USB trouble - driving me mad!!!

[CathyC]

Hi guys,

 

Got a USB issue that is mildly (ie very) annoying and just wanted some other opinions on it! Before anyone thinks I'm a silly woman who doesn't know one end of a computer from another, I'm actually really good with computers, hehe, but this is doing my head in. :)

 

I own an Acer Happy netbook, and it has 3x USB 2.0 ports. I recently bought a USB desk fan because of this hot weather, as I work from home and wanted a nice cool breeze about the place. The fan works perfectly when plugged straight into my computer, so there are obviously no compatibility issues there.

 

However, I also bought a USB extension cable from Amazon, to allow me to move the fan about a bit more. The cable was specified as a USB 2.0 cable, so I thought ok fine, that should work no probs. It didn't. The fan won't work at all when plugged in via this damn cable. I thought the cable must be faulty, but I tried it with my Kindle just to see, and it worked fine with the Kindle. So now I'm confused! Obviously the cable seems ok, just not with the fan. I know there's no probs with the fan, and everything is USB 2.0 so it's not as if there's a compatibility issue anywhere.

 

I emailed the store at Amazon where I bought the cable and they weren't particularly helpful, I received three lines of text with no punctuation or capital letters, suggesting that they thought it was a power issue and that I needed to buy a powered hub.

 

Now I am well aware that powered hubs are for more powerful things like scanners, etc, and I certainly don't think that a tiny 14cm USB fan would need a powered hub? That sounds suspiciously to me as if they are just trying to get me to spend more money on a hub in their store! :(

 

It's a mystery to me - has anyone else had any experience of something like this?

 

Thanks in advance for any insight anyone else may be able to offer

 

Cathy

[Plastic Nev]

Hi Cathy and welcome to Extreme Tech Support - Free PC Help.

I am afraid to tell you that it will indeed be a power issue with this fan and the extension cable, the problem being that these extension cables are only meant for data transfer which obviously is of a very low electrical current. Your fan may well work OK directly from the USB port on the netbook, but the nature of the extension cable means there just will not be enough power at the other end of it.

 

There are many different levels of quality involved in extension cables for USB, some higher quality cables will be made with thicker wire inside, one of this nature may carry enough current to run your fan.

Rather than just buying a cable from Amazon with little technical support, if there is a decent independent computer and repair shop in your local area, I would recommend buying from them after explaining your needs regarding powering your fan. Even if they may not have a suitable cable in stock, they may be able to order one in, or advise as to which cable would be best.

 

Nev.

[KenB]

Hi Cathy and welcome from me too :)

 

Just to add a little to what Nev has said:

 

The USB 2.0 is a measure of the speed of data transfer. Nothing to do with power.

The USB port itself should provive 500 mA and 5v .....and as Nev suggests - this may be restricted by using the cable.

 

Is there any information ( Wattage for instance ) on the fan itself?

 

Have you tried the extension cable in a different USB port ?

 

=============

 

I have just found details of one fan to use as an example:

 

Input voltage: DC 5V

Consumption: 2.5W+/-0.5W

 

The fan requires 2.5 Watts

 

If we get 500mA and 5v from the USB Port this is exactly 2.5 Watts. ( W = A x V )

If the port cannot supply 0.5 Watt or if the voltage is down a bit then the fan will be running slow ....... or not at all.

 

This is why I asked if the Watts were shown on the fan itself.

[CathyC]

Hi guys, and thanks for the welcome :)

 

Oh goodness I feel like an idiot now, haha, I didn't think it would be a power issue! I take back all my whinging!

Thankyou so much for explaining that to me, that's cleared it up!

 

Unfortunately Ken there is no wattage info or any kind of info at all on the fan, and I have checked online and there is no info there either, so I have no way of knowing what the wattage is. Thanks for the useful info about voltage and wattage though, that's good to know for both future reference and in this instance!

 

Yeah you're right Nev, if I had realised that there would be a power issue I would have got some advice about a decent cable rather than just buying one online, I never thought there would be a power issue as I have always had no trouble with connecting all my other devices via USB, but as you say that's just for data transfer, not power. It's all down to me not using my brain haha!

 

Thanks so much for your advice, I know what to do now and next time! :)

Great forums by the way, I'm glad I joined, I shall visit again just in case I may be able to help anyone with anything, perhaps some silly women like me who don't think before buying things that won't work ;)

 

Cathy

[Plastic Nev]

Hi Cathy thanks for getting back to us and glad we could help, even if in only a small way.

 

Nev.

[KenB]

Oh goodness I feel like an idiot now, haha

Not at all Cathy.

You would reasonably expect an extension cable to put out what goes in at the USB Port. Obviously, in this case, it is not so.

 

Look forward to seeing you around the forums and don't be shy about jumping in with some assistance :)