Archive for April 2013

A USB HUB That Does Not Backfeed Power!

The search has been long, but I have found one!

Task – USB HUB that can both supply power to the Raspberry Pi and also act as a USB HUB at the same time.

Hardware – Raspberry Pi Model B Rev 1. *Rev 2 does not have this issue as the USB output fuses have been removed, isolating the USB ports from the 5V supply rail. Now, if a HUB attempted to send power to the Pi’s USB port, the circuit is not complete between the port and the Pi’s 5V rail. Making USB HUB’s that backfeed ok to use.

Problem – Although this is part of USB 2.0 spec, many manufactures do not follow the spec. The spec says that the interconnect cable (the cable used to expand the Pi’s USB port) should not backfeed power back into the Pi. For the HUB to work properly, it needs to not backfeed power though the interconnect cable, but must feed power though its other ports, one of which will be used to power the Pi.

Raspberry Pi

Got myself a new toy.

Rasberry Pi with model B, a WiFi dongle, 16GB SD card, and a neat case a friend of mine found on eBay.

Plans include a web server, bit coin miner, cacti server, XMBC Pi, home automation controller…

The possibilities are endless.