peter6960 8:24 am on December 7, 2015

Raspberry Pi Zero 4 Port USB Hub – Open Source PCB Design

Github link: https://github.com/openhardwarecoza/Rpi-Zero-USB-Hub

pi hub.png

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In line with my other projects I need to make a USB hub attachment for the Pi Zero.
Seeing as the community figured out that the Raspberry Pi Design team was clever enough to leave us D+ and D- test points at the bottom, I came up with this design above.

See those pads for D+, D-, gnd and 5v? Yip, the ide is that you can acually reflow this board onto the back of a Pi Zero!

Where’s the Gerbers? I haven’t uploaded the gerbers to Github yet, since I only finished the Eagle drawing a few mins ago. Eagles are off to DirtyPCBs.com, and once I tested the board, I’ll upload.

This is a 4 Port USB2.0 hub designed around the TI TUSB2046B

Directly solderable to Pi Zero USB+PWR pads
Cutout for GPIO pin bottoms
Screw holes match Pi Zero

BOM:

Part Value Package

C2       0.01uF          C0603
C5       15pf            C0603
C6       15pF            C0603
C7       1uF             A/3216-18W
C9       22Pf            C0603
C10      22Pf            C0603
C11      22Pf            C0603
C12      22Pf            C0603
C13      22Pf            C0603
C14      22Pf            C0603
C15      1UF             A/3216-18W
C16      1uF             C/6032-28R
C32      22Pf            C0603
C33      22Pf            C0603
IC5      LD117AS33TR     SOT223
JP1      USB-JST-2MM-SMT S4B-PH
JP3      USB-JST-2MM-SMT S4B-PH
JP5      USB-JST-2MM-SMT S4B-PH
JP8      USB-JST-2MM-SMT S4B-PH
Q2       12MHz           CTS406
R1       15K             R0603
R2       15K             R0603
R3       10k             R0603
R4       22              R0603
R7       22              R0603
R12      15K             R0603
R13      15K             R0603
R14      15K             R0603
R15      15K             R0603
R16      15K             R0603
R17      15K             R0603
R18      15k             R0603
U$5      TUSB2046B LQFP-32

As always, design’s yours to do as you please, if you do end up getting rich selling these, remember you owe me a few beers (;

If you like the work I do, please consider supporting me by donating to https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=KC92Q2BJL4S7U&source=url

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Squonk42 9:53 pm on December 12, 2015

Hi Peter,

Very good idea!

You are featured on HaD, here are my comments posted there:
– Change the USB hub chip from TI’s TUSB2046 to Terminus’s FE1.1, FE1.1s or FE2.1: they are cheaper (you can find 2 pieces for $1.99, free shipping: http://www.ebay.com/itm/2PCs-FE1-1S-USB2-0-HUB-SSOP-28-New-/261964408431), plus they have integrated upstream 1.5KΩ pull-up, downstream 15KΩ pull-down, and serial resistors, integrated 5V to 3.3V and 1.8V regulators, and integrated Power-On-Reset circuit. This would eliminate most of the required components on this board, such as most resistors, and the LD1117AS33 LDO as well
– provide clearance for the RUN pin and composite video headers too, not only for 40 pin GPIO one
– put vias instead of simple bottom PCB pads to match the D+/D-/VUSB/GND test point on the Pi Zero board, so that they can be hand-soldered with a soldering iron from the top instead of using reflow. This would require moving some connectors around, though, but everybody with average soldering skills could then mount it
– provide at least global power control and over-current protection using a simple PTC, or individual over-current protections using dedicated chips like 2x MIC2026-2
– ESD protection TVS diodes,such as 4x PRTR5V0U2X
– Add some LEDs?
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Jarrett Fayer 3:33 pm on December 13, 2015

Will you post a bitcoin donation address? I can’t use paypal, and I think this is awesome.
- peter6960 4:00 pm on December 13, 2015
  
  I dont have a bitcoin wallet at the moment, but sure give me an hour or so and I’ll set one up again (:
Zh4ng 9:02 am on December 14, 2015

12MHz crystal? In the datasheet of the TUSB2046B
is recommended a 6MHz crystal.
Does it work with the 12MHz crystal? or why 🙂
- peter6960 6:09 pm on December 15, 2015
  
  Now you have me doubting myself! Datasheet should be the more correct one! Sorry!
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Da Xue 4:18 pm on December 14, 2015

4 Port USB Hub – Open Source PCB Design

Doesn’t this do the same thing? http://www.amazon.com/LoveRPi-MicroUSB-Port-Raspberry-Zero/dp/B019BUA81U/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&qid=1450109808&sr=8-7&keywords=4+Port+USB+Hub+pi+zero
- peter6960 6:08 pm on December 15, 2015
  
  No it doesn’t. The form factor / solder on ability is the key features of this design
Bill Otto 7:41 pm on December 14, 2015

Has anyone ever built a 4-port hub with an Ethernet port (as an add-on PCB or as a separate device) based on the SMSC LAN9514 hub chip? This would make the the Pi Zero or PI A+ modules operate identically to (as in, software drivers the same as) the Pi B+ module.
- peter6960 6:08 pm on December 15, 2015
  
