Does anyone know where to buy a mechanical USB switcher?  4P10T - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: ez24
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 25, 2017, 01:55:57 am
content: HiI have a TV that has one USB port. I have a lot of drives that have movies on them. I have tried a few electronic switchers and none have worked (I do not know why).I guess that a mechanical switch would work. For 10 drives my guess is I need a 4P10T switch. I would rather buy one than wire one.Thanks

author: MK14
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 25, 2017, 02:07:30 am
content: For mechanical, I only remember seeing four way ones, like this one:https://www.amazon.com/EEEKit-Scanner-Printer-Sharing-Storage/dp/B00B18AMQW

author: NiHaoMike
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 25, 2017, 02:25:54 am
content: Have you tried a USB hub?

author: ez24
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 25, 2017, 02:54:41 am
content: Quote from: MK14 on June 25, 2017, 02:07:30 amThis looks like it would work for 4 drives. I wonder if the could be daisy chained for more? I am going to order 3 to see if I can daisy chain them. So for 8 drives I would use 3 of these.I think the key is the word "manual" instead of "mechanical".thanks very much

author: MK14
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 25, 2017, 03:06:03 am
content: Quote from: ez24 on June 25, 2017, 02:54:41 amI suspect they can be daisy chained.Make sure you get the right type of USB leads, that go in both ends (the switch box) and your device. It is real easy to get it wrong.I suspect the TV, only has limited USB functionality (because it is NOT a computer and/or running windows, with extra drivers etc). So more complicated USB things (such as USB hubs) may just confuse it. Also your luck with USB, probably depends on which TV it is as well.

author: ez24
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 25, 2017, 03:34:52 am
content: Quote from: MK14 on June 25, 2017, 03:06:03 amI have tried 3 USB hubs (different price ranges) and none worked but all three worked on a computer.

author: mariush
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 25, 2017, 05:20:40 am
content: Just make your own box like a usb hub ... one button for power for all, and one button for each connector data wires - the kind of push button that's like on ball point pens, stays depressed until you press it again.Configure it so that when you press the button the connector's data wires (tx and rx) are connected to the cable that goes in the TV.Have one push button that connects voltage and ground wires to all connectors (all connectors powered but only one connector's data wires are connected at any time)So you can simply plug multiple things in your box and switch between them like this:release the button for power (turns off all connectors)release button for data for previous connectorpush button for data wires for new connectorpush button to power everythingYou can make all this easier with 5v relays (with 2 circuits each, and ideally latching for lowest power if you'll power everything from tv's usb port) and a microcontroller and a plain button for each connector. The micro can disable power, disable old connector, enable new connector, turn on power (like when you'd manually extract device from usb connector). Could also have a led for each connector to know which connector is active...

author: ez24
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 04, 2017, 08:55:34 pm
content: Quote from: MK14 on June 25, 2017, 02:07:30 amIT WORKS !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Thank you MK14I now have 4 -4 tb drives connected to my Samsung TV (one USB port) (4tb drive is the max it will recognize). I plan on getting more and daisy chain them. Just one master and four slaves, I can connect 16 drives. I think this will be enough.

author: MK14
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: July 04, 2017, 10:45:47 pm
content: Quote from: ez24 on July 04, 2017, 08:55:34 pmThanks for letting me/us know. I'm glad it worked, both for you and it is an interesting technology option. E.g. An easy way of having multiple boot disks (but a slow way of booting, external USB2 for a PC), without the hassle of setting them up, which can be a real pain.Daisy chaining them, is a bigger strain, on the USB2 unamplified/unbuffered mechanically switched signals for your TV. But hopefully it will still work nicely, at the full USB2 rates. The limit is something like 5 metres, for basic cable setups, if I remember correctly.