I have 8 saitek instrument panels plugged into a satechi powered 12 port USB hub. I have two hubs actually. When I plug all eight panels into one hub, the blue led gets really dim and the panels don't start up. I'm pretty sure the hub is bad and plan to,send it back. When I plug them all into the other hub they turn on, but lock up from the get go. When I plug them in four in one hub, four in the other, they usually work or seven out of eight of them anyways.

 

I've tried reinstalling the drivers. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

First check is to make sure you are not using any USB 3.0 anywhere in the Saitek realm. It is a killer. Must be USB 2.0 all the way. Must also be powered hubs.

 

Ray

I have 8 saitek instrument panels plugged into a satechi powered 12 port USB hub. I have two hubs actually. When I plug all eight panels into one hub, the blue led gets really dim and the panels don't start up. I'm pretty sure the hub is bad and plan to,send it back. When I plug them all into the other hub they turn on, but lock up from the get go. When I plug them in four in one hub, four in the other, they usually work or seven out of eight of them anyways.

 

I've tried reinstalling the drivers. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

 

Hiya WayGo

 

Sadly this is something I've had a LOT of trouble with myself, but hopefully I can help due to this...

Each one of those little screens pulls an massive amount of juice in USB terms and this IS the cause of your problems.

 

Despite having a 12 port hub, take a look at the actual power supply you have plugged into each hub, because for 12 ports, you want at least 6amps, 7 amps would be nice.

If yours are locking up on you/fading/not working properly, its purely down to the hub not being able to provide enough juice to run them all at once.

 

Cheap Chinese rubbish too, If its this one...

http://www.amazon.co...55597505&sr=8-1

 

(Read the reviews of it)

 

Gives you an idea of what your buying when the makers supply it with a 2.4amp power supply...

If they don't know how to power it properly, what else have they left out! The Belkin one has a lifetime warranty on it, and comes with a PSU rated at far more than the USB hub will ever need.

 

Its your power supply not giving the hub the 4amps+ its demanding, and you may also find that its power supply is getting REALLY bloomin hot too..

 

This is why its working with a 4/4 split, because your pulling less current, around 2 amps running 4 of those little screens..

 

I had the same hassles, I was trying to run 6 of them at once and they kept on fading out, freezing up, not coming on at all etc, all sorts of weird things, so I wrote to Saitek/Madcatz and they told me straight, its down to the power, so I tried a different USB hub, a Belkin slim line 7 port hub, which has a 4amp power supply (500ma more than needed) and since then, everything worked perfectly.

 

USB3 Doesn't affect Saitek kit, works just fine on my rig, heck EVERY USB socket on my motherboard is USB3, so I have no choice, and its all working fine :-)

That's great to hear. I will rma these satechi's and get something better. Thank you for the advice.

Hiya WayGo

 

Sadly this is something I've had a LOT of trouble with myself, but hopefully I can help due to this...

Each one of those little screens pulls an massive amount of juice in USB terms and this IS the cause of your problems.

 

Despite having a 12 port hub, take a look at the actual power supply you have plugged into each hub, because for 12 ports, you want at least 6amps, 7 amps would be nice.

If yours are locking up on you/fading/not working properly, its purely down to the hub not being able to provide enough juice to run them all at once.

 

Cheap Chinese rubbish too, If its this one...

http://www.amazon.co...55597505&sr=8-1

 

(Read the reviews of it)

 

Gives you an idea of what your buying when the makers supply it with a 2.4amp power supply...

If they don't know how to power it properly, what else have they left out! The Belkin one has a lifetime warranty on it, and comes with a PSU rated at far more than the USB hub will ever need.

 

Its your power supply not giving the hub the 4amps+ its demanding, and you may also find that its power supply is getting REALLY bloomin hot too..

 

This is why its working with a 4/4 split, because your pulling less current, around 2 amps running 4 of those little screens..

 

I had the same hassles, I was trying to run 6 of them at once and they kept on fading out, freezing up, not coming on at all etc, all sorts of weird things, so I wrote to Saitek/Madcatz and they told me straight, its down to the power, so I tried a different USB hub, a Belkin slim line 7 port hub, which has a 4amp power supply (500ma more than needed) and since then, everything worked perfectly.

 

USB3 Doesn't affect Saitek kit, works just fine on my rig, heck EVERY USB socket on my motherboard is USB3, so I have no choice, and its all working fine :-)

 

Not true on the USB 3.0. I think yours may be the only rig they work properly on in USB 3.0. Using v2.0 ports with a quality powered USB bar usually cures most problems. I have a new rig that is about 80% USB 3.0 and that was my problem with hangups and drop outs.

 

Ray

Odd on the Satechi USB strip. I've had mine for about a year and it works great. I've got eight items connected to it, three which are Saitek: the Multi-panel, one of my Com panels and the BIP panel. Never had an issue with power... dimming of the lights?

Why? USB 3.0 is backwards compatible, no problem.. You can plug any USB device into a USBv3 port and it should work just fine. I do, and it does, on more than just 2 different PC's.

And yes, obviously, using a quality USB hub is this posters problem, or in his case, NOT using a quality hub, but a cheap, dire one not built for its intended purpose..

 

Wouldn't matter if he used it on USB2 or USB3, it would be fine.

 

Hang ups and drop outs, would not be caused by the USB3, unless the USB3 driver was old/faulty/busted etc..

Heck I even had a high quality DLink 6 port powered USB hub that had the right amount of power, that did this, and later discovered that because it had an iPad fast charge facility on it, the internals gave 2amps to 2 ports and 1 amp to the remaining 4 ports (250ma each) which is nowhere near enough to run Saitek panels, and cause all by 2 items to keep dropping off/fading out/freezing..

 

Its not the "potential" speed of comms that causes the problems

 

Odd on the Satechi USB strip. I've had mine for about a year and it works great. I've got eight items connected to it, three which are Saitek: the Multi-panel, one of my Com panels and the BIP panel. Never had an issue with power... dimming of the lights?

Add up the amp ratings of all your kit and it will likely be less than 2.4amps then..

3 x Saitek items = Possibly upto 1.5amps at full whack, so your other 5 items must be really low power, like USB keys or things that have their own power supply?

 

The Saitek Flight Instrument Panel pulls a significant amount of juice though, hence running 8 of them needs 4amps minimum, and a power supply that can maintain that non-stop, whereas something like the switch panel has only 3 LED's and pulls hardly any current at all.

 

I dare say, 5+ Switch panels would pull the same current as 1 Flight instrument panel?

Edited December 16, 201213 yr by RCITGuy