12' usb cable

[msglee]

The instructions for my Brother Laser printer says to make sure to use a USB cable no longer than 6'. What would be the problem using a 12' cable so I can move the printer to a better working area.

Lee

[mattkime]

A tear in the time-space continuum.

(likely nothing)

[Doc]

You could trip on it and break your neck.

[wolfcry911]

eww, you'd tear space-time's continuum? what does he think about that?

[Winston]

Brother is just worried that as the cable gets longer the signal weakens a bit due to resistance, etc. If you get a decent quality cable it's unlikely you will have a problem. Worse comes to worse, you could get errors printing, but it wouldn't hurt the computer or the printer. (Tripping on the cable, however ...)

There was a thread down a bit about the ferrite "beads" used on some cables to block interference. If you had a problem, you could add these at each end which might help. I think Radio Shack carries them.


Good luck.

- Winston

[tenders]

I don't think you'll have any problem at all. I've been using a 25' cable on various USB printers for years with no issues whatsoever.

[onthedownlow]

tenders wrote:
I don't think you'll have any problem at all. I've been using a 25' cable on various USB printers for years with no issues whatsoever.

:agree:

[Racer X]

the USB spec is 15 feet (or is it 16.4'/5 meters) Anyway, a good cable shouldn't have problems.

[Doc]

http://www.usb.org/developers/usbfaq/#cab1

[RAMd®d]

Anyway, a good cable shouldn't have problems.

Yes.

I had a problem where I connected two USB cables together and only a keyboard would work. Nothing else would.

Either cable alone worked, but I needed to cover the distance. I found a longer cable that *did* work with everything. One of the cables was a very thin cable from some cheap hub I bought a few years back. That was the culprit.