Damaged the 5V input pad? No problem, just bridge it onto any other 5V connection on the board. The PCB is labelled XHUB-3009A1.Įven damaged boards make it out of the factory with bodges. The hub’s controller is an anonymous 16-pin SOP package, supported by a few surface mount ceramic capacitors. The footprint for the crystal oscillator isn’t connected to anything but the ground plane and seems to be a “leftover” from a redesign. The cost-savings don’t end there – the floppy ports were also because of the fact the anchoring pins on the ports were not soldered down to save money. The incoming cable looks like audio cable – it definitely doesn’t look USB-compliant without any shielding or screening nor twists on the data pairs. Surprisingly, seems to be a footprint for a crystal oscillator that is not fitted, at least, from the top. It reveals a paper-type single-sided PCB – the cheapest type there is. The unit separates at the seams as the design is entirely screwless. This hub would not be serviceable as it is. The metal “cage” around the connector immediately bent on the first insertion and the whole port started to “lever” up out of the PCB. The fourth port is on the front of the hub, but exercising this gave the immediate impression that this is absolute garbage. In all, the cable had no USB certifications and the USB sockets on the hub did not have gold plating on their contacts at all. The USB cable leading into the hub was too thin and the moulded plug didn’t give much confidence. The make of this hub is unknown, with the unit very anonymously unbranded on the underside. Even the USB ports didn’t align with the cut-outs in the case. From the smudged printing that says “USB2.0 4ports” to the scuffed up plastic with rough edges, there really wasn’t much to commend about its presentation. The unit which arrived was definitely lacking in polish. It didn’t take long for this particular product to end up in my garbage can after waiting a month for its arrival. It looked okay in the images, but what I received definitely didn’t meet my expectations. In need of a USB 2.0 hub for a quick project, I made the mistake of jumping onto eBay and grabbing whatever cheap hub was available.
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