[vishnu-man]

The JVC manuals state that the USB hubs don't work with their models. I happened to give this a try and it worked like a charm! Been using this for quite sometime now.

My HU - JVC KD-R736BT


I'm reading a 16Gb SanDisk CruzerFit pendrive on the HU front:


Typically, the rear USB of the HU is reserved to connect the Bluetooth adapter provided by JVC, as shown in the box pic above. I've connected the rear USB of HU to the USB hub and have utilized its additional ports by pulling in the cable into the glove box as follows:

By reading another 16Gb SanDisk CruzerFit pendrive on the HU rear


The USB hub would now power my additional 16Gb pendrive along with the Bluetooth adapter. And yes, no more room left to power anymore devices now.

So when I toggle between the sources, I see the following:
1. USB Front
2. USB Rear
3. BT Rear

A little bit on this good USB Hub:

Portronics JustInn is the name and I picked it up from Amazon.in


It works flawlessly for me without any hiccups. I believe the same would work on other JVC BT-enabled series as well, or with the ones having 2 USB ports.

Not tried this with other family HUs; experts may want to confirm.

Have a good one!

[adarsh.n]

Hi Vishnu, This is slightly off topic. I see the audio remote stuck on the wheel. Want to know if you are able to get a good reach and is it practical. Isn't the steering wheel obstructing signals from the remote? I was contemplating something similar for a while now!

[vishnu-man]

Originally Posted by adarsh.n

Hi Vishnu, This is slightly off topic. I see the audio remote stuck on the wheel. Want to know if you are able to get a good reach and is it practical. Isn't the steering wheel obstructing signals from the remote? I was contemplating something similar for a while now!

Adarsh,
The remote has been on the wheel for more than 2 years now, and believe me, it works wonders.
The angle that it has fit in had really mattered.
Talking about the reach, it's simply good. I can easily hit the HU even at a tilted angle of the steering wheel of about 20-30 degrees.
There's no hit or miss while operating the remote.
Every click on it works just perfect!

Good luck with your DIY

[navin]

Originally Posted by vishnu-man

The JVC manuals state that the USB hubs don't work with their models. I happened to give this a try and it worked like a charm! Not tried this with other family HUs; experts may want to confirm.
Have a good one!

Great idea. Never thought of it but why would they state it wont work?

[bread]

Originally Posted by vishnu-man

Adarsh,
The remote has been on the wheel for more than 2 years now, and believe me, it works wonders.
The angle that it has fit in had really mattered.
Talking about the reach, it's simply good. I can easily hit the HU even at a tilted angle of the steering wheel of about 20-30 degrees.
There's no hit or miss while operating the remote.
Every click on it works just perfect!

Good luck with your DIY

this remote on your steering, is there a way to get it working with the factory fitted system in the i10 grand sport?
My uncle has one and was asking if this could be done.

[mandhir.s.bajwa]

Another fan of Led Zeppelin.. Great choice.
Btw, by the title of the thread I thought it's about adding a USB port to the head units which have none. Like in my case, I do get the option of Aux, but have no port as such on my HU.

[vishnu-man]

Originally Posted by bread

this remote on your steering, is there a way to get it working with the factory fitted system in the i10 grand sport?
My uncle has one and was asking if this could be done.

I hope you would be able to do it, as long as you have a good area on the steering wheel like mine to hold onto the remote so well.
Again, I believe the remote is flat enough to sit on the wheel.

On another note, we were not so lucky with my brother's 2nd generation Swift, whose steering wheel doesn't have a flat surface like that of the 3rd generation's.

Originally Posted by mandhir.s.bajwa

Another fan of Led Zeppelin.. Great choice.
Btw, by the title of the thread I thought it's about adding a USB port to the head units which have none. Like in my case, I do get the option of Aux, but have no port as such on my HU.

That's a nice observation there Mandhir. Thank You!
Led Zep Rules!
Yeah, right, this was only about using the existing 2 USB ports and connecting one of them with a USB-hub.

The below DIY might be of help to you:
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/diy-do...amplifier.html

[DerAlte]

Originally Posted by navin

... Never thought of it but why would they state it wont work?

HUs having a single USB don't implement functionality (in silicon & microcontroller firmware) to support hubs. This particular HU has 1 port in front and 1 at the back, so it has to support hubs internally. I am sure the "Does not support ..." sentence would be missing in the manual.

[vishnu-man]

Originally Posted by DerAlte

HUs having a single USB don't implement functionality (in silicon & microcontroller firmware) to support hubs. This particular HU has 1 port in front and 1 at the back, so it has to support hubs internally. I am sure the "Does not support ..." sentence would be missing in the manual.

Here's the manual's excerpt:


The manual can be found online at ManualsLib

[DerAlte]

Originally Posted by vishnu-man

Here's the manual's excerpt: ...

I guess they didn't reckon they'd encounter you! Such manual errors are to be accepted.

[Rehaan]

Originally Posted by navin

Great idea. Never thought of it but why would they state it wont work?

