Long cable USB hub solution wanted! (5-7m)

Support Raspberry Pi
1

Heya, first time poster here, sorry if this isn’t the best category chosen.

I am wanting to connect two usb cameras to a Raspberry pi 5, however the trick is that they will need to be connected about ~6m away from the pi 5 physically. The cameras will be exposed to dust/water too. The power source will be from a tractor, so 12V.

The possible solution I’ve planned:
12V long cable from tractors power source → 12V - 5V step down converter → Industrial USB Hub (SKU: WS-23064) → cameras. With an active long usb-c to usb-b cable running from the pi to the hub too.

Does this sound like a sound solution? :slight_smile:

Much appreciated.

1 Like
2

Hi @Alex287675

Welcome to the forum!

With the Pi5 it is very particular with its power requirements, and needs 5V 5A power to operate properly, The USB hub that you’re looking is only capable of outputting 1.2A per USB port, and wouldn’t be PD capable. We stock PD Power Extension Board for Raspberry Pi 5 that could be hooked up to the 12V of your tractor and could be used to power the Pi5.

As for the cameras 5m is about the limit I would recommend, you can definitely have longer but you may start running into issue.

1 Like
3

Hi @Dan

Thanks for your response!

I was thinking that the hub is actually only to be used as a cable extender and usb hub for the cameras specifically. The pi would be not powered off it in this case.

So it would look like:

Data line:
Pi in tractor → long cable → hub → cameras

Power:
Tractor → hub (with step down)
Tractor → pi

Is this a good solution in your eyes? The other solution which I’m more hesitant on considering if putting the pi near the cameras to not have the long data cable at all. Just needing to make a casing for this would need to be done as it’d be out in unfavourable conditions.

1 Like
4

Hi @Alex287675

Thanks for clarifying that I had been a little confused but you’ve set me straight, you shouldn’t have any issues with using that hub how you mentioned.

2 Likes
5

Hi Alex,

I would try to reduce long runs using USB:

Where were you looking to mount the cameras on the tractor?
(Would it be possible to grab a quick sketch of how you wanted to mount them?)

USB cables are also not too good for water/dust ingress (typically the connectors are too large to fit inside a gland). It might be worth making up some custom cables if you intend for this to last a while (or grab some more expensive waterproof connectors).

If you were to move the cameras closer to the Pi the cameras would enjoy the shorter cable length, where-as the 12V power wont care as much.

1 Like
6

Hi Liam,

The cameras would be mounted on a harvester being pulled by the tractor. So they need to go over the connection point with slack for turning haha.

This is for a proof of concept project and needs to last only a week realistically, afterwards I’ll definitely be looking into custom cables and such.

1 Like
7

Hi Alex,

In that case if its for prototyping I would recommend something like this: Arducam CSI to HDMI Cable Extension Module | Buy in Australia | AC-B0091 | Core Electronics

It ought to let you plug it straight into the Pi MIPI connector

2 Likes