Will there be power issues if I plug an unpowered USB hub into a powered on or vice versa?
Will there be power issues if I plug an unpowered USB hub into a powered on or vice versa?
I have two Orico USB hubs, the powered one has four 3.0 ports, and the unpowered one has one 3.0 port and five 2.0 ports. If I plug the powered hub into the pc then chain the unpowered one into it, will the unpowered hub run into power issues if I plug high-power-consuming devices into it? And does it make any difference if I switch the hubs order?
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Read all their electrical specs carefully!
Usually, powered hubs can provide only what is needed to fulfill the (old) USB standard of 5V, 1A, which is only a little snack for today's hungry devices.
But if the powered hub is actually much stronger than the standard of 5V, 1A, then the powerless hub may burn out.
That's why today's (much stronger) chargers are no hubs anymore.
That is not how devices like this work; plugging a 5V 3A device into a 5V 1A port means you can only pull 1A. Going beyond that will either trip a fuse on the board or cause the port to shut off, or potentially keep working with diminished voltage.
If it is USB PD or QC then the devices may negotiate a higher voltage, but for standard hubs like these it's most likely to just use a USB A port and 5V.
Eta: a powered hub will also take its power externally from an adapter which can supply much more current, so its draw from the unpowered hub is minimal. In the opposite order, the unpowered hub could max out the current on the powered hub and as long as the port is protected everything should be fine.Theoretically a decent hub would be fused and not allow drawing enough current to damage anything.
Going beyond that will either trip a fuse on the board
I have seen dead hubs, but I have never seen one with such fuses.
Many have PTC or poly fuses that can self reset, so a port may briefly stop working. Some are built into the hub ICs or are in the form of a surface mount resistor