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#279076 - 01/11/10 03:13 PM OT: USB hub power
chony Offline
Senior Member

Registered: 03/10/04
Posts: 1247
Loc: New York
Not directly musically related except that I use my USB hub for my music studio

Can anyone recommend a heavy duty USB power hub? I currently have one which I supply power to via a "wall wart" but I'm getting pop ups telling me that the devices are not getting enough power.

Thank you!
Chony

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#279077 - 01/12/10 01:25 AM Re: OT: USB hub power
MacAllcock Offline
Senior Member

Registered: 03/02/02
Posts: 1221
Loc: Preston, Lancashire, England
Sorry, can't recommend a hub because I've never had the problem. But here's my thoughts anyhow...

USB hubs are pretty stupid devices so your issue really boils down to "how much power do you need". Choice of new hub is then down to brand perception /reputation / reliability and size of power supply!

I've just had a Wiki at the USB spec and it suggests that each powered port should be able to provide up to 500ma.

External USB powered hard discs are usually the biggest drain; a lot of them hook up to your pc/hub using 2 usb "A" connectors because that's the only way they can grab enough power from the USB system without exceeding the 500ma per port limit.

So, what devices are hooked up, whats the total drain and does this exceed your wall wart output? If this is the case the simple answer might be just to get a higher
capacity wall wart.

Alternatively, as most PCs provide power to all USB ports available, perhaps you could shuffle things around a bit? Hang the high drain stuff directly off the ports on your PC and hang the low drain stuff (such as printer, scanner, USB stick, webcam) off the hub.

Hope this helps!

John
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#279078 - 01/12/10 01:48 AM Re: OT: USB hub power
abacus Offline
Senior Member

Registered: 07/21/05
Posts: 5352
Loc: English Riviera, UK
Hi Chony
The power supply that comes with a USB hub is designed to provide full power to all the sockets regardless; therefore it looks like there is a fault with the USB Hub or power supply.
As mentioned above some items (That don’t have their own power supply) will need 2 USB connections to work.
Please note: with the cheaper USB Hubs all the ports are linked together, not isolated, therefore if you plug a USB 1 device in, then all the ports become USB 1, so make sure it can run USB 1 & 2 simultaneously with no speed loss.
Hope this helps

Bill
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#279079 - 01/12/10 04:56 AM Re: OT: USB hub power
MacAllcock Offline
Senior Member

Registered: 03/02/02
Posts: 1221
Loc: Preston, Lancashire, England
"Please note: with the cheaper USB Hubs all the ports are linked together, not isolated, therefore if you plug a USB 1 device in, then all the ports become USB 1"

Just goes to show you learn something every day! Thanks for that.
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John Allcock

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#279080 - 01/12/10 05:34 AM Re: OT: USB hub power
Bachus Offline
Senior Member

Registered: 03/02/06
Posts: 7143
Quote:
Originally posted by abacus:
Hi Chony
The power supply that comes with a USB hub is designed to provide full power to all the sockets regardless; therefore it looks like there is a fault with the USB Hub or power supply.
As mentioned above some items (That don’t have their own power supply) will need 2 USB connections to work.
Please note: with the cheaper USB Hubs all the ports are linked together, not isolated, therefore if you plug a USB 1 device in, then all the ports become USB 1, so make sure it can run USB 1 & 2 simultaneously with no speed loss.
Hope this helps

Bill


There is allways a speedloss with any Hub, as the USB bandwith of the orriginal cable has to be shared by all devices connected to the hub... So if 2 devices are on a hub simultanously in action non of them can get the full USB speed..

But then most USB devicess will never use full USB bandwith but obly a fraction of it...
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