usb - usb 2 cable....how long can I go?

[gabagoo]

how long can I run a usb - usb2 cable? I am using the cable at work to run a plotter but the current cable is 4 feet and making it tight. Is there data loss if the cable gets to long?

 

[J Hill Designs]

http://www.usb.org/about/faq/ans5/

 

[lbumbaca]

i run my cjv30-130 about 18 feet away from pc tiger direct usb extender $40 can

 

[gabagoo]

thank you

 

[choucove]

If you need to go longer than about 15 feet, due to signal loss and some devices not wanting to recognize properly at longer lengths, then find a USB to Cat5 adapter. These adapters allow you to run any length up to 500 feet of Category 5 or higher ethernet cable between two USB cables and still run the devices properly. I've used these a couple times without any problems.

 

[J Hill Designs]

wow didn't know that existed choucove...nice

 

[gbarker]

If you need to go longer than about 15 feet, due to signal loss and some devices not wanting to recognize properly at longer lengths, then find a USB to Cat5 adapter. These adapters allow you to run any length up to 500 feet of Category 5 or higher ethernet cable between two USB cables and still run the devices properly. I've used these a couple times without any problems.

I used one with a 50' cat 5 cable to run my Graphtec without a problem.

 

[smdgrfx]

I'm running 31 feet to my Graphtec on USB. 6 foot from computer to USB hub. 25 foot from hub to plotter. I found the 25 footer at Fry's.

 

[gbarker]

I'm running 31 feet to my Graphtec on USB. 6 foot from computer to USB hub. 25 foot from hub to plotter. I found the 25 footer at Fry's.

Do you have good success with this setup? I was under the impression you should go past 16' with USB. I know cable are available but I thought data integrity would degrade.

 

[choucove]

Do you have good success with this setup? I was under the impression you should go past 16' with USB. I know cable are available but I thought data integrity would degrade.

This is what we ran into when we remodeled our interior offices here recently. We already have about a 15 foot USB cable that has been connected and running our Graphtec plotter fine for years, but when we tried to do through a USB hub for longer reach or just a longer USB cable in general over that 15 foot length, the computer would no longer recognize the plotter was connected. Switched to the Cat5 converter and it worked without an issue.

However, this was just our own experience with our own printer. Others might have better luck with longer cords. It depends on a lot of things including the quality of your cable.

 

[smdgrfx]

Choucove, we did the same thing. After remodeling and moving equipment around, our single 25 footer was not long enough. Just adding a USB extender was not good enough/plotter was not recognized by the computer. I actually went and purchased the CAT5 kit (which looks like it would be awesome to use), but before I used it, I decided to just try a USB hub that I had lying around. To my amazement, it worked. I haven't had any problems with it. I've been using it for about 4 months now in this manner. I don't think I have had any data integrity issues, but I can't say I work that plotter very hard. It does my 48" contour cuts without any problems and I've cut maybe a 250pc run of decals without any problems.