Does anybody use a wall powered USB hub like this? I just got one and will be installing it in a few minutes. I have a 7 port now and it's really clunky. It won't make the PC run any better or anything but it will keep be from powering that many devices from the PC power supply. Between dongles for the mouse and keyboard, the camera, the Focusrite, the GPS, the Bose headphones and the et cetera... the 7 port is full. Any time I want to pop a thumb drive on to do file management I have to unplug something. 3 more ports will help. And each port is switchable so I can turn the power to each port on and off if I cared to.

I have one and it worked for a while. After a few weeks, my PC (Windows 11 up to date) started acting out. I took it off the pc and the machine started to work as before.

Your mileage may vary...

...Deb

Interesting. Can't imagine why a benign device like a hub would cause that but I will be on the lookout. Thanks.

I use 2 of them 7 ports a piece and have had nothing but good experiences with both. I have lots of stuff that requires USB and powered hubs make a lot of sense to reduce the power coming from the PC.

I just went with something a little different.

Inateck PCIe to USB 3.2 Gen 2 Extension Card with 16 Gbps Bandwidth, 6 USB Type-A and 2 USB Type-C Ports, RedComets U22

I can tell you it was a b... to install. The tolerances were tight. But working well for past week or two. I went with the PCIe because all the stuff I have to plug in is already taking up precious desktop space. I'm also sure the red color, implying this to be very fast, helped in my descision.

Plug the hub into a USB 3 port on the back of your computer. Better, get what Dan has (I have one of those, older than his).

Problems some people run into relate to power and interrupts.

Each USB port supports a maximum power drain. There are utilities that can make it easier to view this. Each USB port may use its own channel or share with others, and devices sharing the same channel may or may not work well together. For example, I would make sure any digital audio equipment was placed on different interrupts. This may require experimentation.

I purchased the card with two priorities, number of USB ports and speed. Number because no manchines give you enough USB ports for all the devices they have, and speed, because I move a lot of data to external drives for backup storage of VI libraries and pictues and business. And moving 6TB of data can take over a day or 2 with USB 2.0.

This card does share the speed (as they all will) and I liked how it showed what was shared.

That illustration is very helpful, Dan. With some cards it’s a real challenge to find then figure out the optimum way to connect devices.

I need all 10 of the ports. And I don't have a slot on this mobo for it. My only PCIe is where my video card is. My main problem is that I just too much crap that needs to be charged that I barely use. My Garmin GPS stays plugged in so it updates but I so rarely go anywhere I don't even really need the thing with Waze on my phone. The Bose QC-35 headphones that I bought because I could and rarely use have to stay charged. And some are stupid. The camera that sticks to the dashboard and records stuff in front of me, phones, Echo Dot... I really am an over consumer, so with all that stuff I wanted to not over consume power from one USB port.

Matt, is there still such a thing as IRQ conflicts? I haven't seen one of those in years. Don't the newer operating systems allocate those in a way that there is no conflict possible? I thought there was a change in one of the OS upgrades (like back after XP) that allowed for more IRQs but I could be wrong.

I’ll see if I can find more info. You remember IRQ. This is either the same or comparable.

I remember setting IRQs on modems with jumpers. I used to know the numbers. 3 or 4 for modem, keyboard was 1, printer was 7... that is taking me WAY back to DOS!

Some devices may not work well on an externally powered USB hub. I forget what it was exactly.... but I did have something that said explicitly in the setup instructions NOT to run it off of a powered hub but to connect it directly to a USB port on the computer.

If you remember, tell me. So far I have 7 things plugged in and everything is okay.

Well, I have often read the advice that a mouse and a keyboard should not be plugged into a USB hub on a Windows-based computer, although I forgot why if I ever did know. This is NOT the case with Macs.

Most Windows-based computers I've seen expect that the two USB ports in the upper left of the back panel will be used for mouse and keyboard.

If there is something else besides those two, I'm interested in learning about that, too.

+++ Microsoft Support Article +++

Korg keyboards for one.

I'm not following why would I plug my Korg keyboard into a USB port other than using that USB port to transfer MIDI data to the computer, which I would kind of wave off by saying that I have never used USB for MIDI. And even in that case, plugging the keyboard into a

The voltage delivered from this hub is the same 5v as what is delivered by the computer. I have read over a dozen articles about these self powered hubs vs bus powered and the ones that speak of any sort of anomaly are 10 years old or older. Currently I have the dongles for my mouse and keyboard, my Garmin GPS, my Samsung tablet, my iPad, and cell phones plugged into the self powered hub and I have seen nothing wrong.

