USB 2 Maximum Cable Length

Discussion in 'General Hardware' started by harryk, Nov 26, 2007.

  1. harryk

    harryk Guest

    My backup device is a USB 2.0 250 MB Iomega Hard Drive.I'd like to put
    it in my garage, requiring about 20 to 25 feet of wire. The official
    USB specs say 5 meters max; if further use a hub/repeater.

    I'm wondering how realistic the 5 meter spec is. I recall that parallel
    printer cables were supposed to be limited to 10 feet or so; 75 foot
    cables worked just fine. Same thing with the specs for RS-232 cables.

    Does anyone have any real world experience with long USB 2.0 cables?
    I'm thinking of building mine using unshielded CAT5 cable, one twisted
    pair for power, another for data. Wise? foolish?
     
  2. donkey42

    donkey42 plank

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    personally i've never used USB2, however, the limits quoted on the packaging, are typically more correct than they used to be, so, i would be inclined to believe the limit of 5M

    however, CAT 5 cables are much better & can carry a network connection upto 100M, but, i've no idea how a CAT5 cable would act (performance wise) if used as USB2
     
  3. Zimmerru

    Zimmerru Geek Trainee

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    5 Meters = 15 feet and its very realistic. They make a USB cable called an ACTIVE USB extension cable, thats about 16 feel long. You can get one of those, then plug a 10-15 foot USB cable into it. If need be you can chain up to 3 ACTIVE extension cables together.
     

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