USB extension lead?

[old.pox]

Does anyone know an effective way of extending the lead on a usb device?

My webcam would suck so much if i could use it more than 3 meters from my usb port...ive looked at hubs but they all seem to have really short leads too :/

 

[Embattle]

http://catalog.belkin.com/IWCatProd...ct_Id=65655&Section.Section_Path=/Cables/USB/

 

[S-Gray]

I like the idea of them USB Extension Leads, yip yip

 

[old.pox]

cheers, um, any advance on 3 meters?

(...although i think read somewhere that usb leads cant carry an effective signal past 10 m)

 

[Xavier]

I have a 5M extension and I think that's the maximum really - you can probably get a longer lead made if you really wanted but I've gotta ask - why!?!

 

[Embattle]

Hmm...yes why

 

[throdgrain]

Is it something to do with ....











Badgers ???

 

[old.pox]

why? i want to point my webcam out of my front window without moving my pc into the kitchen

 

[Embattle]

http://www.veriplus.com/pages/usb/BF-200C.htm

 

[old.pox]

that would do it

but i'd need 3 or 4 so it would cost me about £80

still seems like the only way...

 

[Scooba Da Bass]

Cut a couple of cables open, and solder together the resulting wires, as long as you cut within the ends of the cable you shouldn't run into any problems resistor wise.

 

[Scooba Da Bass]

Oh, alternatively you could buy a few USB gender changers and use more than one lead

 

[old.pox]

Cut a couple of cables open, and solder together the resulting wires, as long as you cut within the ends of the cable you shouldn't run into any problems resistor wise.

sounds reasonable...u tried it? how long is your cable?

 

[.Moriarty.]

As far as i know the reason you cant get long usb cables is because there isnt enough power in usb hubs (wether internal or external dosent matter) to power cable lengths of more than the afformentioned 5-10m. Without amplifiers of some sort at every 5m interval i dont see how your going to do it.

You could of course by a webcam that works with wireless networks, so theres no cable to run to your computer... but they cost a fair bit..

 

[Embattle]

There were some Wireless X2 cams or something costing £100.

 

[S-Gray]

aye i was just gonna say Wireless of some sort

 

[Xavier]

been reading specs for usb signalling and it seems that unpowered hubs can't handle more than 3M from the powered source (i.e. the pc usb port) - although you get better signal clarity from a single hookup and won't be quite so restricted 10M+ will probably lead to merry hell with something like a CCD... I've experienced the problem once when I wanted to move one of the systems on my KVM into another room - the lead was so long that it would just lose the device occasionally and that was bad considering it was the keyboard/mouse

a camera, although not so mission-critical would b0rk harder if it did this as when an application loses a video source it generally needs restarting before it will pick up on the device again - fancy doing that every few frames? thought not...


two things you could consider - one: move the pc closer to said window - two: forget the idea, noone's gonna come 'get you' - so you've no reason to be be paranoid and try to knock-up a cctv setup (unless you're glynners )

 

[Xavier]

Originally posted by Embattle
There were some Wireless X2 cams or something costing £100.

yeah, supporting something like 160x120 at an awesome 11fps

lol

 

[Embattle]

Originally posted by Xavier


yeah, supporting something like 160x120 at an awesome 11fps

lol

Enough for you shit connection

 

[old.pox]

yes this is all kinda what i thought...time to find a real camera that uses coax & a vid cap card....