Travel Hub

snoopy · 08-23-2006, 01:59 PM

For all Hardware Freaks :-)

Wiring Diagram of the Travel Hub.

Snoopy

b_k · 08-23-2006, 02:33 PM

nice. so that makes 6 unused contacts. minus 2 connected to USB GND. Right?

snoopy · 08-23-2006, 03:05 PM

Thats Right,

4 unused contacts in the Hub, but 6 in the connector.

Snoopy

b_k · 08-23-2006, 03:13 PM

couldn't it be that the 2 contacts connected to USB GND and maybe some others are some sort of "sign" for a connection?

edit: ok, I read the diagram wrong. sorry

snoopy · 08-23-2006, 03:28 PM

the connectors marked with "nc" are not connected to any wire.

USB no.4 is NOT connected to Ground or any Wire.

Another picture with better colors...

astfgl · 08-23-2006, 05:38 PM

Guys, 10/100 ethernet only uses 4 wires, but there's 7 going to the RJ45 connector. The extra three might be Rx/Tx/GND serial on the unused pins. Can you check this?

snoopy · 08-23-2006, 06:08 PM

the three extra wires are for the LEDs on the connector.

edit: perhaps, the internal Wiring of the rj45 connector looks like in the picture.

astfgl · 08-23-2006, 06:31 PM

D'oh! Silly me, I should have realised that.

Oh well, at least there's some suspicious solder pads on the Iliad's internal photos...

arivero · 08-24-2006, 12:58 PM

but unfortunately the connector was fixed to the other side of the board.

six pins can do for full featured rs232.
hmm.

b_k · 08-24-2006, 01:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by arivero

but unfortunately the connector was fixed to the other side of the board.

six pins can do for full featured rs232.
hmm.

so, should we ask in iRex official forum if there is something "special" on the 6 unused pins? (as someone from iRex advised

)

#794 · 08-29-2006, 09:28 AM

Made myself a replacement for the Irex travelhub. It is easy to make for the experienced technician. Charger only, I don't need the USB so often and if - than only at my desk. Irex should have this device delivered in the first place.

TND · 08-30-2006, 02:27 PM

Can you give us more details on which wire of the charget to solder on to the conector.

All set to cut up the cables and get them hooked up. Still cant figure out why they did not do a USB/mini USB connector.

Also why did they not do the connector at the side so its easier to read when it is charging.

They really really need some usability engineering done on the way they design the hardware.

Quote:

Originally Posted by #794

Made myself a replacement for the Irex travelhub. It is easy to make for the experienced technician. Charger only, I don't need the USB so often and if - than only at my desk. Irex should have this device delivered in the first place.

scotty1024 · 08-30-2006, 06:30 PM

The e-ink panel apparently requires +15V and -15V to drive it (a total swing of 30V).

They had a goal of 21 hours of battery life. Actually due to the rate at which lithium secondary batteries decay they need to do better than that to meet the runtime spec for the warranty period of the device. A lithium secondary battery left on charger most of the time at 25C will decay 20% in one year, at 40C is will decay 35%.

To drive that big swing efficiently you want the highest battery voltage you can get away with. Since the photos reveal two 3.7V batteries my guess is that iRex is running them in series to produce a nominal 7.4V head into their switching power supply circuit.

The other technical challenge is the battery itself. Lithium batteries require a constant current charge (usually .7C where C is the mAH rating of the battery) until they reach 4.2V per cell. At this point the battery is roughly 70% charged. You then switch to constant voltage mode and let the current drop until you reach 10% of the initial constant charge current. At that point a sane charger stops.

So what does all this mean?

To charge two cells to the switch over voltage you would need a charger capable of pumping .7C into 8.4V. Rumor has it the batteries in the iLiad as 1100mAH so that's .77A at 8.4V or 6.468W of energy (ignoring losses in the charger circuit itself, and any juice the iLiad itself is using to operate.)

