hackadayEasily Replaceable USB-C Port Spawned By EU Laws
https://hackaday.com/2026/02/26/easily-replaceable-usb-c-port-spawned-by-eu-laws/
Michael Ossmann@hackaday Perfect for all those projects that are physically large, need to last for decades, and are expected to experience tens of thousands of insertions, oh and where cost is not a concern.
Graham Sutherland / Polynomial@gsuberland @hackaday Why? What high volume use case do you think they are chasing?
Resuna@mossmann @gsuberland @hackaday
Mechanical keyboards.
gadgetoid@resuna @mossmann @gsuberland @hackaday a good deal of mechanical keyboards I’ve opened up have already solved this problem with magnetic pogo connectors or USB daughter boards attached by FPC or JST… not because they need to be replaceable but because they need to be mechanically isolated from the gasket mounted PCB. Pretty sure this would be a non-starter.
@gadgetoid @mossmann @gsuberland @hackaday
Sure, if they're a boutique DIY board that uses the Universal Daughterboard that's great, but most boards aren't that and replacing the daughterboard if the USB connector is damaged is as much of a push-up as replacing the PCB because Keychron or whoever doesn't sell parts.
@resuna @mossmann @gsuberland @hackaday most of the USB daughter boards are trivial to replicate if anyone cared, but these keyboards are so cost optimised that there’s basically zero chance a manufacturer would pick a swappable standard part over whatever jank they’ve concocted. They can’t even steal QMK properly 🤣
@gadgetoid @mossmann @gsuberland @hackaday
That is not the target user for this kind of product. Anyone for whom replicating a daughter board is "trivial" will have no more difficulty with a surface mount soldering job to repair or replace the USB port.
The key here is that if EU law requires this kind of user replaceable part, then everyone will benefit.
@resuna @mossmann @gsuberland @hackaday ah yes, China, famous for their strict adherence to EU regulations 😭
A hot swap part also isn’t much more replaceable by the average user than a soldered USB port unfortunately. Might make third party repairs cheaper and more tenable though.
@gadgetoid @mossmann @gsuberland @hackaday
ifixit makes a good business selling kits and parts and providing instructions to people who can replace a hot-swap part but would be completely stumped by surface-mount soldering.
@resuna @mossmann @gsuberland @hackaday true! I guess there are enough non-average users to sustain that. I’m getting beyond the original point: the day this turns up in garbage tier keyboards I will eat a cake-derived hat.
I meant since the daughter boards are so easy to clone if there were a latent demand for hot-swap USB ports in keebs most major brands could be served by a hobbyist with a passing experience in KiCAD and a Tindie store
@gadgetoid @mossmann @gsuberland @hackaday
In practice there is a lot of friction in the market.
@resuna also true. Keyboards- in particular- seem to have a lot of churn. It’s one of those markets that doesn’t seem sustainable yet there’s brand after brand after brand after brand cranking out slightly differentiated stuff from solutions providers. Does at least mean there’s already a certain amount of parts crossover. But they’re almost throwaway tech.
I have too many keyboards send help 😭