  Note this is a test bed for a larger board. Instead of ethernet, the plan is wifi. See https://openhardwarecoza.wordpress.com/2015/11/27/raspberry-pi-zero-grbl-all-in-one-cnc-controller/
insanis 6:03 pm on December 15, 2015

Great idea peter, I am anxiously awaiting for the test results to make one myself! Is there any newsletter or something I can subscribe to get any update on this post?
- peter6960 6:07 pm on December 15, 2015
  
  I would say the best way to keep track of progress of what I am up to, would be my Google Plus profile https://plus.google.com/+PetervanderWalt
  
  While I blog about important stuff, and facebook occationally, and github would be a good way to keep up with what projects I commit on… Google Plus would be the best way to stay in touch with me daily. Well, I post almost daily on it, and share links to where else i post since my Google community is my largest and most active supporters group. Otherwise, head over to http://about.me/peter6960 and follow me on every social network (:
insanis 6:49 pm on December 15, 2015

It is not clear for me how are you going to connect the hub pcb board with the PiZero. I see the test points you mentioned here: http://files.linuxgizmos.com/rpi_zero_bottom.jpg. Are you going to solder a jumper wire to the pads? Where are those connecting to (in the hub pcb board)? Are you going to solder the pads on both boards together? Are you removing the micro-usb connector?
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Brian C 11:38 pm on December 23, 2015

Question…what would it take to push all the USB hub components off to one side (maybe even losing one of the USB ports, opening up space to include wifi components this way with the more or less permanent connection daughter board make it instantly wifi capable/compatible for iOT?
- Brian C (WarHawk-AVG) 11:46 pm on December 23, 2015
  
  USBWIFI module RTL8188CUS from aliexpress is 12.2×13.0mm…is USB 2.0 capable and all is needed is the space to put the pads to solder this board to
  
  http://www.aliexpress.com/store/product/W10-USBWIFI-module-RTL8188CUS-150M-MID-usb-wifi-module-Wireless-LAN-Module/715159_1074041452.html
- Brian C (WarHawk-AVG) 2:32 am on December 24, 2015
  
  Here is my preliminary “tweak” of your original board good sir (shared on my dropbox)
  https://www.dropbox.com/sh/3syx2kau0rvti1n/AADM68wIkTj0_VLm8heEBDfCa?dl=0
  I brute forced “group moved” the entire block…then spent a long time fixing all the traces…but you get the jist of what I was going for…free up all that room to put the module footprint in…viola wifi+module expansion and almost no extra components because the module is just that a module
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Shawn 1:39 pm on December 28, 2015

Yes, I’ve used these hubs in a project I am working on as well, you will need a 6MHz clock, not 12MHz. The timing for reset looks ok, but it may need to be adjusted, as these chips can be fudgy and temperamental at times with reset. While the overcurrent can be ganged, I’ve found its better to use individual pullups on them, seems to be more stable overall without random glitches, but that could have been something else too. Also, you need to add the output series resistors (22 ohm) inline between the pull downs and caps, I’ve not had issue with downstream devices enumerating with them, however, without it did cause problems. Also, adding some bulk capacitance to the V+ on the USB line cant hurt for when you plug devices in and out.

Good design, and it may work once you get the right clock input of course, as is.. just sharing my experiences.
- Shawn 1:50 pm on December 28, 2015
  
  Forgot to add, when you edit to add the 22 ohm output resistors, make sure the cap is on the side toward, the 2046B, and the pulldown on the other side, to your downstream port.
  See fig 11 of the datasheet for the output schematic..
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Brian 9:05 pm on July 19, 2016

Hi there,

Did this ever end up successfully working? I have a project that this is perfect for since I’m constrained on space and simply need 2 USB ports.
Michael 3:45 pm on January 19, 2017

Peter, I love this design and it something along the line of what I was looking for. Have you thought about the suggestion is regards to adding an ethernet port to the board? If you used Squonk42’s suggestion and swapped the chip for one that has most of the components built in, you would have room for an Ethernet RJ-45 port.

Take that one step further, and you could design the board so it supports Power over Ethernet, down converts the voltage to 5V and supplies that to the board via the two additional solder points. Viola, you have a Raspberry Pi that has wired network connectivity and is powered over Ethernet without the need for those additional PoE Breakout pigtails.
This would give you a very small foot print computer for all your IoT ideas, including mine, which is having a small high pixel IP camera.
On additional thought, have a break out for the raw power (44V-57V DC) from the PoE and the downconverted 5V available for add-on electronics.

One other thing that could be added, is a second RJ45 port that could be used to pass network data onto another device, similarly to what VoIP Phones do. They have a small build in switch.

If the RJ-45 connectors take up too much space, you could always replace them with smaller connectors so that people could plug their own pigtails in to them. This would be the prefered choice in my case simply because I will be putting the board into a housing and would like to use a panel mount RJ-45 connector.

Please let me know what you think, I would love to design this by myself, but do not have the skill set (Yet) to do so… Willing to instruct?
Craig Brousseau 3:16 am on January 24, 2018

I’m interested in making one of these, I’m a bit new to electronics however. How would I go about fulfilling the bill of materials? Having trouble translating the information above into smt parts I can purchase from a parts supplier
Gerhard 10:59 am on February 13, 2019

The gitHub link is not working.