USB extension cable problem

[davidcarey]

I have a laptop HDD in an enclosure , it works faultlessly . I want to connect to a TV but need to use a USB extension cable . Is there any reason why the cable will not work , apart from a faulty batch - tried 3 - none worked . The short cable supplied with the enclosure works . The extension cable did not work with pendrive either both TV and PC .

 

[LTC8K6]

Is it possibly too long? Signal strength drop or voltage drop?

 

[esquared]

Yeah, signal drops when the cable is too long.
Try an active cable.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00KY9M51O

 

[davidcarey]

1.5m . Thanks for the replies , I have just got another one - slightly more expensive - that works . This one does not have a ferrite choke attached - would this make the problem with the previous cables that had it fitted ??

 

[esquared]

1.5m . Thanks for the replies , I have just got another one - slightly more expensive - that works . This one does not have a ferrite choke attached - would this make the problem with the previous cables that had it fitted ??

Not sure. I don't think it would.

Do you use just one USB port with the drive?
Does your drive enclosure recommend using a y cable to help insure the 5 volts needed by the drive?

I think the max amperage from a USB port is 0.5A. Sometimes one USB port won't run a drive by itself.

 

[LTC8K6]

Sometimes the cable is just made cheaply with tiny wires that won't carry the signals or power well.

 

[mindless1]

I would've guessed the non-working cable had insufficiently thin wire that dropped voltage too much but it seems less likely with a lower current device like a pendrive (which I assume means USB flash drive? Most, except some SSD-In-A-Shell like a Sandisk Extreme, draw much less current than a HDD).

Since the pendrive doesn't work, I'd guess the TV has a poorly designed USB circuit that picks up noise and any (too much) additional noise from the cable can put it over the edge of stability, though inadequate gauge wiring could still affect SNR a little.

 

[davidcarey]

Not sure. I don't think it would.

Do you use just one USB port with the drive?
Does your drive enclosure recommend using a y cable to help insure the 5 volts needed by the drive?
View attachment 4229
I think the max amperage from a USB port is 0.5A. Sometimes one USB port won't run a drive by itself.

I always use a single USB port , I think it was only usb 1 that needed double ports for the power .

 

[Paperdoc]

I' glad you got it to work. Why the first cables did not could be a couple things. Light wire gauges or poor cable shields could have weakened the signals or allowed excess noise signal entry. The fact that the early cables did not work with even a pen drive suggests they were faulty in some way.

But power MIGHT be an issue in a different way. There are almost NO HDD's that can operate using only the power available from a standard USB2 port. Further, if the HDD in the enslosure is 3½" size suited to desktop PC's, it certainly cannot operate from such a power source. What CAN work, though, is if the HDD is mounted in an eclosure that has its own power supply module to proved adequate power independent of the USB host port. You have not told us that detail, OP.

The other thing that can work for the newer "Laptop Hard Drives" is if they are designed for use with the new USB3 ports, and ARE plugged into such a port. These drive units can work with the higher power supply available (up to 0.9 A) from the USB3 port. BUT even those units can fail if they are plugged into a USB2 port. They can still function from a data transfer aspect, but at slower data rates, so these units often are sold as "USB2 compatible", but the USB2 port can supply only up to 0.5 A, and that is not enough to spin up the HDD so it can work. So IF the USB port on the TV is only the older USB2 variety, that is not normally enough to power even a low-power Laptop Portable Drive.