USB Hardware Question

Johnboy1951

I have a small tablet with one (micro-B) USB connection.
I can charge the tablet through this connection.
I can plug in a mouse or other peripheral through this connection; add a hub and plug in multiple peripherals. These draw power from the tablet if the hub is not powered.

Is there any combination of adaptors/hubs that will allow me to plug in some peripherals and at the same time charge the tablet?

I cannot seem to get my head around this but surely I am not the first with this requirement.

Neon_Lights

Johnboy1951 wrote: »

I have a small tablet with one (mini) USB connection.
I can charge the tablet through this connection.
I can plug in a mouse or other peripheral through this connection; add a hub and plug in multiple peripherals. These draw power from the tablet if the hub is not powered.

Is there any combination of adaptors/hubs that will allow me to plug in some peripherals and at the same time charge the tablet?

I cannot seem to get my head around this but surely I am not the first with this requirement.

You may need a tablet dock to use peripherals. Some have standard USB ports but also can allow you to charge and use the device like a desktop.

Johnboy1951

Neon_Lights wrote: »

You may need a tablet dock to use peripherals. Some have standard USB ports but also can allow you to charge and use the device like a desktop.

Is there something specific I should look for?
I have no knowledge of tablet docks so am lost.

A quick search seems to indicate that they are tablet specific, correct?

Fysh

You can get them, but for any guarantee of it working correctly you need one designed for your specific tablet as the generic third party designs can be quite unreliable (but they're also generally quite cheap, at least...).

mordeith

If you had a USB to USB mini cable then maybe a standard mains powered USB hub would work?

Fysh

mordeith wrote: »

If you had a USB to USB mini cable then maybe a standard mains powered USB hub would work?

A powered hub will work as a hub, but won't charge the tablet.

Most of these devices have a current-detection circuit in the USB socket that changes how the port behaves depending on whether a charger is plugged in or not, so you need a device that has the correct handshake (for want of a better term) in order to be able to charge and route data simultaneously. It's frustrating, not least because a lot of tablet vendors don't mention this in the specs...

Neon_Lights

OP what tablet do you have if you don't mind me asking

Johnboy1951

mordeith wrote: »

If you had a USB to USB mini cable then maybe a standard mains powered USB hub would work?

Plugging the tablet into a hub will charge the tablet and no peripheral devices can be attached.

Plugging the output of a hub into the tablet allows peripheral devices to work when plugged into the hub ....... but the hub does not charge the tablet in this configuration.

Fysh wrote: »

A powered hub will work as a hub, but won't charge the tablet.

Most of these devices have a current-detection circuit in the USB socket that changes how the port behaves depending on whether a charger is plugged in or not, so you need a device that has the correct handshake (for want of a better term) in order to be able to charge and route data simultaneously. It's frustrating, not least because a lot of tablet vendors don't mention this in the specs...

This is a cheap tablet that I wanted to use permanently (or near so) plugged in, while having peripherals attached, such as wireless keyboard & mouse and maybe others.

It seems I cannot at least not without spending more than the tablet is worth!

Are Am Eye

You can get a mini card or expansion card for tablet.

Johnboy1951

Are Am Eye wrote: »

You can get a mini card or expansion card for tablet.

Could you explain please?

ED E

Is the port mini or micro?

If its micro, then its referred to USB OTG as you're using the "client" connector as a "host" instead.



The same may be possible with mini but I'm not sure there.

Johnboy1951

The socket on the tablet is micro-B (middle one in pic above would fit).

I have a cable to go from male micro-B to female USB A full size.
I also have various others such as micro-B to mini-A.

What combination of cables (if any) would allow the tablet to be charged while at the same time allowing the use of peripherals such as mouse to work in the tablet?

I guess I do not understand how the above cable should be used to achieve this.

ED E

Take a phone/tablet charger, put that into the micro B female(LEFT).
Connect the micro B male (CENTRE) to the tablet.
Connect the hub to the A female (RIGHT).

Johnboy1951

ED E wrote: »

Take a phone/tablet charger, put that into the micro B female(LEFT).
Connect the micro B male (CENTRE) to the tablet.
Connect the hub to the A female (RIGHT).

Thanks again.

I missed that the left connector is a micro-B Female.

I will try to get hold of one of those. It would be great if it works on this tab.

regards.

degsie

Johnboy1951 wrote: »

I have a small tablet with one (mini) USB connection.

Johnboy1951 wrote: »

The socket on the tablet is micro-B (middle one in pic above would fit).

So is your tablet socket micro or mini?

Johnboy1951

degsie wrote: »

So is your tablet socket micro or mini?

It is micro-B, I will correct the other (did not intend it at the time to refer to a specific size only that it was a small, not a full sized socket. My bad.)

Fysh

Johnboy1951 wrote: »

Thanks again.

I missed that the left connector is a micro-B Female.

I will try to get hold of one of those. It would be great if it works on this tab.

regards.

I've tried these devices on a couple of tablets. They might work for you, but I wouldn't treat it as a sure thing so be wary of spending too much on one.

bonzodog2

They're very cheap if you can wait
https://www.ebay.ie/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p2057872.m570.l1313.TR0.TRC0.H0.Xmicro+usb+otg+with+power.TRS0&_nkw=micro+usb+otg+with+power&_sacat=0

Johnboy1951

I wonder if this is the wiring scheme used in most of those cables? (ok the male USB can be swapped for a Female micro-B)

https://sites.google.com/site/sonicboomworld/my-projects/otg-diagrams



It would be nice to know definitely, but I guess it is a matter of taking the plunge and checking out the cable afterwards.