Is this an almost powered hub.

I just got a USB hub, a cheap one that I haven't had reason to use
yet, with 7 outputs, each with a switch and a light.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

It's $5.23 now but I paid 3.19.

And it has a little hole on the end with a little pin in the hole that
doesn't look shiny or like it's metal. The only tip I have that
fits has a light red tip on the tip's tip.

So I don't have an easy way to test and I thought you experienced guys
might know if this means, even though the ad made no reference to it,
that if I find a 5.3v power supply, I'll have a powered hub? If I
ever need one.

Micky wrote:
I just got a USB hub, a cheap one that I haven't had reason to use
yet, with 7 outputs, each with a switch and a light.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

It's $5.23 now but I paid 3.19.

And it has a little hole on the end with a little pin in the hole that
doesn't look shiny or like it's metal. The only tip I have that
fits has a light red tip on the tip's tip.

So I don't have an easy way to test and I thought you experienced guys
might know if this means, even though the ad made no reference to it,
that if I find a 5.3v power supply, I'll have a powered hub? If I
ever need one.

You could try it and see.
The worst that can happen is it destroys your computer and peripherals by
back feeding unknown voltage and polarity into them.

Micky wrote:
I just got a USB hub, a cheap one that I haven't had reason to use
yet, with 7 outputs, each with a switch and a light.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

It's $5.23 now but I paid 3.19.

And it has a little hole on the end with a little pin in the hole that
doesn't look shiny or like it's metal. The only tip I have that
fits has a light red tip on the tip's tip.

So I don't have an easy way to test and I thought you experienced guys
might know if this means, even though the ad made no reference to it,
that if I find a 5.3v power supply, I'll have a powered hub? If I
ever need one.

I think you mean a 5 V supply?

Whether or not that hole is designed for a 5V supply I can't tell from
here - and, even if it were, you'd also have to be sure of the correct
polarity or you could damage it (and the devices connected to it). (my
guess is the center conductor is normally positive, but a voltmeter would
confirm that)

Micky wrote:

I just got a USB hub, a cheap one that I haven't had reason to use
yet, with 7 outputs, each with a switch and a light.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

It's $5.23 now but I paid 3.19.

And it has a little hole on the end with a little pin in the hole that
doesn't look shiny or like it's metal. The only tip I have that
fits has a light red tip on the tip's tip.

That probably was supposed to mean something.

So I don't have an easy way to test and I thought you experienced guys
might know if this means, even though the ad made no reference to it,
that if I find a 5.3v power supply, I'll have a powered hub? If I
ever need one.

It connects to a USB port for input. All USB hubs have to do that.
They have to connect somewhere. That one USB connect will have to share
its load (amperage) across all 7 USB ports on the hub. Not only is that
a passive hub but a dangerous one. An unpowered USB hub should have a
max of 4 ports to minimize users from adding too many devices (all of
which must be low-power devices). If you plug a headset (headphones and
mic) into that USB hub, that will be the only thing you plug into the
hub - so you might as well as skip the hub and plug the headset into the
system USB port (into which the hub plugs into).

A unit load for USB 2 is 100 mA. For 7 ports, that's 0.7 A. A device
may draw up to a maximum of 5 unit loads, or 0.5 A. For 7 ports, that's
3.5 A. Limits are higher for USB3 but this device has a USB2 connector.
With a max load of 0.5 A per USB port, obviously the 3.5A max load for 7
ports is severely excessive. Even for a single unit load on each port,
0.7 A exceeds the 0.5 A the port can handle. You would never be able to
use more than 5 low-powered (single unit load) devices to that hub.

Where did you get an idea that this was an "almost powered" USB hub?
There is no A/C power adapter. It doesn't use batteries. There is no
nuclear reactor within. The last (lowest) pic for the product shows
what looks like a power connection; however, that the jack is there does
not mean there are internal guts (circuitry) to provide power regulation
and distribution (to ensure each port in the hub doesn't draw excessive
power). Quite often the same case is used for a family of products.
That's why you see motherboards or other electronics that look like they
have patterns for more components but adding the component doesn't
create the others to complete the circuitry that is missing from that
model or revision of the model. I've had several cable modems over many
years that had a USB port that would be for connecting a networked USB
drive (to share with everyone on that router) but it is useless because
there is no circuity attached to that port or the firmware version
doesn't support networking a drive on that port. The port is there but
it's bogus.

