HP Forums

Just read in another thread something with the "official charger" so this came to my mind:
Does anybody know what the little rubber thing around the USB cable should be for?
At first I thought maybe someone did a mistake while designing the charger, so that there might be a dangerous voltage accessible somehow. But after close looking and poking some measurement probes at the USB port I couldn't find anything unusal. (would've been a really hacky fix anyway)

The legend says TW melted the 2nd cable originally included, rejected by the evil hp merchandising staff, into that little rubber thing to keep alive the truth for upcoming generations.

I think the documentation somewhere stated that it is to go around the USB plug when in the A/C adapter for mechanical re-inforcement / keeping from flexing the USB too much that it breaks or something like that.

Hello,

ESD protection.
Nuff said.

Cyrille

Oh I see, it goes around the place where the metal is exposed to avoid sparks. Many times I've put a finger just too close to such things only to get zapped (though not on the Prime's cable yet, but on other devices).
Thanks for clearing that up Cyrille.