If anybody has had an issue PLEASE DO tell me so I can test it out. I will literally go buy whatever hardware resulted in a problem to test it because I'm a nerd like that.

Byron can you expand on why a Korg keyboard would have issues, and if you have seen it yourself or read that somewhere? Since, as I said. you don't actually power the keyboard by USB, but just pass MIDI through it, I'd be interested to know more.

I'm also interested to know more about the statement "Korg keyboards for one."

I would like to know how the keyboard is connected, and for what purpose (playing, downloading etc?), any software applications in use (BiaB?, others?) and what are the exact problems that were experienced. Such information would be most useful.

Take note of Jim's article and its mention of Selective Suspend.

You can do this from Control Panel, Power Options (and that's about the only place I need to make adjustments in Windows now). Under the USB power settings, Selective Suspend should be Disabled.

Korg tells you in the documentation that they don't work plugged in to a hub.

They are correct.

I should add that the only Korg I have is a Krome 61 key with a 120v power power pack that transforms down to 12v. MIDI as well as OS and patch updating are done thru the MIDI port and my Focusrite interface. It has a USB connection on it but I have never used it.

Eddie, I also have a seven-port USB/5v with multiple 110v AC outlets. I use it to charge the zillion lights on my recumbent bikes.

For 5v stuff for the computer, I use individual modules to power the mouse, for example. I also have a digital microscope on my desk to look at insects/diseases for identification on plants I grow that uses USB power. The individual modules are of various ampere ratings, from the type to charge the cell phones to slightly larger ones for higher ampere rated devices.

The seven-port device is okay for the garage but sort of clunky for the computer desk.

All this stuff has an ampere/milliampere rating that needs to be considered and matched to the use.

I have never looked at the output of any of these devices with an oscilloscope to see how much noise/ripple they generate or even measured the voltage to see how close to 5v dc they are.

I have a bunch of them, so I may go bust one of them up and look to see how it is made and do some testing. Not that they have caused me any known problems.

Billy

Curiously I found my new BiaB audiophile version didn't want to. No big issue as I chose to copy to the internal drive anyway. I've generally reckoned that most things will work wherever, provided the port supports the throughput OK.

A few years ago my PGM hard drive would not run from a powered hub. I haven't tried that again since then.

But it ran okay on bus power... that is really weird. The power on this 10 port hub is exactly what comes from the USB bus on the computer. I had the VOM out yesterday and tested.

But is it supplying enough amperage?

Yep. Exactly mirrored the power on the USB3 port on my Dell. Very strange that stuff doesn't work.

Mario, do you have to use that cable that allows you to plug into 2 ports? That would double the amps.

Yes I did. But it was on a Win 10 machine or maybe when it was Win 7. It was USB2. It was some time ago.

If it is a powered USB hub, running from the mains electricity, then surely it is designed to supply adequate power for the device loads.

Eddie, are there any specifications in terms of wattage etc on the hub?

The Amazon link:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07Q3TYF15?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details

ACASIS 10 Ports 48W USB 3.0 Data Hub - with Individual On/Off Switches and 12V/4A Power

So it delivers 4 amps at each output.

I currently have the wireless keyboard and mouse adapter, a Samsung tablet, an iPad, a Garmin GPS tracker and 2 cell phones plugged into it and have seen no performance anomalies at all.

When you think about it, the connection going from the power strip to the computer probably doesn't have anything connected to pin 1 and pin 4 where the power runs, only 2 and 3 where the data runs. The ports in the strip, obviously, and wired for +5v on pin 1 and ground on pin 4 on one side and of course reverse on the other so the hot sides mate.

I have a footpedal on my computer that allows me to program it and use it for keystroke function(s) that I might find repetitive for a particular task. There is a little app that programs what the pedal does. The app can't see the pedal if plugged into a powered USB hub.

After programming the pedal, I can move it back to the powered hub and it will work just fine, but if I want to change it to something else, I have to move it to the computer itself.

I don't know why, I just deal with it.

Insights and incites by Notes ♫

I think we're nearly on the same page. The USB power is normally 5 volts, and that powered hub is certainly capable of delivering that 5 volts together with the power required (Watts). If there is an issue with any connection to another device, it's unlikely to be because the powered hub cannot supply the required current to maintain the 5 volt supply.

