Usb cable confusion

[Dep]

I have a Mobius camera with capacitor that I swap between vehicles. It works in all vehicles apart from a 2016 (453) Smart car. To get it to work in this car I have discovered that I have to use a different usb cable. This other usb cable will work with the camera in all other vehicles. However it is inconvenient being about 3 m long ! I reckon the Smart usb connector must be different. So, how can I know what shorter usb cable to buy that will work? All responses gratefully received.

 

[Rajagra]

Sounds like the Mobius is recognising the USB port as a computer and going into external drive mode.
I'm surprised you have a cable that overcomes this. I've heard of power-only USB cables (no data), but they seem to be rare as hen's teeth.
If I recall, you can take the Mobius out of this mode with button presses, that isn't very convenient when using as a dashcam though.

Edit> May not be possible to prevent storage mode with the capacitor version.
From mSetup:

Recording when directly connected to a PC
With the Mobius, it is possible to charge the battery and record videos or time-lapse photos at the same time while connected to a PC for charging only. You cannot access the SD while recording.
In order to do this, the video or time-lapse photo recording must be started before the camera is connected to the PC. It is not possible to record if the camera is turned on while connected to a PC. Likewise it is not possible to take single still pictures while the camera is connected to the PC.

 

[tmpz]

The same thing happens with my Escape. The USB is being recognized and thinks it's connected to a computer which is kinda true.
I ended up having to tape up the 2 middle pins on the USB Type A side for force power only:

 

[SawMaster]

Yep, you gotta lose the data connections somehow. IIRC Mobius comes with a short power-only USB cable doesn't it? If so that could be plugged into any other cable as the data connection will be broken and that's all you need No difference between battery and caps as long as there's no data connection.

Phil