Question About USB OTG

You mean it does not have to do with which device has power already supplied? Couldn't that cause some serious problems, as in internal shorting from the "slave" device power (that is present), through the "host" device and back to ground without much of a resistance?

I have never experienced that, but have worked with "slave" units like Arduino that have an alternate power in connection that is not USB.

Other data loggers I have used, depend on the USB for power from the "host" computer (the ones that are not stand-alone types), and also depend on sending data to the "host" as well, as all these do is process signals and transmit then to "host" memory in storage file. They offer such niceties as on stream data graphing, etc. (again through the "host"). I have plugged them in as reverse order with no ill effect whatsoever, since nothing happens until power arrives from "host".

Hi James. I don't mean that this is something that I experienced. It's rather a general question, as I want to study some scenarios for a project. So, let me put it in other words in order to be more clear.

Let's assume that we have two devices -device#1 and device#2- connected through an OTG cable. The Micro-A plug is connected to the device#1 and this device (initially) becomes a Host and a "power provider" while the Micro-B plug is connected to the device#2 and this device (initially) becomes a Slave and a "power consumer". Let's suppose that the device#1 -by its nature- is not supposed to be the Host. So, the HNP protocol takes action and changes the role of these two devices, i.e. the device#1 becomes the Slave and the device#2 becomes the Host. My question is the following: does the device#2 (which is now the Host) become also a "power provider" (or the device#1 is still the "power provider" due to the OTG cable's connection)???

Thank you for clearing us up on it.

Hi RAMConsult.

You said: "The micro-A male connector has pin 4 connected to pin 5, this tells the USB port that it's connected to that "you're the power source" and prevents any other powered device from supplying the power to the cable. "

Yes, I know that. (I have already mentioned this in my initial post.)

You said: "The answer is buried in the Wikipedia... Look in the article for ADP (Attach Detection Protocol), SRP (Session Request Protocol) and HNP (Host Negotiation Protocol), the first two control the power, the latter controls the software."

As I said, I have already read this part of the article. And I read it again. Unfortunately, it doesn't say anything useful (at least concerning my question). (Specifically: ADP: Host provides power only when a Slave device is connected. ARP: Host provides power only if the Slave requests for power. HNP: The two devices exchange "Host" and "Slave" roles automatically as needed.) Again, my question is the following: if a Slave device becomes a Host device (due to the HNP action) does this device becomes a "power provider" too (despite the direction of the OTG cable)???

No, the device that has the micro connector with pin 4&5 jumpered and plugged in determines the power source until it is disconnected. It's a hardware decision.

Here's a link to the original spec as published by USB.ORG, I hope you like to do a lot of reading!!

Thanks for the answer.

I had already taken a look at this link.

It's quite complicated. Maybe this explains it:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USB_On-The-Go

See the Protocols section...

(I have a Seek thermal camera and a USB endoscope and the phone knows which is connected. Pretty remarkable! )

Hi Rixter. I had already read this section of Wikipedia and -unfortunately- it doesn't answer my question. Please, read my post#3 in order to understand my initial question better.