, especially early home computers sometimes just had composite connectors to a TV. Older computer monitors often had a composite input, but SCART was also an option.
Higher end computer monitors sometimes had similar inputs to early HDTVs, there's a lot of crossover.
Well there you go, I'm not a professional anything except idiot. I'd never heard of that! Cool.
Monitors at Walmart still have VGA available, so someone must be using it.
Also a bit weird in that they have a “modern” set of just VGA/HDMI, as a monitor of the period would have DVI, too. Think DVI wasn’t ever really a thing except for power users though.
I used VGA up until maybe 2012, 2013. Even longer at my job.
Thats cute. There are so, so many machines that have vga still in my field.
Basically every hmi panel in existence use vga still. And password-less vnc.
I remember when CGA and EGA were normal and then this fancy new VGA came out but only on fancy high end computers and monitors.
VGA was still very common around 20 years ago.
It used to be that a monitor was fancy if it had DVI and really fancy if it had HDMI