USB Hub board

[cvenditti]

It's better to solder LED15 (power). It's not simple power LED - it's ON only when USB hub is initialized. So, it's kind "OK, it works now."

Yes I was planning on it.
But I have to test the LED with the resistor I could get the 510 so I bought 620 and 430. I think you went for red for the power LED(15) but I think I will go for green. (I bought red and green to test).
I did not have the time to test the board last night that was too late (I still have to work the cables)
Anyway those are just details.

Cyril

[cvenditti]

Here is the BOM for USB Hub daughter board (some parts links are missing)
https://github.com/MiSTer-devel/Main_Mi ... mbly-(DIY)

if someone can double check please.

Thanks
Cyril

[Sorgelig]

Here is the BOM for USB Hub daughter board (some parts links are missing)
https://github.com/MiSTer-devel/Main_Mi ... mbly-(DIY)

if someone can double check please.

Thanks
Cyril

X1 was totally wrong. I've corrected it.

[cvenditti]

X1 was totally wrong. I've corrected it.

Yes you right thank you for the correction, I was looking at my order from LCSC for USB Board but I also order some RTC Crystal too.

But I did not order the one that is on the wiki
https://lcsc.com/product-detail/SMD-Cry ... 90883.html
I order this one:

Crystal is like this one: https://lcsc.com/product-detail/SMD-Cry ... 12573.html

Which must be compatible because the boards are working fine

I will add it to the list Yangxing too

Thank you

Cyril

[Sorgelig]

Which must be compatible because the boards are working fine

Any 12MHz crystal with compatible footprint will work.
I've filled the rest of BOM, although i didn't order the listed items. All components besides IC are pretty generic and BOM is just an example, not a requirement.

[cvenditti]

Here is the test bench for the USB HUB:

34307242_10155848670633439_2784467425876246528_o.jpg

I did 15 boards
- 12 Perfect (all sold)
- 1 which is working fine now but I had issue with it (so I reduced the price to $35) (first attempt failed to solder directly the USB cable to the broad failed I had to repair the traces after).
- 1 Partially working (one USB port dead again because of the soldering of the Fe 2.1)
- 1 Destroy beyond repair (again soldering of the Fe 2.1 failed)

- 8 Shipped Saturday
- 1 will be shipped on Monday
- Missing some cables for the 3 others

Take away:
For me it is the most tricky board to make because of the Fe 2.1 but the rest is not too bad.
-> The USB port:
- They obviously need to be extra secure on the board so I used the required amount of soldering here, without going crazy you definitely don't want to be cheap with the soldering.
- You also have to pay attention to the alignment of the ports they can be easily misaligned.
-> The cables (USB/power):
- They take time also to be done (I special bought a crimping tool https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01N4 ... UTF8&psc=1).
- I use solder free for the cable because the USB cable are too weak to be soldered directly to the board and that offers some degree of flexibility if people want to use other kind of cables (but you have to have a crimping tool).
-> I struggled a bit with the wire management. I did not want to put to much pressure for the USB port of the Nano but at the same time I did not want to have to much wire hang, so I routed the wire with extra length with the help of the USB ports.

For the V1.1 if it happens , I wish to have the option to have also a DC Power Jack Socket (2.1mm x 5.5mm Barrel) mounted on the PCB facing the same direction as the power Jack Socket of the Nano. Also I'd like to see the USB port closer to the micro USB of the Namo (Sacrificing the USB HUB port right below would be fine 6 is already plenty).

Cyril

[Sorgelig]

Soldering TQFP is more tricky than SSOP/SOIC.
I also think the power socket on the board would be a good idea.
The only problem is the space. You've said you would rather to remove one port under microUSB - so minus 1 port.
Power socket on another side - minus another USB port. So, it's already 5 ports instead of 7. This is not what i planned when i put 7-port chip.
Probably sockets can be moved to 4th side - so all 4 sides will be used for USB. Of course, it's up to user which connectors to solder.

By the way, on the current PCB, you need to cut the trace between those 2 connectors, so the power won't go to microUSB by reverse. Not much problem, actually, as i did special mod before for this, to disable OVC protection.

[Sorgelig]

i think to use slot holes for USB shield soldering. It should require less solder and will give a stronger retention.

[diwou]

If you only have a soldering station, TQFP can be soldered very easily using "drag soldering". There are corresponding instructions in YouTube. Important is a high-quality flux, so no cheap crap from eBay or other dubious sources. I have already soldered a lot of TQFPs in this way without any problems. And so far I have had zero defects or failures.

[Sorgelig]

If you only have a soldering station, TQFP can be soldered very easily using "drag soldering"

problem not in soldering itself (at least to me) but in aligning the pins and keep it in place till several pins got soldered.

btw, If standard power socket (same as on DE10-nano) will be used on USB hub board then original spacers won't be enough. Unfortunately the socket is too high.

[diwou]

problem not in soldering itself (at least to me) but in aligning the pins and keep it in place till several pins got soldered.

