Why do some USB cables charge, others don't?

[ul49]

I have a Z5C, and to my frustration a lot of USB cables don't seem to work for charging my phone. Some cables will give me the ping when plugged in, but not charge, and some don't register at all.

I have read that length of cables is sometimes an issue, though I have one 6 ft cable that works and 2 brand new ones from monoprice that don't. I've also read that there are certain 'high capacity' cables that are necessary to work. I know that the official sony cable for this phone is called a UCB11 - I would like to find an equivalent cable that will work for this phone and is longer than 3 ft (the length of the UCB11). Does anyone know how I could go about finding those?

These are the ones I got from monoprice that will not charge my phone. Anyone know why?

[makecustomersha]

usb was not intentionally designed to transport energy to devices.

if plugs do not fit well, you probably won't have a contact that is capable to transfer energy -

use cable with plugs of known quality.

second the plug might be coded to support a max current, which is not suitable to your device, as 

USB charging spec was firstly introduced with USB 3.0

source en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USB_3.0#Power_and_charging

Jo

[JoeGillian]

Yes, i have the same issue and i am quite unhappy with that.

I have an external battery with microusb cable built-in that does not work with the sony Z5 compact.

I found out the hard way on holidays i did not take the sony cable but a generic that works well with other phones and devices but would not work on my phone!

I don't need the extra length and i do have some long cables that work with it as well as a cable extender.

In your case, You can buy for cheap a compact multi usb charger with a removable power cable, it is very convenient