Reconmended USB hub? Or am I missing something?

Forum 2005-2010 (read only) Hardware Interfacing
1

I understand that USB hubs can work, however the one I have doesn't work; there is no serial port detected in the Arduino IDE.

Is there anything I can do to make USB hubs work with 3 Arduinos, each using serial?

Can anybody recommend me a special brand & model that works with serial @ 100000 baud on each Arduino?

Thanks in advance

2

Is it a powered hub? Maybe you need more power...

A single computer USB port can supply 500mA which will not be enough for 3 arduino boards if you have sensors and other stuff attached to them.

Mowcius

3

I've had a surprising number of USB hubs die. I guess I should pay for a decent one, instead of using cheap crap.

As mowcius mentions, there's the power issue, too. You may need a "self-powered" hub (that's official USB terminology), which means it'll have its own power supply. Some hubs can be either self-powered or bus-powered; if you have one of those, make sure it's plugged in and make sure the power switch, if there is one, is set to self-powered.

-j

4

that works with serial @ 100000 baud on each Arduino

The speed of operation of the serial port is totally irrelevant. The USB communications happen at the same speed no matter what the serial output speed is set to on the USB / serial bridge.
The point is that your hub should work, if it does not then it is either broken, needs external power or is crap.

5

Great, I will have a experiment.

I was testing on cheap one out with one Arduino, but it wasn't self powered - I am aware of the 500ma issue, however I thought a single Arduino should be fine. I external power my Arduino anyway.

Cheers for the responses, I will post the outcomes of my experiments with some hubs. :slight_smile:

6

I recently found a used 4 port external powered Belkin USB port at a local Goodwill thrift store for $5. The wall wart supply is a beefy one rated at 2.1amps and it seems to work fine for my Arduinos. It does not support USB 2.0 speeds but that doesn't seem to effect the serial speeds that the Arduino supports. It was all plug and play with my Windows XP pro SP3, so a painless installation.

Lefty