Can I cut off a USB C plug, and replace it with a USB C socket

Question

I need a USB C (female) to USB 3.0 Micro B (male) cable. Unfortunately, I can only find a male - male cable.

Is it possible to cut the USB C plug off, and solder the wires to something like this:

Or is it more complicated than that? If it makes any difference, the USB 3.0 Micro B is the upstream port of a USB hub, and they USB C cable goes to the computer.

I'm a bit paranoid about killing a MBP USB port!

I know that female - female adapters do exist, but I need to cram this into a very small space, and they're all too big.

To clarify:

Currently:

USB A(male)--|
             |
             |
             |
-------------|------------------|
|             ------ usb 3.0 .  |
|                    micro B on |
|                    PCB(female)| 
|                               |
|                               |
---------------------------------

What I want:

USB C(male)--|
             |
             |
             |
             |
             |(USB C female receptacle mounted to keyboard chassis
-------------U------------------|
|             ------ usb 3.0 .  |
|                    micro B on |
|                    PCB(female)| 
|                               |
|                               |
---------------------------------

Update:

The keyboard is a Das Keyboard 4, and the PCB looks like this:

So that port you see on the left of the PCB is a USB 3.0 Micro B connector, and that black wire threads its way along the top of the chassis, out of a hole, and then 6 feet later, terminates in a USB A connector.

Why do you need a female Type-C if the computer also has female port? — Ale..chenski, Apr 03 '19 at 01:40
Because this whole thing is actually inside a keyboard. I want to replace the existing usb A to usb 3.0 Micro B cable (it's a regular cable, the pcb has a receptacle soldered on, not sure why), with a detachable USB C cable. So I need to mount a female USB C port on the chassis of the keyboard. I will then use a regular USB C cable to connect the computer to the keyboard. — Alex, Apr 03 '19 at 01:59
The USB cable currently sticking out of the keyboard is six feet long. I could stick an A-C adapter on the end, but I really want to replace it with a shorter cable, and more importantly, a cable that can be detached from the keyboard — Alex, Apr 03 '19 at 02:23
Please use mention feature to notify the person, else they won't notice if you're replying or not. It has been already answered here. Download USB 3.1 Specification here, open USB Type-C Specification Release 1.3.pdf and take a look at Table 3-17 USB Type-C to USB 3.1 Micro-B Cable Assembly Wiring — Unknown123, Apr 03 '19 at 03:38
Why not just a microB male-microB female extension cable inside the keyboard, and your bog-standard microB male - C male cable as the detachable cable between keyboard and laptop? — Ben Voigt, Apr 03 '19 at 04:46
Also I've just realized that I don't think that any keyboard will have Micro-B Superspeed connector which operate at USB 3.0 speeds, it's an overkill, I think you mean the normal Micro-B USB 2.0/1.1. In that case take a look at Table 3-18 USB Type-C to USB 2.0 Micro-B Cable Assembly Wiring — Unknown123, Apr 03 '19 at 05:13
@Unknown123 I'm pretty sure it does use superspeed, as there are two downstream ports on the keyboard, so it also acts as a hub — Alex, Apr 03 '19 at 10:16
What type of keyboard are you working with? Can you include it in your question the model of it? USB Type C needs proper biasing on CC lines, it could be UFP, DFP, or DRP. — Unknown123, Apr 03 '19 at 10:19
@Unknown123 I've updated the question. I've looked at the specs, and it definitely uses USB 3.0 / superspeed — Alex, Apr 03 '19 at 10:31
@Unknown123 it’s a possibility, but I’d prefer to have a female usb c port on the chassis. Is this not possible? — Alex, Apr 03 '19 at 11:22

score 2 · Accepted Answer · edited Apr 04 '19 at 04:02

After clarifications, it is finally clear what the concern is.

The device "Das Keyboard 4" appears to be a compound USB 3.0 device with embedded USB 3.0 hub (two external ports provided) and a proprietary keyboard device (with some enhancements, per manufacturer's claim). And maybe with some other extra USB devices as wheel controller. The device embeds a standard USB 3.0 cable arranged to be a "captive" (non-detachable) cable.

So the verdict is this:

It is possible to use the adapter shown in the first OP picture in this device, provided that both CC lines are pulled down with 5.1k resistors. This will indicate the device side of the Type-C connection, and Type-C cables will communicate this information to host PC.
However, if the cable is cut and split and soldered even with the best care, it is highly likely that the super-speed portion of the link to host won't work, because it is not possible to provide good signal integrity over this kind of adapter dongle (and over an extra connector in the link, generally). All you might get is the USB 2.0 connection, and even here you might have unstable functionality. This is the reason why manufacturer resorted to using a standard USB 3.0 u-USB to Type-A cable that is plugged directly into the internal board.
Using this kind of split-soldering you will lose the flip-ability of USB 3.0 cable connection, maybe only USB 2.0 will stay. Full flip ability would require sophisticated datapath switches and a lot of CC control management, and this is the reason why no one is offering the Type-B to Type-C receptacle adapters.

I summary, I would strongly advise dropping this project. It is unlikely that you will "kill" some port, but you will kill a lot of your time for sure. Best thing you can do is to replace the manufacturer's cable with a standard u-USB to Type-C plug cable, leaving it to be non-detachable.

Thank you so much for this explanation, that makes a lot more sense. As a compromise, would it be possible to use something like this: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00WHZASVM/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 in the case, with a USB A - C cable? — Alex, Apr 04 '19 at 11:02
@Alex, this dongle doesn't work because it is made to turn a Micro-A OTG (host-device) computer port into HOST mode. Your keyboard is not a USB host. — Ale..chenski, Apr 04 '19 at 17:53

Can I cut off a USB C plug, and replace it with a USB C socket

1 Answers1