Why is USB WiFi device support so poor?

[DirkS]

Any ideas what could have gone so intensely wrong??

Plugged in the wrong PSU? 12V instead of 5V, or something like that?

[stderr]

Luckily the Pi and the devices survived, but the hub is now a melted blob :S
Any ideas what could have gone so intensely wrong??

Made in China. When something fails, it should fail safe. Fail bursts into flames is right out. I wonder what sort of voltage the power supply was tossing out. 5v at 2 amp is only 10 watts which I would think should leave you some time to smell hot melting plastic before it erupts into Mt Vesuvius. But I've heard that some potentially serious problems including mains voltage on the USB, way more serious in 240ac countries than in North America but dangerous everywhere. Here's a link to some interesting discussion: http://www.righto.com/2012/03/inside-ch ... y-you.html

[NormanDunbar]

The one question that springs to mind is, was the adaptor correct for the usb hub?

My hub, not a Belkin, runs it a 5v 2a power adaptor. Can you still check yours to see what volts and amps it's putting out? I suspect, but obviously cannot say for sure, that it should be 5v.

Thankfully, you, and your pi, are safe.

And apologies in advance if you take any offence at my question!


Cheers,
Norm.

[MrEngman]

The spec says it should be 5v 2.1A.



MrEngman

[kutuup]

The AC adapter SAYS it's putting out 5v, but I'm slightly inclined to doubt that now lol

It's a universal adapter, which was probably bad news thinking about it, it's been sat in a drawer for a few years now.

It says the output is 300mA, which to me suggests 0.3A, that seems insanely low! It also says 8.7W.

Basically, the figures seem to be all wrong :S

I say it burst into flames like it was some kind of apocalypse lol it was more a hissing, shortly followed by a flame about the size you would get from a zippo lighter or something, still made me whip that plug out as quickly as possible :S

So once I replace the hub, I'm just gonna invest the £6 in the official WiFi adapter. My peace of mind is worth at least £6 when the alternative is fire XD

[drgeoff]

USB 2.0 ports are supposed to be able to deliver 0.5 Amps so no way is a 0.3 Amps PSU the correct one to be using with a USB hub.

[MrEngman]

Certainly don't sound like the right power supply for that hub.



MrEngman

[NormanDunbar]

I've had some problems with cheap USB hubs in the past. I now use a couple of these from Mod My Pi. http://www.modmypi.com/raspberry-pi/acc ... search=Hub Which are standards compliant and come with a proper power supply rated at 2A which is correct for a four port hub.

If anyone cares, you can read about my trials at my blog at http://qdosmsq.dunbar-it.co.uk/blog/201 ... -usb-hubs/.

Anyway, I wonder if the hissing from the power supply was down to it being woefully inadequate for the job in hand? 300 mA is not enough to properly power one usb 2.0 compliant port, and far too low to power a Raspberry Pi either.

I have one of the official WiFi adaptors. They work!


Cheers,
Norm.