Am ready to purchase Plugable 10 Port Hub from Amazon but need to know whether my three Behringer UMX610 usb music keyboards can be safely plugged in to the hub = they are not supposed to receive more than 100mA (each) and the hub provides 500mA to each of the 10 usb ports. I have heard that Behringer keyboards can be burnt out if they receive too much power. Would like to be sure about safety before the purchase, thanks.
Hi Robert,
Thanks for asking ahead! It’s a common misconception that USB hubs control how much power is on the circuit for each port. That’s not the case. Rather, it’s how much the device chooses to pull. A USB 2.0 compliant device is technically allowed to pull 100mA, and can negotiate up to 500mA (once configured).
That said, there’s nothing physically preventing a device from pulling 200mA or 500mA or even 600mA immediately without being configured (if within the total amperage of the hub; and up to the hub/port overcurrent limit). That will actually actually work (even though it’s not spec compliant). Again, it’s up to the device.
Do you happen to have any links where the Behringer burn-out issue is talked about? We’d be happy to take a look if anything might be specifically relevant to hubs or our hubs in particular.
The one thing we have gotten reports of is audio noise caused by a ground loops when a USB MIDI device is connected in particular configurations. (like this: http://forum.recordingreview.com/f9/u…) In those cases, sometimes changing the topology of devices around can solve the issues, sometimes not. We’re not sure if the Behringer and our hub together would be more or less susceptible to that. But it shouldn’t be a cause of damage. And we try to make returns easy for any reason (30 days, no questions, processed by Amazon) - so in the unusual cases where something like this crops up, if we’re not able to solve it, you’re not stuck with the item.
Sorry I don’t have a more definitive answer, but hope that helps!
Bernie