FNB58

After spending a week learning about and experimenting with this FNIRSI FNB58, I've found it to be a very valuable tool for testing, sorting, and upgrading USB hubs, power supplies, and cables! It is especially useful for learning about and testing the newer USB 3.2 capabilities, power options, and especially what Type-C cables will and won't work for the new Power Delivery (PD) and Fast Charge features! But the official FNB58 manual available is worthless, due to lack of detail, poor organization, and lousy translations. It's hard to figure out what practical purposes this great tool has for home use. So here are some of the most useful features I've found from my testing. • Basic Monitoring: Using the USB-A or USB-C input/output ports, the screen will display voltage (V), current (A), power (W), and protocol in real-time, as dynamic numeric data or “oscilloscope” graphs. • Read USB-C Cable E-Marker Chips: Higher-end USB-C cables have an embedded IC chip that reports capabilities of the cable to the PD power source. This allows the power source to provide higher voltage and wattage through the cable for higher-powered devices, up to the limits of the cable. If there is no chip in the cable, your expensive new USB power adapter will only be able to supply up to 60W of power instead of the 240W you paid for! Do you know which of your cables will work for your higher power laptop? The “Toolbox” option “USB-C Cable” quickly and easily reads this chip, if present, so you'll know what that cable supports. • Fast Charge Triggering (Protocol Test): Navigate to the “Fast Charge” menu to test for USB charger capabilities, like PD, Apple, Battery Charging (BC), Samsung, Huawei, or QC (Qualcomm) fast-charge protocols. Once capabilities are detected, higher-voltage power protocols can be triggered, changing the output voltage and current settings on the USB power wires. Warning: Do NOT connect sensitive, non-fast-charge devices when triggering higher voltages (9V – 20V) as it can damage them. Some of the protocols (like the PD or QC 3.0) have variable voltage adjustments, so you can set the output voltage to anything between the protocol limits (like 3.3V-20V) in 0.02V increments. You can thus even use the FNB58 and an appropriate charger as a variable power supply for small low-power projects! • Cable Resistance Testing: On the "Toolbox" menu option, the "Cable Resistance Detection" feature can measure the resistance of a connected USB cable. For most accurate results, a separate constant-current electronic load device, like the Drok USB Load Tester, is required on the output of the FNB58. • Offline Recording/Data Logging: The FNB58 has options for recording power consumption over time. This allows testing of possible intermittent problems. The photos here show the results of some of the testing I've done with the FNB58. The "USB-C Cable" screen photo shows the results of testing a USB Type-C cable that DOES have an E-Marker Chip embedded in the cable's connector. Plug the Type-C cable to be tested into either the Type-C “IN” or “OUT” port. Only one end of the cable needs to be plugged in for this test. Use the rocker switch on top to navigate to the Application page. Select the Toolbox option, then select “USB-C Cable” (or “USB-C E-Marker” on earlier firmware). This will display the values embedded in the cable’s E-Marker chip, which provides the USB power source with the capabilities of the cable like cable speed (example: “USB 3.2 Gen2”), cable length specification, max cable voltage and current, hardware and firmware levels, and cable vendor ID. If the cable can handle it, the power source may select higher voltage and power for higher-powered devices. Without this chip and the resulting negotiation with the power source, output is limited to 60W (some USB power sources have the option of providing up to 240W). The image with three screen-shots shows the different capabilities between ports on the same charger. Chargers often support different USB power protocols and protocol values, depending on the port being used. For example, this photo shows three USB-C ports (C1 – C3, top to bottom) on the same charger, each with a different set of protocols and supported voltage/power values. Note the discrepancy between the label on the charger (last photo) and the values being read by the tester. When triggering the protocols (see below), what I was able to get out of the charger were the voltages listed on the tester, not always what was printed on the back of the charger. Some of the values are limited because of the standard for the protocol, like the BC 1.2 (DCP), which limits the output to 5V at 1.5A. But the labeling on the charger can mislead you about what output you’ll actually be able get from it! The FNB58 "Fast Charge" option's "Automatic Detection" feature displays the power source's supported protocols, and their voltage limits for each USB port. This also helps clear up some discrepancies between the charger's specs and the actual port output. The image with the multi-meter at the top shows the results of one of my power source output tests. Once the available fast-charge protocols have been detected (like above), you can "trigger" any of the protocols with the FNB58, to set a specific output voltage. I did physically test the output of the charger after triggering the protocol, to verify the charger actually did change output voltage. My multi-meter tests correlated closely to the output voltages shown on the tester after triggering the protocol settings. The voltage manually selected in the tester is shown outlined on the left of the tester’s screen (10.00V here). The actual voltage as measured by the tester is shown with the green background on the screen in the upper right (10.239V here). The external voltage measured by the multi-meter here is fairly close, at 10.28V. Each protocol has different voltage selection options. To test these, navigate to the Application page of the FNB58, select the Fast Charge option, then the PD Trigger option. BE CAREFUL, this can damage some devices connected to the output of the tester - read the on-screen warning, and read the manual! See the end of this review for some links to helpful supplemental information. The final "Qualcomm QC2.0" screen photo shows voltage selection options for this protocol. Most protocols have only certain fixed voltages available too, so the Fast Charge option for each of the other protocols shows only those voltages available for activation. I hope you find some of this information useful!

