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trytyn
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Join Date: Jun 2015
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How to Light an LED to Indicate When a USB Port Has a Plug in It?

06/03/2015 1:55 PM

I'm looking for a way to light a 3.0v-3.4v 20mA LED to indicate when a usb 2.0 port has a plug in it. The light should only be on when a device is plugged in. My usb 5v line is about 3.2 to 3.3 amps with an Xbox 360 Controller connected. I tried wiring the led and resistor in series with the 5v usb port. The LED lit but the plugged in device did not work. I'm guessing the LED was only allowing 20mA to the device (Xbox 360 Controller) which was not enough for it.
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SolarEagle
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#1

Re: How to Light an LED to Indicate When a USB Port Has a Plug in It?

06/03/2015 2:41 PM

http://electronics.stackexchange.com/questions/173778/how-to-light-an-led-to-indicate-when-a-usb-port-has-a-plug-in-it

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trytyn
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#2
In reply to #1

Re: How to Light an LED to Indicate When a USB Port Has a Plug in It?

06/03/2015 2:51 PM

yeah that's my pic from another post...would that work?
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#3
In reply to #2

Re: How to Light an LED to Indicate When a USB Port Has a Plug in It?

06/03/2015 3:00 PM

BAD NEWS: No, it will not work correctly.

GOOD NEWS: Since you have the cathode going to the positive side of the supply it should not smoke.
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redfred
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#6
In reply to #3

Re: How to Light an LED to Indicate When a USB Port Has a Plug in It?

06/03/2015 3:18 PM

GA ROFLMAO!!

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Andy Germany
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#11
In reply to #3

Re: How to Light an LED to Indicate When a USB Port Has a Plug in It?

06/04/2015 4:46 AM

Read down to the bottom of that other website, someone appears to have answered your question by suggesting a Hall effect sensor, though I have not checked it myself for validity, you can do that yourself.....eg. Your post here was simply not needed.

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SolarEagle
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#4
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Re: How to Light an LED to Indicate When a USB Port Has a Plug in It?

06/03/2015 3:03 PM

Found this....

http://www.instructables.com/id/USB-led-light/?li_source=pm&li_medium=related-instructables&li_campaign=related_test

http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-Build-a-USB-Powered-LED-Light/

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SolarEagle
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#5

Re: How to Light an LED to Indicate When a USB Port Has a Plug in It?

06/03/2015 3:12 PM

Wait , do you want the light on the computer or on the usb plug?

This is pretty cool...

USB hub with LED power indicators

http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-make-Laptop-USB-Light-Mini/

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lyn
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#7

Re: How to Light an LED to Indicate When a USB Port Has a Plug in It?

06/03/2015 5:14 PM

Am I missing something, or is looking at the port out of the question.

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SolarEagle
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#8
In reply to #7

Re: How to Light an LED to Indicate When a USB Port Has a Plug in It?

06/03/2015 6:14 PM

Maybe he's in the dark....

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SolarEagle
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#9
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Re: How to Light an LED to Indicate When a USB Port Has a Plug in It?

06/03/2015 6:30 PM

Here's a primer on wiring LED's with 5v...

http://www.instructables.com/id/Beginner-Arduino/step3/Turn-on-LED-with-5V/

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Gwen.Stouthuysen
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#10

Re: How to Light an LED to Indicate When a USB Port Has a Plug in It?

06/04/2015 4:42 AM

Funny how most people miss the question: the requester wants to know when the plug is in and enabled and show it with a LED.

There are electrical/electronic methods to detect current consumption but it requires you to interfere with the hardware of your computer.

Better would be to go into the software and find out which driver port is connected to that specific port and to detect whether the port is active in the OS/BIOS, the next step is to drive a simple output to enable a LED on or off.

Most main boards have I²C networks on which you can add some driver IC's, trick is now to gain access to that network and to find out which addresses are free. A normal user will not be granted access but an OS service will get it.

You will require to learn something more than gaming skills but hey you asked to go that extra mile so put on your learning hat and get some programming skills.

Going this deep in it can bring extra features to your led: eg. different colors that show the status of the connected equipment

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vsar
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#12

Re: How to Light an LED to Indicate When a USB Port Has a Plug in It?

06/04/2015 7:46 AM

What you may need is a breakout box where all lines of the USB are individually monitored by LEDs .... The "breakout" box will provide you with a positive indication when all the LEDs are flashing! Not only when something is connected to it but also when the computer and your Xbox are communicating to each other!

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MikeMack747
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#13

Re: How to Light an LED to Indicate When a USB Port Has a Plug in It?

06/04/2015 9:37 AM

You are never going to get 3.3 amps through 30 guage wire on a USB cable. The USB 3.0 standard has 2 power versions, low power at 150mA and high power at 900mA. When in high power mode, data transmission is not allowed. A dedicated charger may be designed to deliver more, but again the standard is 1.8A max. You run the risk of releasing the magic smoke from circuit traces and the components living along the current path. The PC will NOT supply enough power to run any 3A device.

Could your concern be that the almighty Windows operating system is deciding that it's time to save power and put the port into sleep mode? I've had automated test equipment cease functioning when the "I know better than you" function of Windows steps in and shuts down the USB hub internal to the PC. You can disable this in Control Panel through both Power Options AND in Device Manager > Universal Serial Bus controllers > (anything) Hub > Power Management (tab) Allow the computer to turn off theis device to save power (checkbox).

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redfred
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#14
In reply to #13

Re: How to Light an LED to Indicate When a USB Port Has a Plug in It?

06/04/2015 10:01 AM

First, the OP actually did not say the 3.3 Amps had to go out the USB port. I believe that was the power supply rating of either the XBox or the PC.

As for getting 3.3 amperes of current through a 30 AWG wire, you'd be surprised what cooling with liquid nitrogen will allow. So never say never.

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ozzb
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#15

Re: How to Light an LED to Indicate When a USB Port Has a Plug in It?

06/04/2015 2:58 PM

You can buy cell phone charging cables that are lighted thru out there length. USB 2 to a MICRO B. There are adaptors to the MICRO B back to a USB 2.

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SolarEagle
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#16
In reply to #15

Re: How to Light an LED to Indicate When a USB Port Has a Plug in It?

06/04/2015 11:15 PM

Not just for phones....these cables light up when working....

http://www.cablesdirect.com/search_usbled.asp

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Wal
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#17

Re: How to Light an LED to Indicate When a USB Port Has a Plug in It?

06/07/2015 11:58 PM

You mean how to ulluminate a USB cable end to let you know it's plugged into a DTE/host (PC, Plugged in Hub...)?

Or something else?

There's enough info here for you to do what ever you want....

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Users who posted comments:

Andy Germany (1); Anonymous Poster (1); Gwen.Stouthuysen (1); lyn (1); MikeMack747 (1); ozzb (1); redfred (2); SolarEagle (6); trytyn (1); vsar (1); Wal (1)

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