General Questions About TP-Link USB Hub

Power Supply

Q1: Why can't the port of the USB hub charge my device?

Step 1: Please ensure the hub is powered by the power adapter and the power light is on.

Step 2: Switch to another port for a try.

Step 3: The upstream port of the USB hub must be connected to a host PC so that it could charge the Apple devices properly, which is determined by the unique power supply design of Apple devices (iPhone, iPad, etc).

The following table tells how to check whether UH700 or UH720 requires the upstream port to be connected to the host PC while charging.

Port Type	Data Port		Charging Port
	V1	V2	Three ports on the right of UH700 V2/V3	Two ports on the right of UH720
Android Devices	√	×	×	×
iOS Devices	√	√	√	×

Q2: Can I use the hub without the power adapter plugged?

For UH700 V1 and UH720 V1, the power adapter must be plugged in.

For UH700 V2/V3 and UH720 V2/V3, you could use them without the power adapter. In this case, the power button will not work as a power switch anymore. And the hub must be connected to the USB port of the host PC to get power supply.

Q3: What’s the power supply of the USB hub?

Model	UH700 V1	UH700 V2/V3	UH720
Maximum Output with power adapter	12V, 2.5A	12V, 2A	V1: 12V, 4A V2: 12V, 3.3A
Data Port	7*USB 3.0	7*USB 3.0 (3*shared ports for charging)	7*USB 3.0
Data Port Maximum Output	USB 3.0: 900mA USB 2.0: 500mA
Charging Port	N/A	3*USB 3.0	2*USB 2.0 (exclusive charging ports)
Charging Port Maximum Output	N/A	5V, 1.5A	5V, 2.4A

Q4: What should I do if I’m suffering the offline issue?

The power consumption of the connected devices may exceed the power supply. Please try to unplug some of the connected devices and confirm whether the offline problem resolves.

Compatibility & Troubleshooting

Q1: What device can be plugged into the upstream port of the USB Hub?

Any PC with operating system as windows 10/8/7/XP/Vista, Mac OS X and Linux systems.

Q2: What devices can be plugged into the Output port of the USB hub?

You could plug any device into the USB hub as long as it could be connected to and recognized by the PC.

Note: The maximum power cannot exceed its output supply.

Q3: Do I need to install a driver for the USB Hub?

No driver is needed. The USB Hub is plug and play.

Q4: Why does my wireless mouse (2.4GHz wireless or Bluetooth device) becomes unstable when it’s besides the USB hub?

When the USB 3.0 ports of the hub are in use, a lot of noise or interference will generate on the 2.4GHz band. The noise will have an impact on wireless mouse receivers and then cause an unstable issue. You could refer to the below article for more details about this well-known issue.

https://www.usb.org/sites/default/files/327216.pdf

It is recommended to keep 2.4G wireless or Bluetooth devices such as the mouse as far away as possible from the USB hub to avoid interference.

Q5: Can I connect a USB 2.0 device to the USB 3.0 port of the USB hub?

Yes, USB 3.0 is backward compatible with USB 2.0/1.1.

Q6: What can I do if my USB device is not recognized by the PC when it’s connected to the USB hub?

Step 1: Try to directly connect the USB devices to PC. If the USB device cannot be recognized, the issue is not caused by USB Hub.

For Windows, refer to the link:

https://www.online-tech-tips.com/computer-tips/usb-device-not-recognized/

For MAC OS, refer to the link:

https://appletoolbox.com/2017/03/mac-macbook-doesnt-recognize-external-drives-troubleshooting-tips/

If the USB device could be recognized by PC, please go to step 2.

Step 2: Try to plug the USB device into other ports of the USB Hub. Do not connect a USB device to the charging port of UH720 as it couldn’t recognize devices.

If only a specific port couldn’t recognize the device, it might be damaged.

If all USB ports can’t recognize the device, go to step 3.

Step 3: Try to plug other USB devices to the USB Hub. If all devices are not recognized, try to connect the USB hub to another PC.

Other

Q1: Is there any limitation on the length of USB 3.0 cable?

Too long USB cable will affect the USB communication quality. It is recommended to use the original USB 3.0 cable or USB 3.0 cable which is less than 3 meters.

Q2: Does the USB Hub support hot-plugging?

Yes, our USB Hub supports hot plugging. But when you want to pull out your device from a USB Hub, we strongly suggest you first eject your device on PC in case there will be data damage.

Q3: Why can’t I get 5 Gbps speed even when I am using USB 3.0 connection?

5 Gbps is the theoretical speed of USB 3.0. Actually, depending on different kinds of USB 3.0 devices, we may get different USB 3.0 data transfer speed.

You could refer to the following article to see how fast USB 3.0 is in real-world scenarios.

https://www.everythingusb.com/speed.html

Q4: Why is the transfer speed so slow when the USB 3.0 device is connected to USB Hub?

Step 1: Connect the USB 3.0 device directly to the PC and test its transfer speed for a comparison. If the result is also slow in this case, it seems an issue related to the USB 3.0 device or the PC.

Step 2: Try to plug the USB device into other ports of USB Hub. If there are other devices connected to the USB Hub, please unplug them first.

Step 3: Confirm the USB cable is a USB 3.0 cable. If there is an adapter, make sure that it is a USB 3.0 adapter.

How to tell the difference between USB 2.0 and USB 3.0.

A. Generally, the plastic piece in the socket is blue in USB 3.0 while it’s black in USB 2.0.

B. USB 3.0 has 9 copper pins on the plastic piece which are divided into 2 rows (the first row has 4 pins and the second row has 5 pins), while USB 2.0 only has 4 copper pins.

Step 4: Try to connect other USB 3.0 devices to the USB hub and make a comparison test.