I am providing an overall comment for three USB testers, all of which deserve to be purchased as they complement each other perfectly and are consistent in their results. I would like to dedicate the majority of this review to the Bit Trade One model, which has recently arrived on Amazon. It deserves a shoutout because the tool is exceptional and inexpensive for what it offers. The ADUSBCIM is a USB cable tester that truly complements traditional USB cable testers. Only the cable to be tested needs to be plugged into the A and B ports, and the tool does the rest. The reference value for calculating the cable's resistance is taken using a CR2032 battery, and I note that the calculation is very precise and stable. You can find on Bit Trade One's ADUSBCIM GitHub page, in the Pull Request section, a manual in English in PDF format. This is my small contribution to the project, as the current official English manual is more of a word-by-word description that is difficult to understand. Thanks to this tester, I discovered, for example, that Anker cables, the 765 series, were actually poor high-resistance cables, and that I had much better options for charging. I ended up wasting money on cables that turned out to be slower than cables that were given to me for free with computer accessories. The FNIRSI FNB58 is a very comprehensive USB-A and USB-C port tester. It notably offers numerous rapid charging protocol tests, can test the quality and resistance of a cable, and obtain oscilloscope-like graphical representations. Now that we are on PD3.0 and with PD3.1 approaching quickly, owning one of these tools is now essential to validate the proper functioning of an installation. I've read a lot of advice on Reddit, and if you're looking to equip yourself with the best products offering the most testing possibilities, here are the tester references to get: - Bit Trade One ADUSBCIM (very thorough cable tester testing all the lines of a cable) - FNIRSI FNB58 (the most comprehensive, many ports, many scenarios, USBA/C Micro) - ChargerLab KM003C (the most modern, TB4, 250W) If you have these three or at least a combination of the cable and usb tester, it will take you no more than a few days to become a USB expert. 👌

Ok, every have one of those days when the cables you're using for charging is not working? Well wonder no more. I found this device to be a life saver when it comes to removing fustration. Not only does this device lets you what cable is charging best. It allows you to see at what voltage, current and several other items. When charging your devices you can see if the charger for cable combination is restricting the strength of your charging for your device. It's compact design allows it be travel friendly. Since it uses the source of the charge no battery is required for it's use. The instructions for this device is straight forward as well as it being very accurate when one is trying to resolve charging connections between devices. One idea is using it to eliminate cables that won't allow those charging blocks that fast charge to be identified. Overall, this is one device with multiple uses. As for cable types if supports both USB-C as well as USB-A.

Per the title. Awesome tool but you need to be EXTREMELY careful about triggering voltages or checking chargers for capabilities. This tool will trigger high voltages and check the charger for what features, USB-PD profiles, Qualcomm QC features, and other charging standards it supports. When using the feature checking *MAKE ABSOUTELY SURE* you have NO DEVICES at all hooked up to the tool besides the charger in question. This includes NOT having the USB-A ports plugged into something else when testing USB-C charger etc. Bascially just make sure you ONLY have the charger you are testing plugged in. For advanced usage this has a manual PD trigger with PPS support to allow you trigger a specific PD profile or fine PPS voltage with current limits. Very useful as like a low current lab power supply. Again, this is an advanced feature with no guardrails and you will blow up devices if your not careful and use the wrong voltage or attempt to use this with a PD device not expecting that voltage. Note there is two versions this blue one is the one with bluetooth support while the black one there is none. I think it would honestly be better if the black one was discontinued to avoid confusion given the price differences are extremely minimal. Also, A cap for the USB-A port would be a nice touch so you don't have to buy one yourself. I should have bought one of these years ago!

