USB - a few questions for the techies

[Imme]

Hi guys,

Do we have any USB cabling gurus out there to provide some advice?

I believe the max distance for a USB 2 cable is 5m, USB is 3m.

I'm looking at relocating my control computer to a warmer spot for winter which will mean my USB cable run will need to be somewhere in the vicinity of 6-7m. What are my options????

I've read a USB hub will allow me to extend the run by another 5m. Is that a powered USB hub or just one of those 4-8 port cheapies you can get?
On the hub idea......if I throw say 4 usb cords in to the hub on the scope and then run a single usb lead back to the computer is that going to be an issue with the cables ability to carry the data I need it to carry?

What are other people doing? I currently have 6 x USB cables in the back of my desktop running various components......can I bring them all back in a single cord from a hub that is located closer to the scope to save the spaghetti I currently have?

[skysurfer]

What about wifi for controlling a scope ?
No cables and enough range (30m for 2.4GHz and 10m for 5 GHz).

[Imme]

So you plug in to a hub and all usb traffic comes through a single wifi stream?

Cost?

Sorry.....not my forte at all this stuff!

[Merlin66]

Jon,
I use a powered USB hub 6 port located on the mount and powered by a 12V to 6V convertor. Max I think 5A.
All the USB cables go to this hub and only one back to my local laptop.

I don't know the max distance for this PC to hub link....I use Teamviewer to "talk" to the local laptop from my warm and mozzie free office.
Hope this helps.

[Imme]

Perfect Merlin.....that’s exactly the information I was hoping for.

Seems what I want to do I can do. Now to buy a USB hub and powered repeater.

[kens]

I use an Orico 7 port powered USB3 hub that runs off 12V. I've had 2 cooled cameras, 3 regular cameras, filter wheel and mount all connected to the hub at once. It connects back to the PC via a 5m Active USB cable from Jaycar. They say you can run up to 5 of these in series so up to 25m.

[RobF]

This is what I use - used to work fine with unpowered 4 port USB hub on the end of it, works fine with Mount Hub Pro currently.

https://www.jaycar.com.au/powered-usb-extension-lead-10m/p/XC4120

[Imme]

This is why i love this place.....

So much knowledge that people are willing to share.

Cheers guys

[ZeroID]

STI Powered hub does the job best.

[acropolite]

+ for the Jaycar 10 metre active USB cables, sir h0ugh introduced me to them at Astrofest many years ago, they work a treat.

[Imme]

Cheers guys.

Ordered a couple repeater cables and a hub so I should be good to go