chrisULM Posted September 13, 2007 Share Posted September 13, 2007 I've been looking into ways to extend my printer's USB cable and I came across something called a "Cat5 USB extender". It takes your USB connection and sends it across an ethernet cable to extend your range (website says up to 150ft). Only downside is that these little things run well over $50, and I just cant swing that for a USB extender. Is there anyway I could just rig something like this up myself with a USB A to B cable and a Cat 5? I was thinking about cutting a short USB printer cable in half, stripping the ends, and soldering them on two sides of a Cat 5. Basically the extender with out the pretty adapters. . . . . . . . Any ideas? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Famicoman Posted September 14, 2007 Share Posted September 14, 2007 What, USB cables have 4 wires or so? as long as ethernet has that number of wires free, you can splice in the usb wires. I don't know what that will do for the speed, though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arran Posted September 14, 2007 Share Posted September 14, 2007 The $50 extender you came across will probably have some electronics inside it to give the signal a boost. I don't think it will be as simple as just soldering the Cat 5 cable to the ends of a USB cable. Have a look here for more info on USB cable length -> http://www.usb.org/about/faq/ans5/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrisULM Posted September 14, 2007 Author Share Posted September 14, 2007 I just finished testing my USB/Cat5 cable and its working well. I have my printer in a closet about 70 ft away, and I really haven't noticed a slow down with printing at all. As long as my soldering holds, I think its gonna work out fine. Just saved myself $50 :-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arran Posted September 14, 2007 Share Posted September 14, 2007 I just finished testing my USB/Cat5 cable and its working well. Well you proved me wrong, good one! I think I might try and make an extended USB cable myself I know I've got some Cat 5 cable about somewhere. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
proskater123 Posted September 21, 2007 Share Posted September 21, 2007 i have some questions about this. One, why didn't you just splice like a cord between usb a and b instead of having two different ends. And two how did you work the printer using a cat5 cable. did your printer use the cat 5 or did the computer Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xidus Posted September 21, 2007 Share Posted September 21, 2007 From reading his post i believe he took a cat 5 cable, cut both the RJ45 connectors off, did the same with the USB cable and soldered the usb connectors to the Cat 5 cable meaning it wasn't really a cat 5 cable, just a large usb cable Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
manuel Posted September 23, 2007 Share Posted September 23, 2007 Bingo!!!! Xidus wins the bozo button that says: "I helped a special n00b today" and proskater123 wins the bozo button that says: "I'm a special n00b" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unasoto Posted September 23, 2007 Share Posted September 23, 2007 I've been thinking about doing the same thing and putting my USB WIFI stick on the roof and do some range checking and see what I can pick up. ;) is there any way to check/monitor your speed over USB? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrisULM Posted September 26, 2007 Author Share Posted September 26, 2007 From reading his post i believe he took a cat 5 cable, cut both the RJ45 connectors off, did the same with the USB cable and soldered the usb connectors to the Cat 5 cable meaning it wasn't really a cat 5 cable, just a large usb cable exactly, I guess my description was a bit fuzzy.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
proskater123 Posted September 27, 2007 Share Posted September 27, 2007 well thanks for the idea chrisulm. I Just did this as well and it worked perfectly. But i was wondering if you can leave one end as cat5 and plug it into a router. Then somewhere down the line take the cat5 plug in that was cut off, and splice that with the other end of USB. Will this work. USB=====cat5 =>router<=cat5========USB Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sparda Posted September 27, 2007 Share Posted September 27, 2007 That won't work, don't try it, you might end up with a bricked router. