When do i need powered usb hub

Usually more expensive than unpowered USB hubs Need access to a mains socket. Unpowered USB hubs. Need portability? Very limited budget? Connecting printers or scanners? Powering several devices?

Willing to spend a little more? But what are the differences? Generally, they suck power from a wall socket to maintain consistent power output. Each of any given ports rated for mA. This type of USB hub can be useful if you want to connect to power-hungry devices such as a speaker, scanner, camera, or even charging a smartphone. If your computer is USB 3 ready you might get up to mA for data transfer and on dedicated charging ports you will get up to mA with no data transfer.

It all depends on what you are connecting to it. But if you want stuff to charge from it with any speed like a phone etc or if you want to connect 3. Sign up to join this community. The best answers are voted up and rise to the top. Stack Overflow for Teams — Collaborate and share knowledge with a private group. Create a free Team What is Teams? Learn more. Is it important for a USB 3. Asked 4 years, 8 months ago.

Active 4 years, 8 months ago. Viewed 26k times. Improve this question. It depends on the power requirements of the devices you will be connecting to the USB Hub. Add a comment. Active USB hubs are usually powered through a wall outlet.

While active USB hubs do not need to divide power consumption across all connected devices, the hub still splits data bandwidth across all connected devices. Non-powered, or passive, USB hubs do not have an external power source and only pull power from the computer's USB port. Unpowered hubs have compatibility issues with devices that need more power to operate than the hub can provide. For example, a USB flash drive might work perfectly fine with the computer's USB port or an active hub, but it may not power on when connected to a passive hub.

The USB 3.