Quote:
Originally Posted by hellosailor  Nik, its so nice to be confused as usual here.
I'm not familiar with an "active cable" being any kind of repeater. Are you suggesting an "active cable" means it boosts the signal level--without injecting any extra power for devices?? As opposed to a powered extension cable, which would plug into something for power (a wall wart) instead of just the computer's USB port? |
Now you have me confused too ;-)
Okay, example of active cable:
Amazon.com: Tripp Lite U026-016 USB2.0 16-Feet Certified Active Extension Cable: Electronics
as you can see, there's a small device integrated into one of the connectors that regenerates the signals (I prefer calling that a repeater). On that page linked above they claim you can go to 80 feet but each cable consumes power (for the repeater) and this has to come from somewhere; in this case it's bus-powered so it takes power from the bus and the wifi device has to compete with that. If your wifi device is low-power, it will (probably) work.
However, if you have a high-power wifi device, it's better to inject power into the bus. You can do that with an USB hub with PSU (a wall wart). When you connect that to your computer USB port, it will not use power from the port on the laptop. Same for any device connected to the hub. An example:
Amazon.com: D-Link DUB-H4 High Speed USB 2.0 4-Port Hub: Electronics
Only in the description you read that it comes with an AC power supply. Most hubs have a 5V DC input connector, even if they don't come with the PSU. I always use a powered USB hub because it protects the ports on the computer from burning out (like with USB powered hard drives etc.)
Instead of an AC wall wart, you can also use a DC-DC converter to make the 5V feed from 12V or 24V house batteries. See this page:
Robust 5V DC/DC converter, wide input range 5 volts output, 15 watts continuous
I use the 8-28V input, 5V 3A output version and power all USB hubs/switches from that single converter.
Hope this helps,
Nick.