Wireless USB hub

[Nico]

Has anyone had any experience with the Belkin wireless USB hub. Reading the glossy it should work with USB/serial converters, low res cameras (autoguiders), dig cameras etc. This seems to be the best solution other than an obs to remote an equipment setup so that it can be operated from inside the house for example.

Currently I've been using a generic USB hub connected to the PC with 1.8 mtr cable and a further 5 mtrs from the HUB, cheap way to extend usb.

DSE sells the wireless hub for around 200 bucks. All thats needed is a router to connect to via ethernet cable and it will support up to 16 devices. Control and connection to each device is setup via software loaded onto each PC which shows status etc of each device.


I'd be glad to hear other views/comments.....:eyepop:


Nico

[mswhin63]

Can you provide a link, I noticed a Network USB hub but not a wireless hub. The network one requires Router to connect to which means you ADSL connection will need to be in your observatory or site for it to work.

The network one could connect to another wireless router set up as a client, then it could be done.

[supernova1965]

I haven't heard of one but I will say I have a lot of time for Belkin Products

[Nico]

my mistake...its not exactly wireless. It must be hard wired to an existing router, which could of course be accessed wireless. I've since seen an purchased a cheaper one from Mwave

http://www.mwave.com.au/newAU/mwaveAU/productdetail.asp?SKU=10060213&utm_source=getprice&utm_medium=cpc

which will do the same thing. I don't know if it will support more than 4 usb connections though..i.e. connect another usb hub to provide another 4 ports?..guess I'll wait an see. Hopefully this will make the setup and tairdown a little less painless.

John

[mswhin63]

You can set up a wireless router in the observatory and connect the hub to the router. You will need to configure the wireless router as a client. This I have found to be difficult if you have non matching routers. I have a Netgear wireless router and I tried to set up a wireless as a client for my office, unfortunately they did not match. Noted in the user manual that support was difficult in this configuration because of a different make.

After all that hopefully it will work after all that.

Best talk to Belkin about it, also they will say to use all Belkin products for support too, like all other manufacturers.

[michaellxv]

I have the Network USB hub and it works ok on the local lan. Not sure if it would work via a remote connection.

Once you install the driver on your PC you can connect to a USB device as if it were directly connected to your PC. But, much slower as you are going accross the LAN now. e.g I tried it for USB drives and the transfer rate was so slow I only use it for my printer now.

[mithrandir]

What speed LAN are you using? What speed do the USB hub and the PC support?

Wired: Tedious (10Mb)? Slow (100Mb)? Real (1Gb)? Unbelievably expensive (+2Gb)?

Wireless: Boring (802.11/a/b)? Slow (802.11g)? Passable (802.11n)?

Gigabit and faster are the only ones that can keep up with USB2.

[michaellxv]

At the time 100Mb.
I could try gig now but really couldn't be bothered as it is not what I really wanted anyway.