Camera USB & GPSU cable length question

[reddoss]

I am buying a bigger tent with a living area for the Autumn star parties, so I can sit inside with my laptop while waiting for the long exposures to finish. I have bought two 3 meter USB cables for the CCD and the guide camera from Maplins and will need to get some sort of extension for the Shoestring Astronomy GPUSB.

My questuons are;

a) From the experiences of others, is 3 meters going to be long enough?

What lengths do you use and what is the maximum length before loss/degradation of signal?

Cheers in advance,

Justyn

[fatwoul]

I can tell you that whether or not 3m is long enough, if you go any further you may experience problems with the devices connected to the USB. Although the limit is supposed to be 5m for passive USB, I have had issues even with 3m cables on occasion. I was able to solve that with powered USB hubs, but in a starparty environment, I don't know how feasible that would be.

[Spikey]

I use one 10m active USB cable to control my imaging rig from either inside my caravan or porch awning. I don't tend to use a powered hub most of the time but do have the option to power it if necessary.

I should add that I'm running off a PSU powered from the mains and the laptop is also mains powered.