Supporting evidence: charger voltage specification given by jan in the iRex forum was 9V to 15V with max current draw of 1A. Covers the battery specs I propose above.

What can USB supply? Normally a USB port will supply up to 500ma at 5V. Thus USB can supply 2.5W of energy: not enough to charge the iLiad battery pack.

Motorola and others have a super-USB spec where they can source up to 1.5A at 5V. This would supply 7.5W of energy which would seem sufficient to charge the iLiad's battery. But to achieve the needed voltage the iLiad would need to boost the 5V to over the needed 8.4V in order to use it to charge the battery. This boost switching supply would be doing good to achieve 80% efficiency... .8 * 7.5W = 6W not enough juice.

Also keep in mind, that's using an external super charger, not a computer's USB port , or a regular car charger or regular cell phone wall brick charger e.g. you might as well use the iLiad charger.

#794 · 08-31-2006, 04:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TND

Can you give us more details on which wire of the charget to solder on to the conector.

All set to cut up the cables and get them hooked up. Still cant figure out why they did not do a USB/mini USB connector.

Also why did they not do the connector at the side so its easier to read when it is charging.

They really really need some usability engineering done on the way they design the hardware.

Better to decide for yourself IF and how to do it.
Look at the schematic Snoopy published. As you see the power is on pins 1-2 (+) and 19-20 (-). Measure with a voltagemeter which pins on the Irex connector are + and - and connect those with the + and - of the powersupply.
Be aware of the risks! I case of a failure you may blow-up the powersupply and the Iliad.
Don't do this if you are not absolutely sure!

TND · 08-31-2006, 05:16 AM

Typical geek curiosity (humm wonder what happens if i hook this to this, and cut this and, put this here and voila. Flip the switch! BOOM! Gaah shouldnt have done that.

)

You so know I am still going to do it though dont you!

Oh how about multiple USB ports hooked up together?
For a very geeky implementation see here.

http://www.gizmodo.com/gadgets/perip...wtf-196087.php

Quote:

Originally Posted by #794

Better to decide for yourself IF and how to do it.
Look at the schematic Snoopy published. As you see the power is on pins 1-2 (+) and 19-20 (-). Measure with a voltagemeter which pins on the Irex connector are + and - and connect those with the + and - of the powersupply.
Be aware of the risks! I case of a failure you may blow-up the powersupply and the Iliad.
Don't do this if you are not absolutely sure!

08-23-2006, 01:59 PM	#1
snoopy Power User Posts: 10 Karma: 201 Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Germany Device: Irex ILIAD / Hiebook	Travel Hub For all Hardware Freaks :-) Wiring Diagram of the Travel Hub. Snoopy Attached Thumbnails

08-23-2006, 03:05 PM	#3
snoopy Power User Posts: 10 Karma: 201 Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Germany Device: Irex ILIAD / Hiebook	6 unused contacts in connector Thats Right, 4 unused contacts in the Hub, but 6 in the connector. Snoopy

08-23-2006, 03:13 PM	#4
b_k Übernerd Posts: 238 Karma: 74 Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: Germany Device: iRex iLiad	couldn't it be that the 2 contacts connected to USB GND and maybe some others are some sort of "sign" for a connection? edit: ok, I read the diagram wrong. sorry Last edited by b_k; 08-23-2006 at 03:44 PM.

08-23-2006, 03:28 PM	#5
snoopy Power User Posts: 10 Karma: 201 Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Germany Device: Irex ILIAD / Hiebook	the connectors marked with "nc" are not connected to any wire. USB no.4 is NOT connected to Ground or any Wire. Another picture with better colors... Attached Thumbnails Last edited by snoopy; 08-23-2006 at 03:38 PM.

