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Thrilling USB Question
- Thread starter Sofa
- Start date
MyCult
SEO to the FACE
You may feel the need to ask what sort of device requires that you be 12M away from you computer while operating it.
Well don't! What a man does with a USB connection in the privacy of his own home is nobody business but his.
Well don't! What a man does with a USB connection in the privacy of his own home is nobody business but his.
tek-monkey
wanna see my snake?
The device being connected is indeed important, as the power requirements can make a world of difference. What you running?
My Name is URL
Well-Known Forumite
Since this question was not meant for me... I will refrain from answering.Sofa said:
shoes
Well-Known Forumite
Nice bit of kit there Sofa!
12m shouldn't be too much a problem IMO, if you get high quality cables (perhaps belkin) then the attenuation over 12 metres will be negligable. I have never used a cable (or even seen one) that long, but I'm sure they exist.
One option would be to get a cheap powered USB hub and bang a 6 meter cable between your PC and the hub and then another between the hub and the audio device. I say buy a powered hub because as tek mentions power requirements are very important and some of them may have signal boosters built in although I wouldn't like to confirm that without doing research.
12m shouldn't be too much a problem IMO, if you get high quality cables (perhaps belkin) then the attenuation over 12 metres will be negligable. I have never used a cable (or even seen one) that long, but I'm sure they exist.
One option would be to get a cheap powered USB hub and bang a 6 meter cable between your PC and the hub and then another between the hub and the audio device. I say buy a powered hub because as tek mentions power requirements are very important and some of them may have signal boosters built in although I wouldn't like to confirm that without doing research.
I am looking at using 2 of these instead of a hub.
You're limited to 5m cables for USB2.0 (3m for USB I think) due to the timings on the signal that your PC sends out. If you use longer cables, then the device won't respond in time and the signal is considered lost. Like Shoes says, you can chain together cables to go longer distances using USB hubs, but I don't know the maximum you can have before it gets a bit iffy*. Don't know if you could get away with 2 x 6m cables and a hub, but any signal loss when recording music is probably a bit of a no-no.
*Edit: It's 5 hubs (http://www.usb.org/about/faq/ans5)
*Edit: It's 5 hubs (http://www.usb.org/about/faq/ans5)
tek-monkey
wanna see my snake?
Yup, what Furbal says. TBH I'd want that bugger as close to my PC as possible, if I could fit it internally I would!
tek-monkey
wanna see my snake?
Nah, you just use a decent lube.
shoes
Well-Known Forumite
Signal timing is irrelevant, you can use 250m long Cat5 cables at 1GBPs full duplex and believe me they switch much MUCH faster than USB switches. If USB could switch that fast it wouldn't be so damned slow lol. I'm pretty sure (although not 100%) that cable length makes no difference in transmission time anyway unless you have poor attenuation.Furbal said:
Once the music has been ADC'd by the M Audio device then packet management takes over then data loss isn't an issue because you have buffering there.
That signal booster seems like a good idea though.
That's the point though, USB cable has very VERY poor attenuation cos it was designed for desktop devices a short distance away, as opposed to CAT5, which was designed for longer distances.shoes said:
You can get USB to CAT5 adapters, which can be a helluva lot longer than 5m. For USB1.0 speeds they're fairly cheap, but if you want full speed USB the adapters are silly money (or at least they were awhile ago, dunno about now)
shoes
Well-Known Forumite
I don't think you can be that generalised about 'USB' cables, USB is an interface and switching pattern not a set of standards for cable manufacture so the quality of the cable (oxy levels, copper grade, density etc.) will vary from brand to brand. I suppose if you wanted to get hands on you could actually lop the ends off the USB cable and then either solder or use terminal blocks to join them with the required length of Cat 5 or 6 cable.Furbal said:
Yeh it was maybe a bit of a generalisation, but how much difference there is between different quality wiring and how they would impact the timing issues/attenuation I don't know.
As you say you, you can use CAT5 cable just with USB connectors, but afaik you can only run lower power devices on them, so would probably need a powered USB hub at the end and/or a device that has it's own power supply. Dunno about CAT6, would imagine it would work a fair bit better.
Have been thinking of using it to run S-Video and audio from my PC in the dining room to my TV in the lounge, but it turns out I'm a little bit lazy and not done it yet...
As you say you, you can use CAT5 cable just with USB connectors, but afaik you can only run lower power devices on them, so would probably need a powered USB hub at the end and/or a device that has it's own power supply. Dunno about CAT6, would imagine it would work a fair bit better.
Have been thinking of using it to run S-Video and audio from my PC in the dining room to my TV in the lounge, but it turns out I'm a little bit lazy and not done it yet...
shoes
Well-Known Forumite
Cat 5 can take a fair old whack, enough to power a network of CCTV cameras with motors on anyway, I know this because we trialed some at the college. Not sure if they ever did a complete install though. IIRC they worked on a 12v Power over LAN system. USB only provides 2.5w which wouldn't damage a CAT5e I doubt.
Suck it and see i guess!
Suck it and see i guess!
tek-monkey
wanna see my snake?
Power over internet has been around a while, never used it though. USB carries 5v doesn't it? Enough to spin up a 2.5" HD, on some systems anyway! I have a drive that works on maybe 40% of PCs using a single USB connection, a sure sign that PCs do output different amounts of power to their ports.