StarTech Industrial USB Hub

[r3i]

Mine arrived today and it's a great piece of kit. All the USB devices are working well with it. Also several 12V supply circuit issues that I had when the old hub was in place have magically disappeared - not sure whether it was the cheapo hub that was causing the problems or the 12V-5V USB cigarette adapter I was using to power the hub, but anyway the rig is now running quite nicely.

[andyo]

Just got mine and I have the mount,Atik314L+,EFW2,QHY5, all running through this hub powered by the 12v output from the hitech astro dew controller.All going down the one 10m active repeater cable and all is working fine.Will continue to run tests for a week or so and all being well can then remove loads of redundant cables

[midnight_sky_watcher]

Hows it going the your 7 port hub daz?

[Macavity]

I have a Startech 4-port usb hub for my VIDEO setup. Excellent thing IMO. Following up an Amazom comments rumour, there is an undocumented feature, allowing you to FIX the power source as internal, external or "both". I sense the default setting is "both" and allows external to take priority. There are two internal jumpers, but the PCB legend seems rather arbitrary. <G> But, if you want to be sure that it's operating off the power source you want, maybe worth experimenting...

Finally cured an annoying intermittent USB dropout by replacing ONE cable. Aaargh! As I had thought (the above suggests) getting quality stuff, decent connections etc., renders a slight dodgy (IMO) system (a fair bit) better.

Just reminded of a Network Systems Guy I once knew - Used to call one

of these things (I won't name which) "the haemmerhoid protocol".

[Herrman]

Hi,

I've scanned through this thread with interest- from time to time I've had problems with losing connectivity between eqmod and mount, and between laptop and cameras, so I'm thinking of following the trend and investing in one of these USB 3.0 hubs, in the hope it may cure such problems.

A couple of questions I wondered if anyone can answer for me-

The distance between my 'observatory' and mount is about 7 m, so I guess I'd need to use a 10 m (USB 3.0?) repeater cable; is this likely to affect the performance of the hub?

Does the hub draw its electrical supply through the USB cable, or does it need an external power source? If it does, I have a 12 V bench supply, could I draw from this?

Very grateful for any comments or advice you can offer.

Regards,

Herrman

[r3i]

Hi,

I've scanned through this thread with interest- from time to time I've had problems with losing connectivity between eqmod and mount, and between laptop and cameras, so I'm thinking of following the trend and investing in one of these USB 3.0 hubs, in the hope it may cure such problems.

A couple of questions I wondered if anyone can answer for me-

The distance between my 'observatory' and mount is about 7 m, so I guess I'd need to use a 10 m (USB 3.0?) repeater cable; is this likely to affect the performance of the hub?

Does the hub draw its electrical supply through the USB cable, or does it need an external power source? If it does, I have a 12 V bench supply, could I draw from this?

Very grateful for any comments or advice you can offer.

Regards,

Herrman

Hi Herrman,

The one I bought was just USB 2, but there is a USB 3 version but I think it was over £100. They can be run unpowered or powered but if you're running lots of devices off it I would go for a powered setup - a 12V bench supply is ideal, that's what I use. And if there's a distance of over 5m between the hub and the PC you'll certainly want some kind of active cabling.

[Beyond_Vision]

You can use the following types of connectors for bulk head mounting which are environmentally sealed. They also will conform to the usb standard. http://uk.farnell.co...matchallpartial

[Herrman]

Hi Mike,

Many thanks for your reply and advice.

Glad to know I could power the hub from my existing 12 V supply- the fewer cables for me to trip over the better!

There's a USB 3.0 version available from Amazon for around £70- think I'll invest in one before they all go!

All the best, Herrman

[Herrman]

Hi Black Cloud,

Just used the link you supplied to look at the bulk head mounting connectors- these look really good, I didn't know such things existed. I can think of a couple of projects where these will come in very useful. Thanks!

Regards,

Herrman

[Herrman]

Hi,

Thought you might be interested to know I've brought the StarTech 7 port USB 3 hubt (through Amazon). No chance to use it in anger yet, but first impressions are that it's a compact, well-built piece of kit, supplied with a generous USB cable. I connected it to my laptop and the drivers loaded without issue. I plugged my DMK21 into the hub; no problems with connectivity. I'll be interested to see how it performs in the field with camera, filterwheel, autoguider etc attached and feeding back to the laptop via a 5 m repeater cable.

Watch this space!

Thanks to Daz for drawing the unit to my attention.

All the best, Herrman

[Jessun]

I struggle with USB 3. I have three laptops with USB 3 ports and on the older ones that only came with one I've actually taped over the socket so I don't accidentally plug anything in there. My USB 2 hub for instance can't handle it, and the laptop crashes with that blue screen....

Perhaps it's backwards compatibility that is the problem when mixing...

The hub is brilliant tho!

/Jesper

[perfrej]

Just got mine and I have the mount,Atik314L+,EFW2,QHY5, all running through this hub powered by the 12v output from the hitech astro dew controller.All going down the one 10m active repeater cable and all is working fine.Will continue to run tests for a week or so and all being well can then remove loads of redundant cables

Hmmm.... My Hitech dew controllers output pulse-width modulated switched 12V. Check that your's doesn't or something will go South when you happen to turn down the knob a bit!

/per

[continuum]

I disabled the one USB3 port on my year old laptop because of crashes (mainlyPHD) resulting in BSODs. Since disabling I havn't had any BSODs. You can disable USB ports through Control Panel. So whilst I like the look of the Startech hub I shall not be buying the USB3 version. Ron

[andyo]

Hmmm.... My Hitech dew controllers output pulse-width modulated switched 12V. Check that your's doesn't or something will go South when you happen to turn down the knob a bit!

/per

hi thanks for the tip,I think mine is a constant 12v supply (there are two of them)I have been using one to power the mount for the last year or so without problems

[andyo]

Hmmm.... My Hitech dew controllers output pulse-width modulated switched 12V. Check that your's doesn't or something will go South when you happen to turn down the knob a bit!

/per

Just got a desktop for the observatory and while all was ok using the laptop had a few minor problems when connected to the desktop.Remembered what you posted and re-routed the power to the startech using a direct connection to the bench power supply and this solved the issues so a big thanks for the heads up Per

[perfrej]

No worries!

/p

[kirkster501]

Can this USB hub provide power to devcies connected to it? Also, what COM port would teh USB-serial connector be on?

Thanks,

[Herrman]

High hi,

The hub certainly powered the IS DMK21 I plugged into it. Not had the chance to connect and run anything else through it yet; but I'll keep you posted as and when I do.

Hope this helps. Herrman

[andyo]

Can this USB hub provide power to devcies connected to it? Also, what COM port would teh USB-serial connector be on?

Thanks,

I got the 7 port usb2 hub and it has a simple 2 pin connector block so it can be powered by an external power supply anything from 7v to 24v thus providing power to any device plugged into it.The startech usb hub doesn't use a com port itself.Also if you run windows 7 its just plug and play no driver installation required its really easy to install and by a long long way the best powered usb hub I have used and I have used plenty none of which have lived up to expectations