The On/Off switch merely disconnects/connects the USB ports for
signaling. Nothing to do with applying/removing power to the ports. If
the description doesn't mention something like "A/C powered (optional,
sold separately)" then you'll have to contact the seller and hope they
don't lie to you. One of the questions at that Amazon page asks if it
is a powered USB hub, and the respondent said a separate A/C adapter had
to be purchased (but never really did say that the USB ports then became
powered in that hub).

If you want a powered hub, make sure to search on "powered USB hub", and
make sure the description notes that an A/C power adapter is included
(and remember to multiply the port counts with 0.5 A per port to make
sure the power adapter can handle full power to ALL ports).

Micky wrote:
I just got a USB hub, a cheap one that I haven't had reason to use
yet, with 7 outputs, each with a switch and a light.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

It's $5.23 now but I paid 3.19.

And it has a little hole on the end with a little pin in the hole that
doesn't look shiny or like it's metal. The only tip I have that
fits has a light red tip on the tip's tip.

So I don't have an easy way to test and I thought you experienced guys
might know if this means, even though the ad made no reference to it,
that if I find a 5.3v power supply, I'll have a powered hub? If I
ever need one.

I don't think anyone here would want to
spoil the surprise for you. Disassemble it
and analyze the circuit, see what you actually
bought.

One reviewer hints it is running at USB1.1 rates
(took a long long time to complete a file transfer).
That's something I'd want to check, before spending
any more time on it. It could be two four-port USB1.1
hubs chained together or something. USB1.1 averages
~1MB/sec during file transfers. My old Macintosh has
USB1.1 ports and I know just how useless they can be.

The fact you (casually as possible) mention a 5.3VDC
supply for the thing, implies a diode backfeed protection
scheme of some sort. I'd want to draw my circuit
schematic first, before connecting the "item" to anything
important. (On poorly constructed powered USB hubs,
power flows backwards from the wall adapter,
up the USB cable and into the computer which
is powered down. Potentially disrupting motherboard
circuitry and giving strange symptoms.)

On the Alcor AU9254 datasheet, they show a small relay
being used for backfeed protection. Using such a scheme,
bog standard 5.0V power sources can be used. It's pretty
hard to bodge a good solution using Schottky diodes,
but that doesn't mean no-name shops haven't tried.

PDF page 16, relay is "K1", U2 can be removed if using a 5V wall wart

http://logout.sh/computers/projects/...0R2-020108.pdf

Paul

On Thu, 30 Jun 2016 01:12:23 -0500, VanguardLH wrote:

Micky wrote:

I just got a USB hub, a cheap one that I haven't had reason to use
yet, with 7 outputs, each with a switch and a light.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

It's $5.23 now but I paid 3.19.

And it has a little hole on the end with a little pin in the hole that
doesn't look shiny or like it's metal. The only tip I have that
fits has a light red tip on the tip's tip.

That probably was supposed to mean something.

So I don't have an easy way to test and I thought you experienced guys
might know if this means, even though the ad made no reference to it,
that if I find a 5.3v power supply, I'll have a powered hub? If I
ever need one.

It connects to a USB port for input. All USB hubs have to do that.
They have to connect somewhere. That one USB connect will have to share
its load (amperage) across all 7 USB ports on the hub. Not only is that
a passive hub but a dangerous one. An unpowered USB hub should have a
max of 4 ports to minimize users from adding too many devices (all of
which must be low-power devices). If you plug a headset (headphones and
mic) into that USB hub, that will be the only thing you plug into the
hub - so you might as well as skip the hub and plug the headset into the
system USB port (into which the hub plugs into).

A unit load for USB 2 is 100 mA. For 7 ports, that's 0.7 A. A device
may draw up to a maximum of 5 unit loads, or 0.5 A. For 7 ports, that's
3.5 A. Limits are higher for USB3 but this device has a USB2 connector.
With a max load of 0.5 A per USB port, obviously the 3.5A max load for 7
ports is severely excessive. Even for a single unit load on each port,
0.7 A exceeds the 0.5 A the port can handle. You would never be able to
use more than 5 low-powered (single unit load) devices to that hub.