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrisULM Posted September 27, 2007 Author Share Posted September 27, 2007 well thanks for the idea chrisulm. I Just did this as well and it worked perfectly. But i was wondering if you can leave one end as cat5 and plug it into a router. Then somewhere down the line take the cat5 plug in that was cut off, and splice that with the other end of USB. Will this work. USB=====cat5 =>router<=cat5========USB I think you could use that one cable and have both USB and cat5 ends on it..... USB only uses 4 of the 8 cables, and you could use the other 4 for networking. USB/Cat5 ends==================USB/Cat5 Ends (usb device & router) (computer) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OtterFox Posted October 3, 2007 Share Posted October 3, 2007 Wouldn't you need something to boost the signal? I thought USB only worked over 4 or so meters? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deveant Posted October 3, 2007 Share Posted October 3, 2007 Wouldn't you need something to boost the signal? I though USB only worked over 4 or so meters? Yea, me to, the only cables i have seen over 4 meters, have the noise filters on them, and even wif that state that there may be drop in quaility of the signal, unless u buy the cables that will set u back a lot of $$$. As for connecting a USB into a route... dont... To go google. Wiki a router, read how they work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
puredistortion Posted October 3, 2007 Share Posted October 3, 2007 well thanks for the idea chrisulm. I Just did this as well and it worked perfectly. But i was wondering if you can leave one end as cat5 and plug it into a router. Then somewhere down the line take the cat5 plug in that was cut off, and splice that with the other end of USB. Will this work. USB=====cat5 =>router<=cat5========USB To do this you would need to encapsulate the USB data into TCP/IP and have it routedin the same way as any other TCP packet the re assemble the ransmission. If you were wanting to do that there are Cheap NAS boxes out there you can buy that support NFS or samba. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest MaxDamage Posted October 22, 2007 Share Posted October 22, 2007 Have you considerd using a wireless USB hub ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MRGRIM Posted October 23, 2007 Share Posted October 23, 2007 USB works over longer distances than 4M :-P You can buy 7 and 10M cables... unless this is just one big scam (But I know for a fact when I have installed printers we have used longer cables) As for USB to ETH to USB it won't work for a number of reasons, what you could do is buy a USB Ethernet card (kinda like a dongle) I don't think this is quite what your after (and why would you buy an adapter and simply not use your inbuild Ethernet port?) http://www.amazon.co.uk/Belkin-Ethernet-Ad...e/dp/B0002AFKN0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skunkfoot Posted October 31, 2007 Share Posted October 31, 2007 I've been thinking about doing the same thing and putting my USB WIFI stick on the roof and do some range checking and see what I can pick up. Wink is there any way to check/monitor your speed over USB? would that boost the range at all? I thought signals from unsecured wireless networks came from houses, not satellites or towers (like cell phones) (unless you have that card that allows you to get internet pretty much anywhere using cell phone signal towers) :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hyp0dermik Posted November 2, 2007 Share Posted November 2, 2007 well. . . probably with a few op-amps, a circuit, and a soldering iron you could whip up a signal amp. usb>router<usb is a bad idea! 5 volts into the router would not be good. . . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SomeoneE1se Posted November 2, 2007 Share Posted November 2, 2007 well. . . probably with a few op-amps, a circuit, and a soldering iron you could whip up a signal amp. usb>router<usb is a bad idea! 5 volts into the router would not be good. . . go get a cheap hub and try it or better 2 printers of the same type and a hub see if it prints to both Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hyp0dermik Posted November 2, 2007 Share Posted November 2, 2007 or, even better, do something like this: USB>EthernetCable--Printer 2nd Printer by putting two usb plugs onn the end, instead of one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moonlit Posted November 2, 2007 Share Posted November 2, 2007 or, even better, do something like this: USB>EthernetCable--Printer 2nd Printer by putting two usb plugs onn the end, instead of one. USB would die with that setup, it's only supposed to talk to 1 device at a time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hyp0dermik Posted November 3, 2007 Share Posted November 3, 2007 USB would die with that setup, it's only supposed to talk to 1 device at a time. then how do hubs work? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SomeoneE1se Posted November 3, 2007 Share Posted November 3, 2007 USB would die with that setup, it's only supposed to talk to 1 device at a time. then how do hubs work? the TCP/IP stack is not the same for USB Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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