USB hubs do work on a Wii

[Dr. Mom]

The Logitech keyboard made this the 3rd USB accessory for our Wii (we have the USB lan adapter and the Boogie Mike). I wasn't crazy about the kids plugging and unplugging cables from the back of the Wii so I took a chance and plugged in a spare Belkin USB hub without external power. It lit up right away, even when the Wii was on standby and both the keyboard and mike seem to work perfectly. This will make it much easier to add accessories to the Wii since we can just keep adding them to the hub instead of continually plugging and unplugging them from the back of the unit.

 

[cookiemonsta11111]

When i first inspected my Wii I did only count 2 USB ports and worried there weren;t enough. However you always have Bluetooth.

 

[[DT]]

The Logitech keyboard made this the 3rd USB accessory for our Wii (we have the USB lan adapter and the Boogie Mike). I wasn't crazy about the kids plugging and unplugging cables from the back of the Wii so I took a chance and plugged in a spare Belkin USB hub without external power. It lit up right away, even when the Wii was on standby and both the keyboard and mike seem to work perfectly. This will make it much easier to add accessories to the Wii since we can just keep adding them to the hub instead of continually plugging and unplugging them from the back of the unit.

Nice job of confirming this!

I would've suspected it would work since the spec for USB allows for 127 devices on a single root hub (5 tiers of hubs per controller). That's the nice thing about game machines implementing standard PC based IO, they're MUCH more flexible.

~DT

 

[[DT]]

When i first inspected my Wii I did only count 2 USB ports and worried there weren;t enough.

Since the USB is a standard implemention you'll probably NOT run out of USB connectivity with two ports (127 X 2) - and even with high contention devices like an HD, you could hang the HD off one port and add a hub the second for keyboard/mouse/etc.

However you always have Bluetooth.

True, though I'd prefer to stick with USB 2.0 with 480MBit/sec vs. BT at 3.0 (and that's the 2.0 EDR version) - seems like the BT is being used as a closed service too, specifically for controller management.

~DT

 

[Link_of_Hyrule]

It is very good that usb hubs work for the Wii because when they release a hard drive for the wii or add support for it people will want to plug in their keyboard, hdd, wiimote charger, lan adapters, mics and what ever else into it!

 

[zurukea]

Excellent find/or whatever u call it, i have 2 accesories now (led stand and keyboard) plus more will come reped

 

[MRCOOLGH]

The Logitech keyboard made this the 3rd USB accessory for our Wii (we have the USB lan adapter and the Boogie Mike). I wasn't crazy about the kids plugging and unplugging cables from the back of the Wii so I took a chance and plugged in a spare Belkin USB hub without external power. It lit up right away, even when the Wii was on standby and both the keyboard and mike seem to work perfectly. This will make it much easier to add accessories to the Wii since we can just keep adding them to the hub instead of continually plugging and unplugging them from the back of the unit.

Good find because that means that people wont run out of room for usb hubs to have more usb devices hooked up to the wii. Hopefully there will be a wii hardrive.

 

[masonb15]

Umm...not to sound like a jerk or anything but why wouldn't a USB hub work? All it is is a bunch of usb ports routed into one port.

 

[Link_of_Hyrule]

I assumed it worked anyways I was actually going to try and use one but i don't know where it went but yes you do have a point

 

[Jay588]

good to know, thanks..i charge my mp3 player via usb and it just dont fit right when plugging it into the back of the wii, gotta find my hub

 

[Dr. Mom]

USB hubs & power draw

Umm...not to sound like a jerk or anything but why wouldn't a USB hub work? All it is is a bunch of usb ports routed into one port.

My actual concern about using hubs was the potential power draw and its effect on the unit.
We've all had personal experience or known someonw who's plugged a device into a keyboard or underpowered hub, like a front usb port on some computers & the device wouldn't work.
I could have just seen the Wii powering down if too many devices were chained to the hub. USB may be a universal standard but there is only a max power draw standard and not a universal minimum power standard`

 

[masonb15]

good to know, thanks..i charge my mp3 player via usb and it just dont fit right when plugging it into the back of the wii, gotta find my hub

I remember I tried to charge an iPod shuffle I got for cheap in my Wii, and it reformatted it into something awful. I was not able to reformat it and now I don't know where it is.

 

[Jay588]

I remember I tried to charge an iPod shuffle I got for cheap in my Wii, and it reformatted it into something awful. I was not able to reformat it and now I don't know where it is.

:yikes: sorry to hear that. i dont have an ipod anymore, i have a mobiblu cube and so far its lasted longer than my ipods lifetime. heres a pic compared shuffle < mobiblu

 

[masonb15]

:yikes: sorry to hear that. i dont have an ipod anymore, i have a mobiblu cube and so far its lasted longer than my ipods lifetime. heres a pic compared shuffle < mobiblu

Yeah I upgraded to a Sandisk Sansa e200 and I love it.

 

[Link_of_Hyrule]

LOL where totally off topic now but yeh ipods aren't all that great before i lost it last week i had a Samsung MP3 player and it was freakin awesome

Now back on topic I don't think that most people will plug enough devices into the Wii to have a negative effect on it most devices i could imagine plugged in is like 5 or so.