USB Hubs & USB 3.0s Failure

[Mav359]

Hi guys

Can anyone recommend a good solid Powered USB2.0 hub with at least 5 ports?

Something with deep ports whose connections won't be disrupted by the passing of a shadow or the fall of night would be good.

USB2.0 has always worked with my equipment but i noticed after i aquired my ASI 120MC that if i left everything connected even if i wasn't using it the ASI would cause video issues my my QHY8L.  I thought "time for an upgrade" as my USB 2.0 hub seemed to be on its last legs and figured i'd see an improvment if i switched to USB 3.0, bigger bus  etc. So i ordered a not cheap 5m extension and a equally not cheap USB 3.0 powered Hub.

My Obs has been in disarray since the winter due to a breach and so a new roof and a clear out later i FINALLY got eveything back on its feet however i was having issues with devices not being recognised correctly or at all, or after a time devices lost connectivity etc.. i have switched back to my nearly dead USB 2.0 and instantly all my issues went away. I haven't given up on the USB 3.0 gear and still have testing to do (could be a bad hub or cable) but for now .....................

i want a good solid powered USB2.0 HUB with 5+ ports that holds the USB Cables in place well.

Any recomendations?

Cheers

[Tinker1947]

i had this sort of problem and while its a bit extreme i went for a new PC Mother Board with 8 USB sockets on the rear connector array, it seems to have cured the drop outs, i also spray all connector sockets and ends with this....

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B006ZP7S5E/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

[JamesF]

I have sometimes had problems using older USB devices with USB3 hubs.  I've never really managed to work out why because eventually I discovered that if I swapped some things from a USB3 hub to USB2 and moved stuff that was on USB2 to USB3 everything started working.

Sadly I've not found a USB2 hub that I felt was absolutely rock solid either.  What I've tried to do so far with my laptop is to work out which USB ports are on which internal hubs (it has several internal hubs) and try to spread the devices amongst them so balance out the bandwidth demanded of each hub.

James

[Tinker1947]

I look forward to the day when its all WiFi with no leads required.....

[JamesF]

Personally I think I'd prefer it all done over cabled ethernet personally.  Put a gigabit switch (or at least one with a gigabit backplane) on the mount and run cables to everything from that, then one back to wherever you want to work from.  Can you imagine the mess at a star party if everyone was trying to use wifi to control their kit?  Anything relying on the implementation of an IP stack is going to push the price up unfortunately, though as it becomes more common to do so (given that "smart" televisions have them these days) perhaps it will become cheaper.

James

[D4N]

There are some nice devices that allow you to send USB over Ethernet and coupled with a USB to serial adaptor that would mean you could use just one cat5 from the mount to your PC.

Of course it would be another thing you have to power though.

TSED70Q, iOptron Smart EQ pro, ASI-120MM, Finepix S5 pro.

[perfrej]

Beware of USB over Ethernet! The only devices that truly do the job are the ones from Digi, and you will then be looking at around £350 for 5 ports. The other devices require drivers on you PC, drivers that have opinions of the devices you connect. I have tried four different ones with an SBIG and a QSI camera and they did not even connect to the cameras.

Most of the stuff is USB 1.1, though...

/per

[D4N]

Well it wouldn't be cheap if it's compatible with astro imaging gear would it?

TSED70Q, iOptron Smart EQ pro, ASI-120MM, Finepix S5 pro.

[Earl]

Check the range these do

http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_odkw=ORICO&_from=R40&_osacat=0&_from=R40&_trksid=p2045573.m570.l1311.R3.TR4.TRC0.A0.H0.XORICO+usb&_nkw=orico+usb+3.0+hub&_sacat=0

The do ally case and 12v psu, very nice. I have the 10 port on my PC and mayeb be getting some for my obsy

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/ORICO-A3H7-7-Port-Aluminium-USB-3-0-SuperSpeed-Powered-Hub-Black-UK-SELLER-/151330703838?pt=UK_Computing_USB_Cables&hash=item233c0349de in paticula

[JamesF]

I have one of the Orico USB3 hubs too.  It seems to work well, but I've not really given it that much of a hard time yet.

James

[rwg]

Beware of 5m (or worse, longer) USB extension cables...

The USB 1 and 2 spec defines a limit of 5m on any cable run between active components. It's not a signal loss/degradation issue, it's to do with timing and reflections of the signal from the far end of the cable. If the cable is too long then the reflections interfere with other data and everything stops working. This means that cables longer than 5m don't work - even if they are super gold and platinum high quality £100 cables... In my experience USB2 can become a little flaky with cables extended using a 5m passive cable too - I guess in this case it depends on the length of the USB cable hidden inside the PC or device too.

USB3 is even less forgiving - it doesn't actually specify a maximum cable length, but I've found problems at 3.5m or above with things just working badly or not at all. I did get a 4m run working direct from my PC to an ASI120MM-S over USB3, but from the PC to the USB3 hub I think 3.5m was the max that worked.

The ASI120 cameras are quite sensitive to USB issues at maximum frame rates - they push the available USB bandwidth very hard to get the maximum frame rate and they have quite a small on-camera buffer to store data before it is sent over the USB - this means if there is any delay then the buffer will fill and you get dropped frames. The USB3 versions (ASI120MM-S etc) have a different USB chip onboard with a bigger buffer and I've found that this makes a big difference - you even get slightly higher frame rates on USB2 and far less trouble with dropped frames. Don't take this as a criticism of the cameras - ZWO have deliberately pushed the USB system as hard as possible to get a very good frame rate. Some PC motherboards cope with it better than others and you can turn down the 'Turbo USB' parameter to get stable (if slightly lower) frame rates if you are having issues.

Anyway, the info above might help you get stuff working properly and give you an idea of what to avoid. My approach has been to run pretty much everything over a separate USB run straight back to the PC - I think I have 8 USB2 and 4 USB 3 ports on the back of the PC and most of them are in use. I do have a couple of hubs, but only used for 1 device each - basically using them to extend cable runs beyond 5m (or 3.5 for USB3).

cheers,

Robin