I’ve been impressed with the FNIRSI USB tester’s build quality. Unlike many testers on the market, which often resemble beta models with open sides or no casing, the FNIRSI is encased in a professional housing with input ports for USB-C, Micro USB, and USB-A. I’ve used the USB-C eMarker check to test cables, which works well. The tester is supposedly capable of measuring cable resistance, but I haven’t figured out how to do this yet. Instead, I purchased a Treedix cable tester, which is battery-powered and can measure resistance. Treedix also includes a Lightning port for testing Apple cables. I’ve tested several battery banks to verify if they deliver the power promised in their advertising. The included instructions were minimal, but I found documentation on the FNIRSI website. Initially, I struggled to trigger higher Power Delivery (PD) voltages (beyond the standard 5V) on the USB load meter. Watching YouTube videos helped me navigate the PD trigger menu effectively. A firmware update is available on the FNIRSI website, but I haven’t applied it yet, as the accompanying app seems unreliable. I plan to test it on a sandboxed PC to ensure safety. I liked the tester so much that I bought a second unit. This allows me to use the PD trigger to test the load on multiple ports of a power bank simultaneously. I’m still learning how to fully utilize the tester, particularly the PC logging feature, which I hope to explore further.

Good quality USB meter which allows USB data passthrough, the readings look accurate when compared to the measurements from my 737 power bank. It is simple to navigate, and can also test battery capacity which is very useful and it also allows you to set the battery voltage and estimated charging efficiency with 10 profile save slots available. I recommend keeping the device plugged in with the top left micro USB port to stop the unexpected power offs while testing, and for when you want to keep the toggle switch "pd com" as off which will bypass the fnb58 handshake with the charger and instead allows USB C negotiation directly between the phone and charging brick.

It works. The USB PD triggering does what it says. The device is low impedance pass through. It takes some work to figure out how to use the more advanced mode like PD logging etc. Its not immediately obvious what is going on. I think the interface could be updated for more intuitive controls and verbage. One nuance that is slightly annoying: The user interface for triggering PD profiles (PDOs) only allows you to cycle through the available PDOs. I.e. you cant select one to use and then enable it. You must cycle though all the profiles and trigger them before you get to the one you want. This could be a major issue depending on your application. I presume this could be relatively easily solved with a software update. FNIRSI please resolve this!

This product performs exactly as advertised and is an excellent tool to have on hand for any AV professional. I use it regularly to verify power during installs and troubleshooting, and the voltage readings have proven to be accurate and reliable. The USB testing functionality is equally solid and provides quick confirmation when validating power sources and devices in the field. One potential improvement would be the ability to test cables without requiring a USB connection. That said, this is a minor limitation when weighed against the overall usefulness and reliability of the tool. Overall, it is a well-designed, dependable product and absolutely worth the investment for professional AV work.

Best for price, works as intented. Make sure to use input for input only, and same for output. Flickers a bit when undervolted. Firmware update make sit work more good. Bluetooth app by FNIRSI works only after GPS is turned on and pairs only via app. Its weird n unnecessary yet ok. Accuracy is fine maybe 1-2% vary.

Very glad that I did not buy a cheaper option. This is a great peice of Tech to own.

Excelente producto superó mis espectativas

Vi varias reseñas en YT y todas apuntaban a este medidor de entre muchos. Hace la función y adicionales pero la calidad de fabricación externa se siente algo barata.

Doesnt display mah which is what i needed this for. Displays absolutely everything else but. Annoying it doesnt show basic mainly used use case of battery capacity, but makes you work it out from other measures. Has many screens, not on any of them, cannot set it to display mah, very hard to use overall vs many other similar products - so expensive and got a lot of stuff i dont need with it, and not the basic function i do need.