A sensible flux can also help here. Because this one's pretty tough and almost sticky. If you apply some of this beforehand and then align the chip, it remains in its position quite securely. Well, it works out great for me.

[cvenditti]

problem not in soldering itself (at least to me) but in aligning the pins and keep it in place till several pins got soldered.

Yes exactly, the two that failed where misaligned just by a tiny bit (I have able to reflow one). The soldering by itself is not to bad, if two pin are solder together you can obviously recover by using some desoldering wick.

If I ever do another batch I think I will use a soldering mask and reflow everything (including all the green and orange LEDs).

btw, If standard power socket (same as on DE10-nano) will be used on USB hub board then original spacers won't be enough. Unfortunately the socket is too high.

Standoffs/spacers really chip (https://www.aliexpress.com/item/30pcs-M ... 56430.html)


Cyril

[Sorgelig]

usbhub_1.1.png

preliminary v1.1

USB3 and USB4 have alternative placements. Power jack also has 2 alternative places. Power LED has 2 alternative places.
Did i forget something?

[cvenditti]

usbhub_1.1.png
preliminary v1.1

USB3 and USB4 have alternative placements. Power jack also has 2 alternative places. Power LED has 2 alternative places.
Did i forget something?

Look pretty good to me as is.

Do you think USB4 could become the USB feed alternatively to p1 (but that look like a lot of trace re-working)?

Thank you Sorgelig

Cyril

[Sorgelig]

Do you think USB4 could become the USB feed alternatively to p1 (but that look like a lot of trace re-working)?

No, it can't. Connector should be USB-B, not USB-A.
Also USB lines has some rules to route. So, you cannot simply route it as other signals through the whole board with many vias. May be you mean USB5 (not USB4) as USB-input? Theoretically with jumpers it's possible, but as i've said it should be USB-B connector.
Anyway, i think, for generic HUB usage, it's better to hard-wire the tail. It will be more compact than USB-B long construction.

[mattsoft]

Received one of Cyril's build of this USB hub board today and it is a nice little design. Agree with the comments here that moving some of the ports to align with the DE-10's ports would probably be better, same with the hard-wiring of the pigtails to keep length short. The current build is a little awkward with the cables, but hey, it's a compact USB hub that seems to drive several devices just great.

[Sorgelig]

New version will have power socket, so it will be possible to use DC splitter without cutting the cable.
As for Micro USB - the most tiny and accurate method is DIY version i made. Any standard cable will protrude very much.
It's possible to make a small breakout PCB with vertically soldered microUSB connector - but i think it won't be slimmer than L connector with cable posted by cvenditti.

There is more radical solution - i don't know if it possible to accomplish or not and if it will be possible to make it switchable for backward compatibility. USB host can be routed to FPGA and then to other pins to some of connectors. Then addon board can include ULPI chip like USB3300 and hub using convenient inter-pcb connector.
This will require to modify of every core to include the routing USB port to some unused GPIOs. Solution will be more elegant but definitely not so easy. Especially to solder tiny QFN USB3300

[Sorgelig]

I've just released the Hub v1.1.
some notes:
- choose the LEDs with no more than 40mcd. I've used 35mcd side looking LEDs and they work perfect.
- It's possible to solder alternative USB sockets together with main placement and get pseudo 9-port HUB. Of course it still will be 7-port hub, but you will have some flexibility of USB devices placement.
- DC socket is too high and requires higher standoffs than DE10-nano board has. I still prefer to solder the DC wires directly as it's more compact.
- DC socket should have 2mm-2.1mm center pin to be compatible with DE10-nano power plug.

[cvenditti]

I've just released the Hub v1.1.

Thank you Sorgelig, we all appreciate your continuous improvement

Cyril

[brunosilva]

Hi

anyone will do this new version in Europe?

Thanks

[Marmes]

I want to buy one, if anyone has one for sale please contact me.

Cheers!

[mattsoft]

I have 1 of cvenditti's builds of the 1.0 USB board for sale in the US if anyone is interested. The board is fantastic and works great, but my project is to fit the MiSTer into an Amiga 600 case and with the USB board it is too tall so I have used a Zero4U USB board for this build instead. My loss is your gain, asking $40 shipped in the US for this great board. PM me if interested!

SOLD

[Donald1705]

HI,

where can i find the BOM for the new rev. 1.1 board?
For the old board ist is on GitHub but with the new one some details have changed.

Regards

Sven

[Sorgelig]

Find yourself.
I buy connectors and passives in local store, so no P/N for them.
The only new component in 1.1 is DC socket - it's pretty generic.

[Donald1705]

Hi Sorgelig,

Find yourself.

why so rough?

The only new component in 1.1 is DC socket - it's pretty generic.

Interesting, the BOM of the old 1.0 board contains 13 capacitors. On the version 1.1 board there are 16 capacitors (if I don't miscount).

Regards,

Sven