USB booster options

October 19, 2024 10:54 AM

Bought a laser cutter with a built in camera. Computer is 5 meters away, and camera while discovered shows no image. Support says 1.5 meter cable max.

Tbh it sound a bit precious that it can't manage 5m, and that it can see the camera but not show it seems a little weird too, but still. Would a powered hub help or something I've seen called "active cables" or what are my options here?

posted by J.R. Hartley to Computers & Internet (8 answers total)

Best answer: Is the camera expecting a USB 2 or USB 3 connection? 5m is the accepted cable length limit for USB 2.0, and 3m is the limit for USB 3.0.

So first you'll need to determine the correct USB 2 or 3 cable (they are different) and port on the computer for use with the camera, then you'll need to look into getting an "active extension" or "active booster" cable (for the right USB spec!) which contains electronics that regenerate the USB signal so that it travels a longer distance. A quick look around suggests those are available for ~30-40 USD.

A powered USB hub would probably do the same thing, for roughly the same cost. Again, use the right USB 2 or 3 hub...
posted by Greg_Ace at 11:22 AM on October 19 [2 favorites]

I don’t have any useful information, but I would like to thank you for asking this question, as until now I had no idea about usb distance limitations.
posted by samthemander at 1:27 PM on October 19

Also, just gonna say to double check that a short cable with a nearby computer works as expected. Would suck to get all this stuff put together to discover that the camera (or 5m cable for that matter) was actually busted anyway.
posted by Aleyn at 1:31 PM on October 19 [1 favorite]

First verify that that is actually the problem by putting the computer within 1.5 meters.
posted by at at 2:28 PM on October 19 [2 favorites]

Response by poster: We have had it working on the supplied 1.5 meter cable (different computers though) and the camera is indeed functional. I didn't realise the USB limitations were so short, that is fantastic information. Their support is adamant that this won't work, but I have high hopes and will report back.
posted by J.R. Hartley at 2:50 PM on October 19

There are options if it is a USB cable, but they aren't cheap. They also can't supply power if that is required on the camera end.
posted by DJWeezy at 4:46 PM on October 19

Cable, hub, cable should do the trick. The cables theoretically skew the signal timing plus there's a signal voltage drop over the run, the hub receives and retransmits the data and that should put the timing straight. If you have a hub (or two, if you need more reach) and sufficient cables it's a quick thing to test.

The point of the hub here is to be (say) half way down the run so you don't use one long cable, but two or even three shorter ones.
posted by How much is that froggie in the window at 6:35 PM on October 19 [1 favorite]

There are also USB over Cat5 or Cat6 extenders that you can try, these can often go farther, up to 50 meters.

If you can, try the 1.5m cable on the very same computer. Small difference in the power available on the USB port can make a difference.

For example, recently I was troubleshooting a camera-over-USB-extender setup, and the fix was to make sure that the host laptop's power supply was plugged in. Apparently when running off batteries the USB-C port had slightly less power available.
posted by hovey at 6:55 AM on October 20 [2 favorites]