USB Hubba hubba!

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MIDI Life Crisis
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USB Hubba hubba!

Post by MIDI Life Crisis »

Just bought one of these and it is awesome!

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 4TK2D94195

Nine of the ten USB ports have switchable power. They are grouped in threes, so if you have six active devices, you power those six (or three or nine) only. For devices that pull power regardless of whether they are active or not, this is great. Also great for storing thumb (flash) drives. The thing also have a built-in power surge protector!

I have about 16 USB devices attached to my machine, but only need some of them some of the time to be powered or turned on. This is a great solution. I will eventually replace my other hubs with this one. Highly recommended!
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Re: USB Hubba hubba!

Post by buzzsmith »

Thanks!

I might need to look into this.

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Re: USB Hubba hubba!

Post by James Steele »

Yes, thanks for sharing this, Michael! I just ordered one. $35 seems like a good deal. I don't have any USB 3 stuff but at least it's good for the future. I had TWO very old powered hubs that were daisy chained and lately was having issues with devices not been seen by my Mac!
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Re: USB Hubba hubba!

Post by MIDI Life Crisis »

No problem. Frankly, I'm impressed with how well this thing is built. Good old American manufacturing... (that's not political, I hope... :) )
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Re: USB Hubba hubba!

Post by James Steele »

MIDI Life Crisis wrote:No problem. Frankly, I'm impressed with how well this thing is built. Good old American manufacturing... (that's not political, I hope... :) )
Not at all. I like it when things I buy are made in America. It means an American had a job.
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Re: USB Hubba hubba!

Post by stubbsonic »

With these recent hubs, is there still that concern over whether each port will operate at max speed for the device attached; i.e., when you have mixed USB 1, USB 2, and USB 3 devices on the same bus?

I got an overhub and it works fine, but I don't know if that aspect of it is doing anything special.
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Re: USB Hubba hubba!

Post by Klaus »

Re: USB hubs…
I lately found out, that the USB power ( 5V ? ) isn't just delivered by an active hub, but also by the computer at the same time…and I was told this complies to the USB specs…
I wanted to 'not' supply the mac USB power…

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Re: USB Hubba hubba!

Post by mikehalloran »

Klaus wrote:Re: USB hubs…
I lately found out, that the USB power ( 5V ? ) isn't just delivered by an active hub, but also by the computer at the same time…and I was told this complies to the USB specs…
I wanted to 'not' supply the mac USB power…

Best regards

Klaus
Not all Mac portables supply bus power to all USB ports—I no longer remember what years and models but it can be looked up. Many of the portables supply it to one port only. In the case of desktop Mac, all ports supply bus power except the keyboard ports. You can't change that.

A passive hub can't pass bus power to more than one port without reducing the available Watts. A properly designed powered hub can supply bus power to all.

Charging ports are different in that they supply enough Wattage (5W) to charge an iPhone on each. This is a lot more than the USB spec for bus powered devices. They do not supply the 10W or 12W required to charge an iPad and may burn out if you plug one in.
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Re: USB Hubba hubba!

Post by mikehalloran »

stubbsonic wrote:With these recent hubs, is there still that concern over whether each port will operate at max speed for the device attached; i.e., when you have mixed USB 1, USB 2, and USB 3 devices on the same bus?

I got an overhub and it works fine, but I don't know if that aspect of it is doing anything special.
USB 3 is not backward compatible and does not run on the same bus as USB 1.1 & 2.

USB 3 cables and connectors usually have USB 2 cables built in (some don't) but the signals do not run over the same wires and connectors. If you use a USB 2 cable, your USB 3 bus will be disconnected.

USB 1.1 and 2 devices coexist on the same bus without a problem. Apple keyboards and wired mice are USB 1.1, for example. If you plug into the ports on an Apple keyboard, you are plugging into 1.1 (some 3rd party keyboards are USB 2).
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Re: USB Hubba hubba!

Post by mikehalloran »

James Steele wrote:... i had TWO very old powered hubs that were daisy chained and lately was having issues with devices not been seen by my Mac!
I recently bought new hubs with the same issue. D-Link hubs may be fine for Windows but do not work properly on a Mac, for example.
Last edited by mikehalloran on Tue Nov 08, 2016 12:35 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: USB Hubba hubba!

Post by bayswater »

How does the USB2 versus USB3 distinction apply to powered ports? If, as this is, you have a powered USB 3 hub, and it has the wiring for USB 2, is it necessarily going to provide power over USB 2?

And, what sort of power levels should you look for? This says it delivers 0.9 amps over USB 3. Is that a lot for a powered USB hub?

This looks like the perfect thing to replace my ancient powered 6 port USB 2 hub, but not if the power only works over USB 3 connections.
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Re: USB Hubba hubba!

Post by James Steele »

Does this mean this hub is not backward com with USB2? It will not work or supply power to USB2 devices? I got this to use with my MacPro 5,1 which is USB2 and I do not have any USB3 devices.
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Re: USB Hubba hubba!

Post by bayswater »

James Steele wrote:Does this mean this hub is not backward com with USB2? It will not work or supply power to USB2 devices? I got this to use with my MacPro 5,1 which is USB2 and I do not have any USB3 devices.
My bet is it will communicate with USB 2 devices, most USB 3 devices do, but I wanted to make sure it would power them too before I order.
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Re: USB Hubba hubba!

Post by mikehalloran »

Any powered hub should provide bus power to both 1.1 / 2 and 3. If a hub has 5W charging ports, it will be advertised as such and they will be marked.

Charging ports on the hubs I own charge my iPhone fine. Bus power will but it takes hours.

I bought this one and it works great—all ports provide bus power but only two are charging ports—clearly marked, btw. I don't have USB 3 on my 2010 iMac but my wife's Air has it and it works great with hers, too.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00E6 ... =UTF8&th=1

Support auto switching between self-power and buspower mode
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Re: USB Hubba hubba!

Post by mikehalloran »

MIDI Life Crisis wrote:Just bought one of these and it is awesome!

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 4TK2D94195

Nine of the ten USB ports have switchable power. They are grouped in threes, so if you have six active devices, you power those six (or three or nine) only. For devices that pull power regardless of whether they are active or not, this is great. Also great for storing thumb (flash) drives. The thing also have a built-in power surge protector!

I have about 16 USB devices attached to my machine, but only need some of them some of the time to be powered or turned on. This is a great solution. I will eventually replace my other hubs with this one. Highly recommended!
According to the page, it has one charging port but with enough juice to charge a tablet. Does anybody need more than one?

Had I seen this before I bought mine, I probably would have bought it instead. Looks great.

Mac users should not buy this one:

http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/ ... nk/reviews
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