Where did you get an idea that this was an "almost powered" USB hub?
There is no A/C power adapter. It doesn't use batteries. There is no
nuclear reactor within. The last (lowest) pic for the product shows
what looks like a power connection; however, that the jack is there does
not mean there are internal guts (circuitry) to provide power regulation
and distribution (to ensure each port in the hub doesn't draw excessive
power). Quite often the same case is used for a family of products.
That's why you see motherboards or other electronics that look like they
have patterns for more components but adding the component doesn't
create the others to complete the circuitry that is missing from that
model or revision of the model. I've had several cable modems over many
years that had a USB port that would be for connecting a networked USB
drive (to share with everyone on that router) but it is useless because
there is no circuity attached to that port or the firmware version
doesn't support networking a drive on that port. The port is there but
it's bogus.

The On/Off switch merely disconnects/connects the USB ports for
signaling. Nothing to do with applying/removing power to the ports. If
the description doesn't mention something like "A/C powered (optional,
sold separately)" then you'll have to contact the seller and hope they
don't lie to you. One of the questions at that Amazon page asks if it
is a powered USB hub, and the respondent said a separate A/C adapter had
to be purchased (but never really did say that the USB ports then became
powered in that hub).

If you want a powered hub, make sure to search on "powered USB hub", and
make sure the description notes that an A/C power adapter is included
(and remember to multiply the port counts with 0.5 A per port to make
sure the power adapter can handle full power to ALL ports).

I have one of these. It is either the same hub or a very similar one.
You are right, you can't use it for and high powered devices and the
switches let you power down the things you are not using. It is still
pretty handy because you do not need to unplug them every time.
I did see the micro coaxial power input but I have not seen the spec
for what you are supposed to plug into it. I suppose it is 5v with
plus on the center pin but I have not tried it.

Micky wrote:
I just got a USB hub, a cheap one that I haven't had reason to use
yet, with 7 outputs, each with a switch and a light.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

It's $5.23 now but I paid 3.19.

And it has a little hole on the end with a little pin in the hole that
doesn't look shiny or like it's metal. The only tip I have that
fits has a light red tip on the tip's tip.

So I don't have an easy way to test and I thought you experienced guys
might know if this means, even though the ad made no reference to it,
that if I find a 5.3v power supply, I'll have a powered hub? If I
ever need one.

I have a general question he How are you supposed to tell if these are
"intelligent" hubs with some electronics inside, or simply a bunch of
parallel connected USB connectors (which wouldn't be of any use except to
power some low current device)?

If there really is any electronics inside (for servicing the ports as a real
hub should), I don't know how they can do it for $5.00.

On Thu, 30 Jun 2016 14:43:04 -0600, "Bill in Co"
wrote:

Micky wrote:
I just got a USB hub, a cheap one that I haven't had reason to use
yet, with 7 outputs, each with a switch and a light.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

It's $5.23 now but I paid 3.19.

And it has a little hole on the end with a little pin in the hole that
doesn't look shiny or like it's metal. The only tip I have that
fits has a light red tip on the tip's tip.

So I don't have an easy way to test and I thought you experienced guys
might know if this means, even though the ad made no reference to it,
that if I find a 5.3v power supply, I'll have a powered hub? If I
ever need one.

I have a general question he How are you supposed to tell if these are
"intelligent" hubs with some electronics inside, or simply a bunch of
parallel connected USB connectors (which wouldn't be of any use except to
power some low current device)?

If there really is any electronics inside (for servicing the ports as a real
hub should), I don't know how they can do it for $5.00.


Dunno but I have one and it runs everything but disk drives and other
high power devices. Sticks, bluetooth/2.5 gz transmitter, mice and my
camera port work fine. I do try to keep the things I am not using,
turned off. I suppose the chip comes out of China for pennies a pop.

Bill in Co wrote:
Micky wrote:
I just got a USB hub, a cheap one that I haven't had reason to use
yet, with 7 outputs, each with a switch and a light.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

It's $5.23 now but I paid 3.19.

And it has a little hole on the end with a little pin in the hole that
doesn't look shiny or like it's metal. The only tip I have that
fits has a light red tip on the tip's tip.

So I don't have an easy way to test and I thought you experienced guys
might know if this means, even though the ad made no reference to it,
that if I find a 5.3v power supply, I'll have a powered hub? If I
ever need one.

I have a general question he How are you supposed to tell if these are
"intelligent" hubs with some electronics inside, or simply a bunch of
parallel connected USB connectors (which wouldn't be of any use except to
power some low current device)?

