Question USB hub with timer

martinf

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Hello,

I'm looking for some kind of timer, which will shut down for example every hour or so and then turn on power to the USB hub.

I know about the usb hubs with switch on/off button, but that's not the solution :/

Or if you have any ideas, basically i need to display light usb cables in our retail store, these cables will be plugged into USB Hubs and connected to the PC. The problem is these cables are not recommended to be light up the whole time, so i need some kind of timer which will shut them down for some time to cool down. Or is there some kind of software which will disable PC usb slot?

Thank you for answers/ideas.
 
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How about TP-Link smart socket - can be controlled via an app (called Kasa) which includes time schedules.
 
I'm guessing those cables just tap into the power flowing through and don't requre any data control, if so then could you use USB power supplies ('chargers') and standard wall timers/switches instead?
 
I'm guessing those cables just tap into the power flowing through and don't requre any data control, if so then could you use USB power supplies ('chargers') and standard wall timers/switches instead?

I've been thinking about this for some time, but we don't have any free sockets near by.

It looks like there is not any USB hub with built-in timer.
 
Hello,

I'm looking for some kind of timer, which will shut down for example every hour or so and then turn on power to the USB hub.

I know about the usb hubs with switch on/off button, but that's not the solution :/

Or if you have any ideas, basically i need to display light usb cables in our retail store, these cables will be plugged into USB Hubs and connected to the PC. The problem is these cables are not recommended to be light up the whole time, so i need some kind of timer which will shut them down for some time to cool down. Or is there some kind of software which will disable PC usb slot?

Thank you for answers/ideas.

Where did you get the idea that LEDS are time limited when used ?

The average life of most LED lighting is 50,000 hours, approx 50 years (of average usage).

Leds do not get hot, the whole point is that compared to conventional bulbs virtually all the power input is converted to light. In a incandescent bulb a tiny fraction of the energy is actually emitted as light the rest is heat.

The fact that they work when connected to USB should tell you the tiny amount of power they use.

A usb 2.0 port delivers up to 100mA at 5V, if the leds light the maximum power they use is (100/1000) x 5) watts. = 0.1 watt

Have you actually touched a usb strip. it will not be hot ?

If you post the spec of the light cables you are using it is a simple calculation to work out how long they will last and how tiny the energy cost will be over a year.

In fact most PC's have one at least usb port that is powered off when the PC is put into sby.
 
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The average life of most LED lighting is 50,000 hours, approx 50 years (of average usage).

It must be difficult to shop around your way if the average shop only has it's products on display for three and a half hours a day.

50,000 hours is the figure at which the brightness dims past a certain point (typically L90, 90%), there are other things that can go wrong.

Leds do not get hot, the whole point is that compared to conventional bulbs virtually all the power input is converted to light.

That's incorrect. LEDs put out a less heat than incadescents but they're nowhere near perfect. An efficient 5mm LED within it's recommended current can easily heat up a good sized housing like a torch or bulb to 60°C+

And we're talking about cheap and cheerful LEDs here. I don't have any experience with these sort of low power models, I'm not even sure if this is an LED filament or light guide setup. However, even traditional form factor LEDs can be below 50% efficiency.

A usb 2.0 port delivers up to 100mA at 5V, if the leds light the maximum power they use is (100/1000) x 5) watts. = 0.1 watt

A USB 2.0 port delivers 500mA.

Although 0.1A is a good guideline as they'd be pretty useless if you could only use them with independantly powered devices. That equates to 0.5W at 5v.

Have you actually touched a usb strip. it will not be hot ?

It's not necessarily the public safety aspect, if the wire's insulation is acting as thermal insulation then it could be the build up of heat inside causing problems for the internal components.
 
I can touch a LED bulb rated at the same Lumen output as a 60W incandescent, it's barely warm.

A port can deliver 500mA but a single device should only take 100mA - ie one port can service 5 devices.

10M one power consumption is 6W even at 50% efficiency that's a minute 3W of heat. And 50,000 hrs.

LIGHTING EVER-TOP Quality LED FIXTURES
 
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A port can deliver 500mA but a single device should only take 100mA - ie one port can service 5 devices.

i think that depends on which version USB port your talking about
USB 3 can supply up to 900mA per port and USB 2 up to 500mA per port, the spec your talking about is the old USB 1.1 which we havn't really seen in PC's for years

think about your typical USB 2 2.5 inch external HDD most if not all draw at least 200mA and as much as 650mA for some usb 3 drives
the typical current draw is around 350mA
i have several 2.5 inch external drives ( USB 2 and 3 ) all draw more than 100mA and all work from a single port

as far as the question in OP a powered hub plugged into an extension cable and a simple timer would do exactly what you want

if you insist on using a PC have a look at DMX controlled LED lighting
 
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I'm not sure exactly what you're requirement is for a phone charger that has an illuminated cable?
They are not LED light strips.

Looking at the description of the product it states the below:-
'4.When charging finishes EL light automatically stuts off'

So by its own nature it is not on permanently, and therefore cannot even be used as a decorative feature.
 

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