How to Make a USB-A-A Cable (2026) (WARNING)

Disclaimer

USB-A-A cables are non standard cables that DOES NOT conform to the USB specification*. They may cause the destruction of the Printed Circuit Board (PCB) that functions as the motherboard/mainboard and its components of the devices involved. Do not use this cable if you do not know whether the devices involved support this dangerous cable! Follow each step one-by-one

I am not responsible for:

1. The destruction of any of your devices.
2. The burning down of any property.
3. The harm done to any person. Do not make this cable with malintent! If you dare, I assume your utmost punishment by law.
4. Bodily harm such as burning of the skin resulting from improper soldering.
5. Any other unrelated harm of which examples include: random events like bit flips causing the loss of a profession due to a missed alarm, forgetting your password or any unethical excuse to blame me, etcetera.

Preface

This Instructable is dedicated to the hands-on manual production of a USB-A to USB-A cable, intended for specialized uses such as connecting certain Personal Computer (PC) accessories or debugging devices with only USB-A female ports for UART serial interface (like TV boxes, most notably the TX9 Pro Max and the MXQ Pro).

Please note that a simple USB-C-A adapter can be used to avoid the demanding process.

Further reading

The link to the GitHub repository for the Hisillicon TX9 Pro Max Linux Project is given below:

https://github.com/AhiyanMahmudHaq/Hisillicon_TX9_Pro_Max_Linux_Project

This is the GitHub repository for the project that I was working on until I realized I need to obtain a USB-A-A cable to access the Universal Asynchronous Receiver-Transmitter (UART) interface for the device and use Android Debug Bridge (ADB) commands to get to fastboot mode and retrieve the Device Tree Blob (DTB; file extension: .dtb) as an attempt.

You are more than welcome to contribute to the project.

Note: I later realized that root access (su command) is completely blocked by the vendor.

Prerequisites:

1. A soldering iron
2. Solder wire (solder paste does fine)
3. Flux is helpful but not mandatory
4. Heat shrink (electrical tape does fine but is not a long term solution)
5. A tool to remove insulation from the wires like a blunt scissor or a wire stripper
6. Two (preferably obsolete) USB data transfer-enabled cables with a USB-A male connector.
7. Solder mat
8. Gloves for protection of the hands from burns (soldering without gloves is dangerous and may result in burns)
9. A careful mind (negligence can lead to a fatal accident)

Gather all your required tools for soldering the wires together on a singular workspace like a table then station your soldering iron into your soldering stand and turn the power on and set the temperature to the optimal temperature for your soldering method (if needed).

Join the two power lines of the cable with a bit of solder and join the data lines with a bit of solder as well. DO NOT forget to clean your soldering iron's tip to ensure that it does not get damaged. Add flux for further cleaning.

To make sure that no problems regarding connection occur, make sure that the wires are properly insulated before connecting it to anything. Use heat shrink if possible but for temporary connection you can use electrical tape.

Make sure that the wires are connected (soldered) properly.

Now that you have made the cable, make sure that application or use case is valid otherwise YOU WILL BREAK SOMETHING. [Read disclaimer]