If there really is any electronics inside (for servicing the ports as a real
hub should), I don't know how they can do it for $5.00.

Each port will receive a private D+ and D-.

If one port was "shared" with mechanical switches,
over seven connectors, it wouldn't be a seven port
device, because it could not run seven devices
simultaneously.

You could build a "seven port charging bar"
with that sort of perverse thinking, but if you want
data communications you have to shell out a little
bit more for chips.

And they could do it for $5.00 ... if the materials
were acquired in a distress sale. If a small company
making hubs went bankrupt, the remaining finished goods
inventory might have been sold for pennies on the dollar.

Paul

Paul wrote:
Bill in Co wrote:
Micky wrote:
I just got a USB hub, a cheap one that I haven't had reason to use
yet, with 7 outputs, each with a switch and a light.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

It's $5.23 now but I paid 3.19.

And it has a little hole on the end with a little pin in the hole that
doesn't look shiny or like it's metal. The only tip I have that
fits has a light red tip on the tip's tip.

So I don't have an easy way to test and I thought you experienced guys
might know if this means, even though the ad made no reference to it,
that if I find a 5.3v power supply, I'll have a powered hub? If I
ever need one.

I have a general question he How are you supposed to tell if these
are
"intelligent" hubs with some electronics inside, or simply a bunch of
parallel connected USB connectors (which wouldn't be of any use except
to power some low current device)?

If there really is any electronics inside (for servicing the ports as a
real
hub should), I don't know how they can do it for $5.00.

Each port will receive a private D+ and D-.

I see. I suppose, then, there is some inexpensive ASIC inside, dedicated to
just that task.

If one port was "shared" with mechanical switches,
over seven connectors, it wouldn't be a seven port
device, because it could not run seven devices
simultaneously.

You could build a "seven port charging bar"
with that sort of perverse thinking, but if you want
data communications you have to shell out a little
bit more for chips.

Do they even make such a thing (multiport charging bar)?

And they could do it for $5.00 ... if the materials
were acquired in a distress sale. If a small company
making hubs went bankrupt, the remaining finished goods
inventory might have been sold for pennies on the dollar.

Paul

So it sounds like that's what they did. To me it's still pretty amazing
for $5.00. I wonder if it's just one customized IC (ASIC) inside that does
it all.

Bill in Co wrote:


So it sounds like that's what they did. To me it's still pretty amazing
for $5.00. I wonder if it's just one customized IC (ASIC) inside that does
it all.

They might tie two four port hubs in series, to make
a seven port hub, and burning up two hub delays for
the ports near the end of the bar.

You can only have five hubs in a row. And that limit
is defined digitally, rather than by some analog electronics
limitation. Some recent Intel chips, place a hub in
the Southbridge, burning up one from the limit. An
external hub with two hub chips daisy chained,
could burn up two. Leaving two more hub (digital
regenerators) in the budget. For example,
I own three active extension cords (with a plastic
"blob" on one end of the cord), and in the
above description, I could only use two of
them before connecting the $5 item. I presume
(but haven't tested), that a too-long chain
just refuses to work.

You *can* find some weird USB extension cords,
and you can use something other than USB protocol
for remoting a USB signal. But I don't have any
handy rule of thumb for exactly how far you
could go that way. I'm just happy with my
bog-standard 15 foot extension cables and
the hub limit. I haven't tried to go "down the
street" with the stuff.

For its intended purpose, the little $5 hub
will be fine. Like, as a means to plug in
a bunch of USB flash keys or something. But
knowing just how cheap some outfits can be,
I wouldn't rule out the possibility that
the hub chips are USB1.1 and were "clearance
items" at some chip factory. Just as I'm sure
even to this day, you could find laplink USB
cables running at USB1.1 rates, when really
all of those should have been trucked to the
landfill by now. Who wants to move files
between PCs at 1MB/sec ? Not me :-)

Paul

On Fri, 01 Jul 2016 08:20:22 -0400, Paul wrote:




You *can* find some weird USB extension cords,
and you can use something other than USB protocol
for remoting a USB signal. But I don't have any
handy rule of thumb for exactly how far you
could go that way. I'm just happy with my
bog-standard 15 foot extension cables and
the hub limit. I haven't tried to go "down the
street" with the stuff.


