I am using this to extend the usb printer connection to my computer, after trying unsuccessfully with a lower cost active extension cable that I purchased elsewhere. The generic cable I tried first had near constant communication errors, making it essentially unusable. After several weeks of use, I have had no problems or error messages with the Tripp Lite cable. It seems well made. I should have purchased a quality product first. Tripp Lite U026-016 USB2.0 16-Feet Certified Active Extension Cable
I bought two of these Tripp Lite U026-016 USB 2.0/FireWire 16 foot Active Extension Cables. I have had them for a month and use them with both my PC and with my Playstation 2 Force Feedback Driving Wheels. They are well designed and made with nice thick insulation on the wires and tight connectors.
I am a picky consumer and have been very happy with other Tripp Lite products. (I also own two IsoTel Ultra 8s with metal cases and frequency shielding.) So after doing some comparisons, I put these at the top of my list. Tripp Lite is a little more expensive, but I have never had any failures, problems or headaches because of them.
Any USB extension over 15 feet requires an active cable. This one works just fine. I am connecting a VGA webcam to use as a security monitor and it needed to be a ways from the PC. I have not yet tried chaining a couple together.
I had earlier bought another brand that cost more but didn't work. Junk. So my advice is to buy the ones that have the most consistently good reviews.
USB is a complicated protocol so lets get to simplification.
USB Power is 5V +/- 0.5 V and 500 mA current. About 2.5 watts of power are available. The reason alot of external usb hubs come with a wall wart is if you have 4 devices each drawing 500 ma, that's more than the computer gives you, and something will have to be removed without external power. The wallwart is usually a 5.5V, 2A or less power supply so that each usb port can have the full 500ma on a 4 port hub, neglecting the data rates which are transparently handled on usb 2.0
As for cables, the standard USB cable was defined as 6 feet, just like power cords are 6 feet most commonly. Following the power cord tradition, USB offered a 10 foot extension for a maximum distance of 16 feet before the signal degraded too much to be usable. Hence you'll find 10 foot PASSIVE extension cables in the $9 price range, which you can combine with your existing 6 foot cable for 16 feet total.
The real advantage here is there is a low power (<50mA) "1 port" hub at the end of this 16 foot extension - that regenerates your high speed usb signals for your device. It does steal some power, allowing 450 mA for the device, but most devices don't complain about not having the full 500 mA to themselves with a few exceptions for battery containing devices that must charge and disk drives that get their power from the usb cable.
Now at the end of this you can put another 10 foot extension and 6 foot cable for 32 feet of total length if needed for outdoor or room to room usb. It's a great product to get around the 10 foot extension common length limit.
Often I have "usb radio fobs" or radio transmitters for wireless keyboards. By putting them high up the wall and onto the ceiling, I can carry the wireless device that works with the fob a long ways away - much further than if the fob is hidden down behind the pc chassis on the floor. The 16 feet gives me adequate length to go over then up the wall and into the center of the room for best coverage.
Overall I much prefer the active extension cable to the passive since the signal received at the PC will be just as good as if the device were plugged directly in. Tripp Lite uses a well shielded cable for exceptional quality and very low signal loss in the run back to the PC. While priced more, it is an active hub and you get that added value from the product.
Don't be confused by some of the reviews here. The title is correct: this is an *active 2.0* USB extension cable. I emphasize *active* and *2.0* because other cables not specifying these features are older and will not work with today's current high-speed ports.
I use it with my Logitech QuickCam Pro to capture an entire conference room full of people with no difference in transmission speed.
This is a very well-made and rugged USB extender used by me to extend USB 2.0 across the room to a scanning table. I had attempted to use an older USB 1.1 extender and, as expected, performance of the scanner dropped considerably. While waiting for the Tripp-Lite to arrive - it came to me quickly - I used passive cables to extend the full 16 feet. The scanner performance was fast but I was concerned about errors because it was far longer than what's permitted by USB. I got lucky.
The Tripp-Lite performs flawlessly and it's USB 2.0 performance was immediately apparent with scan times approaching those of the scanner connected locally. The cable used in this product is larger and heavier than most USB cables. My particular scanner is not port-powered so I don't know much about the DC performance of the Tripp-Lite. I would definitely buy it again because it works and is well made. - Tripp Lite - Usb Cable - Cable - Active'
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