Thread: expert advice please.. Planning upgrade install....4 usb cables to trunk

Pardon me for asking, but why don't you just put the USB hub in the back and run only one USB cable (plus a power cable) to it. Save on wire. That's usually one of the ideas of hubs in general.

Or here's another question...why do those devices have to be in the trunk? Can't find anywhere else to put them? Since none of them require a specific location, other then available space.

Originally Posted by DarquePervert

Actually, I think the situation is that the PC is in the trunk and the USB devices will be in the front.

From the diagram he provided, the PC (Mac Mini) is on the front. And he wants to put the devices in the back. And I agree with you that all those devices don't need to be in a specific location (other then GPS for best line of sight).

Originally Posted by DarquePervert

Another question.. Do you really need both a mobile broadband adapter AND wifi? There may be a valid reason, such as using wifi to sync files with a home network, for example.

I was planning on doing this down the road as well. The reason being that Wifi is free and faster. Even if you get a wireless mobile data plan with unlimited send/rx, the Wifi is a lot faster. So if you can find a Wifi signal, might as well use that over the mobile data stream. But if you can't get a hold of Wifi, switch over to the other one and you're still online!

To answer your question I agree that I could install the hub in the back but..

First, I would need power from the Regulator, which is located in the front (Carnetix p1900) which is on a timed power off setting which is very important for my set up I want the USB devices to power down before going to standby, which prevents coming out of sleep issues with the USB devices.

Second, I don’t trust a Powered hub on all types of USB driven devices. Having 4 USB lines run to the trunk gives me the option to use ether the hub or the Mac mini directly.

Third, I only need four devices in the back. The hub I am getting has 7 ports so I want the option to hook up more items up front if need be.

That's understandable, but still doesn't answer my other question: Why do all of these need to be in the back? They should all be able to receive signal from the front just as easy. I guess I just don't understand why you're wasting all that wiring and time/work.

I don’t want a GPS module/wifi module/broadband card and USB HDTV tuner card as well as all the antennas in the front. Having all these items in front is a mess. If I wired only the antenna lines to the back then I would be concerned with RF interference as well as a headache if a newer antenna is introduced. Also, I feel that there will be a ton of noise going to the audio line (sound quality is my #1 priority). With this set up I can upgrade any of these items with ease at anytime. If in a month I want to add a XM module it will take 5 min’s. Running 4 lines is easy. Not to mention trouble shooting will be twice as easy.

Ok, easy solution: put the PC in the back :-) Just kidding of course. Now I understand, and it makes sense. Everyone usually has reasons for doing things the way they do.

As for your original question: I don't think you'll run into problems. Even you want to go an extra step and prevent problems from arising, use the shielded USB cables, as Tidder suggested.