USB and USB Hub

[willuk2010]

Hey,

if i grab something like this...

http://www.maplin.co.uk/p/usb-20-a-male-to-a-female-12m-n50jb

And then a USB Hub... Place the USB HUB at the mount end, into this long 12m cable.. and plug that into my laptop in my summer house... will that be ok for plugging in both my guide camera (ASI120MM for PHD), and imaging camera (Canon 1D Mk IV for APT)

Oh, and maybe the USB to Serial adapter, in order to use SkySafari to control the scope?

Cheers!

[Leveye]

Looks good. Yes you want repeater cables with anything over 15 ft and every 15ft i found. You might want to tape up the exposed connections with some electrical tape if you leave them outside all the time like i do.

[willuk2010]

Thanks for the quick reply Leveye!

I wonder what the shortest cables are i can get then, to go from GuideCam, ImagingCam, and USB to Serial... into the USB Hub on the mount... Hmmm

[willuk2010]

Would it need to be a powered USB Hub? like would this work?

http://www.maplin.co.uk/p/sweex-4-port-usb-20-hub-n85ll

[sidelight]

I have problems with my Lenovo laptop unless I put a powered hub in front of the repeater.  it seems to not push enough current to power the repeater.

Cheers

Ross

[ChrisLX200]

Thanks for the quick reply Leveye!

I wonder what the shortest cables are i can get then, to go from GuideCam, ImagingCam, and USB to Serial... into the USB Hub on the mount... Hmmm

You may not encounter the same problems as me but I could not get a USB>Serial adapter to work on the end of a long (10 or 15 meter I  tried both) USB cable. It would work OK-ish if the USB>Serial converter was close to the computer but not the other way around. After much mucking about I found I could use the converter with a long serial (RS232) cable to reach to the mount, the serial cable being more resiliant for signals at long distances.

You should use a powered USB hub, without it only 500mA will be split between all 4 ports rather than 500mA for each. Plus - if the connections to the power are at theend of the long cable (i.e., the power is coming from your laptop with the hub near the mount) then there would be voltage drop and it may not work at all.

ChrisH

[willuk2010]

Cheers Ross!

Chris, ok.. ill have to factor in a powered USB hub for one.. and as you say try and extend the RS232 instead of running the USB to Serial through the hub..

Will