USB TRAPS FOR YOUNG PLAYERS

[fifty60]

What are some caveats for young players when it comes to buying USB?  What are some major certifications that USB cables must have in order to be trusted?  UL, Rohs...are these even important for USB?  What do I need to do to install USB 3?  Is it simply a hardware change?  Thanks for taking apart my question guys and not just buggering off.  Regards.

[Recyclojunk64]

Well, one trap is having the cable too long (not enough time for the signal to reach the device and get back).

PhotonicInduction encountered this problem and demonstrates a great way to deal with it 

  Skip to 1:44

You can buy USB3 PCI(e) cards cheaply off Ebay, although the quality may be questionable. USB3 is only really an advantage to external HDDs and anything that can actually do with more than 480 Mbits/s. But if you need it, it isn't too hard to install (on a desktop at least).

[bitwelder]

...when it comes to buying USB?

Hmm... what is the real problem behind it?  I mean, what do you want to buy that has (to do with) USB?
You have a USB plug and you want to choose the right cable? Or you want to add a USB channel to some device? Or something else?

[SeanB]

From the hardware side on a PC just plug in a card, then you will have it providing the OS supports it, as the cards typically only provide a small bios extension to just show up as hardware. The OS will have to support it, either as a native kernel driver ( best) or via an update from the OS supplier ( next best) or via a supplied driver with the card ( best not to do this, just toss the disk provided as these are going to be buggy as hell). That is all, it just appears as another USB root hub.

Cable wise you have backwards compatiability, but to get the high speed you need the card, cable, hub ( if you are wanting to use without reaching around the back every time) and devices all have to be USB3 devices. If any is not you fall back to standard USB speeds only. With an USB3 hub you can mix end devices though, like having an USB3 HDD plugged in one port and a regular USB stick in another, where you will still have high speed to the HDD.

[fifty60]

Thanks for the input.  The impetus to my question is that i need to buy several hundred USB cables and am not sure what to specifically look at.  I do not want to buy stinker cables and I also do not want to get ripped off.  Just looking for some advice on how to approach a major USB cable purchase so that it does not come back to haunt me.  Rohs, UL, IEC....what are some earmarks of a quality cable, and what should I avoid for a USB 2 cable.  Any recommendations on suppliers that offer up USB cables with 90 degree angle ends?   

[ddavidebor]

Just buy one and try it...

[fifty60]

I am wanting to put in due diligence before buying...any advice to that end will be appreciated

[Razor512]

Long USB cables generally never work properly.

A while back, I ordered a $3 20 foot USB cable from ebay (free shipping from china) (was never planning to use it for data, I just wanted a long cable that I could use for my USB charger so that I could use the tablet while in bed without worrying about having to charge it in the morning)

anyway, at 20 feet, all USB devices would only connect at USB 1.1 speeds, and devices with a long cable, eg a webcam with a 10 foot cable, would just cause windows to report that the device has malfunctioned (though the webcam would work if you connected the cable directly to a USB hub first, then connect the webcam to the hub, though webcams that can do HD seem to hate USB 1.1 for some reason )

Image of USB cable:

Other than avoiding too long of a cable for data use, also avoid buying those $20-30 5 foot cables that you see in stores like bestbuy and staples, those are ripoffs.

[G7PSK]

If you need a long usb cable it is better to get a usb to ethernet converter.

[ddavidebor]

If you need a long usb cable it is better to get a usb to ethernet converter.

+1

Or a  usb amplifier

[mikeselectricstuff]

Many cheap USB cables have substandard copper thickness on the power cores. If buying for something that takes significant power, measuring the resistance would be  a wise precaution.

[digsys]

If you want the very best, max throughput at highest noise immunity, then -
Make sure it has at least one outer braided earth, plus an inner shield  / guard .... the way it was intended to be.
You can usually tell it's not, if it's thin, crappy plastic outer sheath with thin inner cores. JUST because a cable works,
doesn't mean it IS working or WILL at optimum ALL the time. USB will continually drop back in speed if it encountered
noise etc, just like Ethernet, and you have NO idea that it's happening.

[amyk]

http://www.usb.org/developers/usbfaq#cab1
Long cables just won't work because of timing issues. The device is too far away to respond in time to the host. The official solution is to use hubs to extend the length.