+

Originally Posted by DerAlte

I guess they didn't reckon they'd encounter you! Such manual errors are to be accepted.

My guess was that it has more to do with the power draw of the USB port as well?

Adding a non-powered hub (and then using the other USB ports to charge devices, for example) would be an overload on the HU port.

cya
R

[DerAlte]

Originally Posted by Rehaan

... My guess was that it has more to do with the power draw of the USB port as well? ...

Yes, that is the silicon part. There is sufficient power available at the HU PSU; the current monitoring will be 1A (to support iPad), not 500mA. Your question actually triggered a doubt:

Originally Posted by vishnu-man

... So when I toggle between the sources, I see the following:
1. USB Front
2. USB Rear
3. BT Rear
...

Doubt: Your picture has only 1 device connected to the hub. You say "Toggle between sources" but have listed what the HU is listing (physical ports known to HU), which is technically just one device on "USB Front". BUT ...

* What happens when you connect 2 devices to the hub?

* What do you see on the HU display for selecting one of 2 (or 3) drives on the hub?

* How did you test this setup for switching between more than one device connected to the hub?

To my knowledge, no device concatenates multiple devices to appear as a single device. The issue here is of USING the hub to read 1 device out of many connected via hub to 1 USB port of the HU. The issue is NOT whether HU will go bust or malfunction if we connect a hub with 1 device.

[vishnu-man]

Originally Posted by vishnu-man

The USB hub would now power my additional 16Gb pendrive along with the Bluetooth adapter. And yes, no more room left to power anymore devices now.

So when I toggle between the sources, I see the following:
1. USB Front
2. USB Rear
3. BT Rear

To clear DerAlte's doubt, the hub is connected to 2 devices, as mentioned in the first line:
1. The 16Gb pendrive
2. Bluetooth adapter
and I'm not risking the HU by connecting another device to the hub.

Originally Posted by DerAlte

Yes, that is the silicon part. There is sufficient power available at the HU PSU; the current monitoring will be 1A (to support iPad), not 500mA. Your question actually triggered a doubt:

Doubt: Your picture has only 1 device connected to the hub. You say "Toggle between sources" but have listed what the HU is listing (physical ports known to HU), which is technically just one device on "USB Front". BUT ...

* What happens when you connect 2 devices to the hub?

* What do you see on the HU display for selecting one of 2 (or 3) drives on the hub?

* How did you test this setup for switching between more than one device connected to the hub?

To my knowledge, no device concatenates multiple devices to appear as a single device. The issue here is of USING the hub to read 1 device out of many connected via hub to 1 USB port of the HU. The issue is NOT whether HU will go bust or malfunction if we connect a hub with 1 device.

Before the hub coming in, on the HU display, I was able to see either USB front or USB Rear based on where the drive was connected.
But now, I see both, USB Front, USB Rear along with BT-rear, as mentioned earlier.
I can play only one device at a time.

Guess the doubt triggered as you'd thought that there's only one device connected to the hub.

Hope I was able to clear it!

[delix]

That is a good idea. However I have always had problem with usb port in my new dzire. It never reads pen drives more than 4gb. "Error" message blinks and HU does not recognizes those pen drives which are more than 4gb. I wonder whether other dzire/swify users face similar problem. Currently I am using Sandisk cruzer blade 4gb model for my dzire. Never thought of comnecting a usb hub though.

[DerAlte]

Originally Posted by vishnu-man

To clear DerAlte's doubt, the hub is connected to 2 devices, as mentioned in the first line:
1. The 16Gb pendrive
2. Bluetooth adapter
and I'm not risking the HU by connecting another device to the hub. ...

Thanks, but ...

Since my question was about multiple pendrives on the hub, "devices" meant in my doubt meant "pendrives". The BT dongle is a different ballgame - it uses a different logic altogether than pendrives. The BT implementation in this HU is with an external USB device *supplied by JVC* - the USB is incidental here. Whether any other off-the-shelf USB BT adapter (I have used a few over the last 10 years with PCs) can be used is still suspect, as JVC can deploy any custom communication method over USB to talk to the BT adapter.

The statement in the manual "Connect only one USB device to the unit at a time. Do not use a USB hub" is still valid. The context of USB w.r.t. "devices" is still pen-drives. Unless you can prove that one can connect 2 pen-drives to the HU over the same HU USB port using a passive hub, the conclusion is still that one cannot connect a USB hub for the purpose of connecting 2 pen-drives to the HU.

Let us not question the "Do not use USB hub" in a narrow interpretation - that would be technically incorrect.

Originally Posted by vishnu-man

... Hope I was able to clear it!

Considering you had a completely different understanding of the issue when you started the thread, no, the issue is still open.

Kudos to you for having invested effort, time and money to successfully pursue a hunch, but the fact still remains that your implementation is virtually using the USB hub as a cable extender for the JVC BT dongle, brought out from the rear. That was a completely different objective than one commonly understands in the context of USB hubs - multiplying ports to use more than 1 drive on the USB hub, connected to *one* USB port. Suffice to say other BT HUs implement BT onboard, and not with an external adapter.