use current from a FW port to power a USB hub??

DJ Gear & Hardware Hardware: Controllers, Mods and Gear
1

use current from a FW port to power a USB hub??

This is a slightly bizzare question,

my macbook only has two usb ports, which is not enough for my dj needs with t scratch pro, but in order to have more USB ports i need a hub, which would need to be powered,

BUT when i turn up at a venue i only want to plug in the power supply for my laptop, SO what is the thinking on whether, with a little crafty soldering, i could make use of the currently unused FW port on my laptop to power a USB hub so i can add more control options?

thanks all!

2

You would need to put a 5 volt reg in between the 12.8 V that the firewire puts out and the power supply input to your hub but yeah firewire can supply enough curren 8 full power usb ports.

3

Could you rewrite that so noobs like me understand? :stuck_out_tongue:

4

ok awesome,

something like this?

www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=7937&C=SO&U=strat15

many thanks!

5

midifiddler correct me if im wrong,

but on a macbook, pins 1 (live) and 2 (gnd) on a firewire port, output unregulated between 9V and 13V with the max load you can draw from that being <1A

USB hubs tend to require a regulated 5V supply, so using the above regulator to stabalise and limit the voltage, i can make a powersource for my usb hub fed by my FW port (or at least thats the plan)

6

Correct - tbh cannot believe there is an existing product allready out there which can do this.

Came up with that idea while highly baked about a month ago

7

Man! midifidler, you should firewire-to-usb power cords for the DJTT store!