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Esperanza EA135B 4-port USB 2.0
02/19/2016 at 23:17 • 0 commentsThis one has a tad bigger PCB, but shares the same connector layout as the Sweex US012 one, so all the pros and cons apply. It even has the same type of USB plug as Sweex one. It looks like this:
Tested with raspberry Pi, worked. The board has nothing to cut from it, though, so you can't make it smaller than it is. It's based on FET1.1s, which seems to be quite popular nowadays.
On the photo it's shown embedded in one device I'm developing for a friend, proving 2 external USB ports for the devices that he'll connect to a AR9331 board which only has one port. It seems to be stable, too - I'll edit this log after some testing.
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Sweex US012 4-port hub
02/19/2016 at 22:52 • 0 comments
This is a really, really small hub. Even if you're not going to tear it down and cut the PCB like I usually do, just throw it in your backpack and use when necessary - you don't even need to carry the cable. It also doesn't have any problems with big USB devices (3G modems/flash drives) blocking adjacent ports - each port has its own side.- Based on GL850G
- 4mA power consumption when not doing anything (and with a small LED) - ask me if you need more detailed measurements
You can just disassemble it, desolder the USB ports, cut the board a bit and it's going to fit almost anywhere (board on pics is already cut). It should be easy to cut it using anything you typically would use to cut PCBs. There's only one problem - a 5V trace connecting all the USB VBUS pins goes around the chip, so it's not as small as it could have been. Anyway, this hub's board when cut to the smallest size possible is around 1"x1", and it seems to be working good with a Raspberry Pi. The price should be about 5$, and I'd recommend to buy 1 or 2 more just to have a USB hub at hand. Beware though - the connection cord breaks easily when under stress and hub stops working, that was in fact my reason to disassemble and repurpose it.