08-29-2006, 09:28 AM	#11
#794 Junior Member Posts: 3 Karma: 10 Join Date: Aug 2006 Device: iliad	The powersupply Irex should have made available Made myself a replacement for the Irex travelhub. It is easy to make for the experienced technician. Charger only, I don't need the USB so often and if - than only at my desk. Irex should have this device delivered in the first place. Attached Thumbnails

08-23-2006, 02:33 PM	#2
b_k Übernerd Posts: 238 Karma: 74 Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: Germany Device: iRex iLiad	nice. so that makes 6 unused contacts. minus 2 connected to USB GND. Right?

08-23-2006, 05:38 PM	#6
astfgl Member Posts: 24 Karma: 10 Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: Townsville, AU Device: Iliad & REB1100	Guys, 10/100 ethernet only uses 4 wires, but there's 7 going to the RJ45 connector. The extra three might be Rx/Tx/GND serial on the unused pins. Can you check this?

08-23-2006, 06:08 PM	#7
snoopy Power User Posts: 10 Karma: 201 Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Germany Device: Irex ILIAD / Hiebook	the three extra wires are for the LEDs on the connector. edit: perhaps, the internal Wiring of the rj45 connector looks like in the picture. Attached Thumbnails Last edited by snoopy; 08-23-2006 at 06:21 PM.

08-23-2006, 06:31 PM	#8
astfgl Member Posts: 24 Karma: 10 Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: Townsville, AU Device: Iliad & REB1100	D'oh! Silly me, I should have realised that. Oh well, at least there's some suspicious solder pads on the Iliad's internal photos...

08-24-2006, 12:58 PM	#9
arivero Guru Posts: 607 Karma: 2157 Join Date: Oct 2005 Device: NCR3125, Nokia 770,...	but unfortunately the connector was fixed to the other side of the board. six pins can do for full featured rs232. hmm.

08-30-2006, 06:30 PM	#13
scotty1024 Banned Posts: 1,300 Karma: 1479 Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: Peoples Republic of Washington Device: Reader / iPhone / Librie / Kindle	The e-ink panel apparently requires +15V and -15V to drive it (a total swing of 30V). They had a goal of 21 hours of battery life. Actually due to the rate at which lithium secondary batteries decay they need to do better than that to meet the runtime spec for the warranty period of the device. A lithium secondary battery left on charger most of the time at 25C will decay 20% in one year, at 40C is will decay 35%. To drive that big swing efficiently you want the highest battery voltage you can get away with. Since the photos reveal two 3.7V batteries my guess is that iRex is running them in series to produce a nominal 7.4V head into their switching power supply circuit. The other technical challenge is the battery itself. Lithium batteries require a constant current charge (usually .7C where C is the mAH rating of the battery) until they reach 4.2V per cell. At this point the battery is roughly 70% charged. You then switch to constant voltage mode and let the current drop until you reach 10% of the initial constant charge current. At that point a sane charger stops. So what does all this mean? To charge two cells to the switch over voltage you would need a charger capable of pumping .7C into 8.4V. Rumor has it the batteries in the iLiad as 1100mAH so that's .77A at 8.4V or 6.468W of energy (ignoring losses in the charger circuit itself, and any juice the iLiad itself is using to operate.) Supporting evidence: charger voltage specification given by jan in the iRex forum was 9V to 15V with max current draw of 1A. Covers the battery specs I propose above. What can USB supply? Normally a USB port will supply up to 500ma at 5V. Thus USB can supply 2.5W of energy: not enough to charge the iLiad battery pack. Motorola and others have a super-USB spec where they can source up to 1.5A at 5V. This would supply 7.5W of energy which would seem sufficient to charge the iLiad's battery. But to achieve the needed voltage the iLiad would need to boost the 5V to over the needed 8.4V in order to use it to charge the battery. This boost switching supply would be doing good to achieve 80% efficiency... .8 * 7.5W = 6W not enough juice. Also keep in mind, that's using an external super charger, not a computer's USB port , or a regular car charger or regular cell phone wall brick charger e.g. you might as well use the iLiad charger.

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