I have some of the 3 meter extensions and you can daisy chain them. I
also have a few 20 meter cords and it will not run my printer reliably
but it does work for a mouse/kbd

For its intended purpose, the little $5 hub
will be fine. Like, as a means to plug in
a bunch of USB flash keys or something. But
knowing just how cheap some outfits can be,
I wouldn't rule out the possibility that
the hub chips are USB1.1 and were "clearance
items" at some chip factory.

The 7 port I have (branded "Ports") is 2.0 but I imagine that is the
clearance chip now.

[Default] On Wed, 29 Jun 2016 21:16:10 -0600, in
microsoft.public.windowsxp.general "Bill in Co"
wrote:

Micky wrote:
I just got a USB hub, a cheap one that I haven't had reason to use
yet, with 7 outputs, each with a switch and a light.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

It's $5.23 now but I paid 3.19.

And it has a little hole on the end with a little pin in the hole that
doesn't look shiny or like it's metal. The only tip I have that
fits has a light red tip on the tip's tip.

So I don't have an easy way to test and I thought you experienced guys
might know if this means, even though the ad made no reference to it,
that if I find a 5.3v power supply, I'll have a powered hub? If I
ever need one.

I think you mean a 5 V supply?

I must. I don't know where I got the .3.

Whether or not that hole is designed for a 5V supply I can't tell from
here - and, even if it were, you'd also have to be sure of the correct
polarity or you could damage it (and the devices connected to it). (my
guess is the center conductor is normally positive, but a voltmeter would
confirm that)

If I could get a probe into the USB jack, it would be easy enough to
measure the voltage there now, then plug in the adapter and see if it
is in the same direction. Maybe I have a usb cable that is damaged
anyhow and I can cut open the wire instead of measuring the jack. I
have a universal adapter where it's easy to reverse polarity. After
I find what I need, I try to replace the universal one with a fixed
one.

[Default] On Thu, 30 Jun 2016 14:43:04 -0600, in
microsoft.public.windowsxp.general "Bill in Co"
wrote:

Micky wrote:
I just got a USB hub, a cheap one that I haven't had reason to use
yet, with 7 outputs, each with a switch and a light.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

It's $5.23 now but I paid 3.19.

And it has a little hole on the end with a little pin in the hole that
doesn't look shiny or like it's metal. The only tip I have that
fits has a light red tip on the tip's tip.

So I don't have an easy way to test and I thought you experienced guys
might know if this means, even though the ad made no reference to it,
that if I find a 5.3v power supply, I'll have a powered hub? If I
ever need one.

I have a general question he How are you supposed to tell if these are
"intelligent" hubs with some electronics inside, or simply a bunch of
parallel connected USB connectors (which wouldn't be of any use except to
power some low current device)?

I didn't think it was much more than a hub with 3 outputs, but I like
being able to leave things plugged in and turning them off with a
switch. I certainly don't have 7 things to plug into it, but I think
the camera is a low current device

If there really is any electronics inside (for servicing the ports as a real
hub should), I don't know how they can do it for $5.00.

It's amazing that they can sell things so cheap. A couple years ago I
bought a Bluetooth dongle for $1.50 including postage, and it works.
It's got to have electronics inside. Actually I bought two for
about the same price, one came with a little CD and one didn't, one
worked and one didn't. I meant to keep track of which one worked,
but I didn't.

I just bought another one for my netbook. I'm hoping it works. ;-)
Even if it's the brand that didn't work last time, they've had a few
years to learn to do a better job.

[Default] On Thu, 30 Jun 2016 16:57:47 -0400, in
microsoft.public.windowsxp.general wrote:


I have a general question he How are you supposed to tell if these are
"intelligent" hubs with some electronics inside, or simply a bunch of
parallel connected USB connectors (which wouldn't be of any use except to
power some low current device)?

If there really is any electronics inside (for servicing the ports as a real
hub should), I don't know how they can do it for $5.00.

On mine, the bottom is only glued at the ends, it bulges out a little
in the middle. Even if I broke the bottom prying it off, it would
work just as well, and I could glue it back. But I'm not going to for
a few more years.

Dunno but I have one and it runs everything but disk drives and other
high power devices. Sticks, bluetooth/2.5 gz transmitter, mice and my
camera port work fine. I do try to keep the things I am not using,
turned off. I suppose the chip comes out of China for pennies a pop.

Even in the US, once it's designed and set up, the marginal cost of a
chip is only pennies.