One thing to remember is that ALL USB connections are powered. Bus power delivers the same 5v as an external hub. I have looked into this topic for years and nobody has ever been able to sell me a reason why some random device cares whether it is powered by bus power or external power. My best guess is that the issue is not the power side but the data stream side. It may be that external hubs (and I will call them that because as I said, ALL USB ports are powered from somewhere) with several devices connected were trying to pass too much data through a USB 2.0 port. USB 2.9 passed data at 480 mbps. 3.0 will pass data 10 times faster at almost 5gbps. (I actually had someone try to tell me one time that you shouldn't plug a 2.0 device into a 3.0 port. Amazing. That's like saying that if your water supply is only 480 psi that pushing that water through a hose that supports 4800 psi means the water won't flow.) I would buy it if they said not to WASTE a 3.0 port with a 2.0 device and then not have a 3.0 port available when you need it. That made me question why PC manufacturers would put BOTH on a computer. If 3.0 is available, and since you put 2 of them on "this" model apparently it is, why not make them ALL 3.0 and remove the mystery?

Shall we get into the conversation as to whether even passive hubs (with no wall power supply) are in a real sense "powered" hubs because the plug into the computer and thus are bus powered?

I only bought this things because I wanted more ports but didn't want to strain my power supply. I am moving the same amount of data as I always did. And data isn't moving through it unless I make it move. There are 4 devices that are just charging. Like the GHOS for example. It does nothing with data until I start the Garmin Express software to check for updates. There are a lot of people who don't understand basic concepts yet postulate theories. Like with amperage. A power supply isn't "shoving" amperes out all the time. It delivers them when you request them, and then when the load stops, it goes back to wait status. I ran into this a lot with people who thought they understood solar power and calculating how much battery was needed. Yet they didn't get that adding a second battery in parallel maintains the 12v but adds amps. One guy literally argued with me that adding a second battery would mean I then had 24v. No concept of parallel vs series.

That's correct and quite fundamental. The USB protocol uses the power on/off to do things like USB device resets and to start up the enumeration process, whereby the device introduces itself to the host and they negotiate what the device wants and what the host and/or hub says it can have.

USB ports have rules about what power can be taken from them and a unpowered hub can supply only what is allowed by the port into which it is plugged. Powered hubs have local autonomy on the power they can supply.



It could be both ... if the device says it wants 1A and the host or hub says it can't supply that, then the device will not operate or will operate in a lower-power mode.



The device/hub/host will all also negotiate a throughput, but it will only be as fast as the whole chain can accept. I remember a time when thing like memory sticks would get an on-screen prompt that says they "may run faster if plugged into a USB ?.? port". Possibly that's now seen as "too hard for the average user", or maybe "Oh, they'll try another port anyway".


No, please don't. Better would be self-powered hubs versus host-powered hubs.

Now that's funny. And you're right, I don't see that message anymore. I made the assumption, probably wrong, that USB 3 is ubiquitous enough now.

What's funny about that for me Matt is the concept that Fred The User can perceive that a file loads faster or slower. When you consider that to load a non executable file first the computer launches the executable attached to the file type, again, Fred The User doesn't even understand that to view that picture of Fluffy the Cat you are first launching the program you have assigned to open images. Or to play sound files, or edit word processor docs... Not one bit of that has anything to do with the speed of a USB port.

I used to LOVE walking into a house to diagnose a problem and sit down at a real piece of crap computer with 4gb of RAM in it, double digit gigabytes of temp files, 4 years of browser history and a complaint that "the internet connection is really slow". Well, no it isn't. It's just that everything you do is first searching through your cache to see if that 3mb image is already on your hard drive before downloading it again. All this on a 12 mpbs connection. I did my best to be tactful but at a point you run out of polite ways to say "The problem is that you have no idea what you are doing here." I usually dump my tmp file folder several times PER DAY!

Then there was the call where the issue was the CD burner wasn't working and "making a funny noise". I drove all the way over to that house, opened the CD drive to make sure the CD wasn't all scratched up to find that they had grabbed 2 CDs when they went to put a CD in to burn it. And the one who called me at 11:15pm to tell me that her kids were playing the pinball game and the computer froze, and it won't shut off even with the power button. I said "You woke me up for THAT? Have you even considered pulling the power cord out of the wall?" She sheepishly said "No." I tried to resist but I had to say it. "You are a JUDGE on the SUPREME COURT of Ohio! You are the most brilliant woman I have ever known and it never occurred to you to pull the power cord?" She just laughed and said "Nope. Go back to bed. I'll send you a check." Or the guy who held a Masters in Chemical Engineering who took my suggestion to order more RAM. He ordered an 8gb stick. The next week he called me to tell me he tried to install it and it took some force but he got it in and now the computer won't boot up. I went over there to find he had managed to force it into an IDE slot. I have NO idea how he even managed to make it fit.

Matt, if you come to Herbstock I bet we could trade "IT Stories of the Damned" for hours.

LOL, good stuff there, Eddie. Luckily, I haven't had to deal with customers like that in my IT history.