Sunday, December 30, 2012

Raspberry Pi 13 Port USB Hub

If you intend to use you Raspberry Pi with lot's of power hungry USB device(s), such as USB-HDD, then be prepared to buy a powered USB Hub because the Raspberry Pi USB ports only deliver 100mA each (at most).

I bought one today which is not exactly mentioned over at the Raspberry Pi peripheral compatibility list (powered USB hub section). However, once I used the hub, I checked the USB device id with lsusb. It turns out the device id is in there: 1A40:0201 which translates to Terminus Technology Inc. FE 2.1 7-port Hub. The hub  itself named Mumuksu (product code: MU109) and contains 13 USB ports. The cost is around $17. It comes with a power adapter (US-type connector unfortunately, so I needed a converter coz in my country the plug is European type). The power adapter output is rated at 5V and 3A.
The USB hub is powerful enough to power USB HDD and "back-power-ing" the Raspberry Pi without problem. I have yet to add another power hungry device to the mix. But again, this shows that one of the indicator of  a good USB hub for raspberry pi is the huge amount of current that it provides.
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