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usb hub stops working when soldered to the pi zero
Posted: Tue Jun 28, 2016 8:20 am
by Pulsar
I'm experiencing very weird problems with the usb hub. I have a hub with keyboard and wifi dongle attached. When i connected the hub through the micro usb port on the pi zero, all devices worked perfectly. After i cut the cable on the hub, and soldered the wires to the pads directly, the lights on the keyboard and on the usb hub still come on, but the devices don't work. I can't type, or connect to the retropie ftp over wifi.
So i figured i did something wrong stripping the usb hub. I got a second usb hub, different brand, and did everything over. I got the exact same result. Everything works through the usb connectors, but as soon as i cut the wire and solder them onto the pi zero pads, the devices are lit but stop working.
I attached the red wire to pad PP1, black to PP6, green to PP22, white to PP23, just like in the guide. I can't find any shorts in the soldering, and completely undid and redid the soldering for the second usb hub.
My second usb hub has 2 black wires in it, soldered to pins 4 and 5. I tried both seperately, and even connected them together. All gives the same result. I'm at a complete loss here. Anyone have a clue what i'm doing wrong?

Re: usb hub stops working when soldered to the pi zero
Posted: Tue Jun 28, 2016 8:37 am
by wermy
Pulsar wrote:I'm experiencing very weird problems with the usb hub. I have a hub with keyboard and wifi dongle attached. When i connected the hub through the micro usb port on the pi zero, all devices worked perfectly. After i cut the cable on the hub, and soldered the wires to the pads directly, the lights on the keyboard and on the usb hub still come on, but the devices don't work. I can't type, or connect to the retropie ftp over wifi.
So i figured i did something wrong stripping the usb hub. I got a second usb hub, different brand, and did everything over. I got the exact same result. Everything works through the usb connectors, but as soon as i cut the wire and solder them onto the pi zero pads, the devices are lit but stop working.
I attached the red wire to pad PP1, black to PP6, green to PP22, white to PP23, just like in the guide. I can't find any shorts in the soldering, and completely undid and redid the soldering for the second usb hub.
My second usb hub has 2 black wires in it, soldered to pins 4 and 5. I tried both seperately, and even connected them together. All gives the same result. I'm at a complete loss here. Anyone have a clue what i'm doing wrong?

I'd recommend double-checking that pad (23 I think) that is VERY close to the leg of the micro USB port. Any time I had an issue with the hub not working (which happened a couple times) it was because it was shorted. Those things are way too close to eachother.. :\
Re: usb hub stops working when soldered to the pi zero
Posted: Tue Jun 28, 2016 9:52 am
by drlbradley
Something else to consider when using a number of devices on your hub..
I found that I had to power my hub from the 5v breakout board I made , and not just power the hub from the pi. Perhaps one or more of your usb devices are drawing too much current
Re: usb hub stops working when soldered to the pi zero
Posted: Tue Jun 28, 2016 11:42 am
by Robvp
I'm gonna go with Wermy on this one, the pads are painfully small and close together, it's easy to short them and not notice it
Re: usb hub stops working when soldered to the pi zero
Posted: Tue Jun 28, 2016 1:44 pm
by Pulsar
Well, the problem solved itself, and i have no idea why. I did not do anything but stare at it for five minutes, trying to find out where i went wrong. In the end i pressed the keyboard buttons again, and for no reason, they now worked.
I immediately applied hot glue over all connections involved, and i'm really hoping it will stay this way.

Thank you all for helping!
Re: usb hub stops working when soldered to the pi zero
Posted: Wed Jun 29, 2016 2:20 pm
by chibilaharl
Im having the same propblem. i get 5volts in all the power leads, but i know no way of testing the data. I think the usb board is faulty, unless there is some code i dont know of that needs fixing
Re: usb hub stops working when soldered to the pi zero
Posted: Wed Jun 29, 2016 3:27 pm
by grenade44
Pulsar wrote:Well, the problem solved itself, and i have no idea why. I did not do anything but stare at it for five minutes, trying to find out where i went wrong. In the end i pressed the keyboard buttons again, and for no reason, they now worked.
I immediately applied hot glue over all connections involved, and i'm really hoping it will stay this way.

Thank you all for helping!
I'm having the same issues and for some reason it works and then it doesn't, been like this for a couple of weeks. When hub is connected to the pi via usb socket soldered to pads it works fine. Then hub soldered to pads it intermittently works and the hub led doesn't light up anymore, I think it's a power problem, I only have usb audio and WiFi connected. I don't think it's a pin issue.
Re: usb hub stops working when soldered to the pi zero
Posted: Tue Jul 12, 2016 2:36 am
by Flowlance
This is really weird. I came here because I have the same problem.
Works using microusb, but not when soldered to pp22/23. I did a continuity check and microusb ends up at the same pads (pp22/23). This makes absolutely no sense to me. And nothing is shorted either.

Re: usb hub stops working when soldered to the pi zero
Posted: Tue Jul 12, 2016 2:45 am
by Fleder
grenade44 wrote:I'm having the same issues and for some reason it works and then it doesn't, been like this for a couple of weeks. When hub is connected to the pi via usb socket soldered to pads it works fine. Then hub soldered to pads it intermittently works and the hub led doesn't light up anymore, I think it's a power problem, I only have usb audio and WiFi connected. I don't think it's a pin issue.
Do you have something wired/soldered onto the power supply of the Pi0? Those pads where the USB Power Supply should be.
Re: usb hub stops working when soldered to the pi zero
Posted: Tue Jul 12, 2016 4:54 am
by Flowlance
@Pulsar do you happen to have the same usb hub mentioned here?
http://www.sudomod.com/forum/viewtopic. ... 888&p=8911
Funny thing is, mine also started working suddenly. Then I hotglued all in place, then of course, it stopped working. A ton of hot glue to get rid of now
