Customer:
I’m having an issue with USB Host Shields not powering USB devices. I’ve soldered the 3.3V and 5.5V connections and am getting power from an Arduino UNO at VBUS and everywhere else on the board. However, when I connect a USB device, it does not receive any power from the Host Shield. The lights on the UNO turn off and the USB device doesn’t receive any power. I’ve used a voltmeter and confirmed there is no power to the USB port. This issue has occurred with Host Shield boards from a number of different suppliers.
Originally submitted via email support on 3 May 2024. Migrated to the forum for community visibility.
Soldered Support:
USB Host Shields are generic components designed and produced in similar ways, so this could be a common problem. Check this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1dxwU87GQVM
It appears to address this issue. Are those the 3V3 and 5V connections you mentioned?
I’ve also received another ticket today regarding USB Host Shields where the user mentioned needing to solder additional components for the breakout to power a USB mouse. I’ll relay that information if I learn more details.
Customer:
I realized I was dealing with two separate issues. For the power dropping when a device is plugged in, there seems to have been an issue with that particular USB Host Shield - either it was faulty or I damaged something during soldering. I tried with another USB Host Shield and didn’t have the same problem.
For the USB devices not getting power, I found the issue was related to using genuine Arduino versus clones. With a genuine Arduino UNO R3, the USB Host Shield worked without problems - the device powered on and functioned correctly. The clones I have appear to have the same chips and don’t have the CH340 chip that’s known to cause driver issues on Windows.
Soldered Support:
Good that you identified the issue. For approximately 95 percent of errors, a non-genuine Arduino won’t make a difference - they should have the same components, though the difference is in quality assurance. For example, a colleague was testing an LCD on an Arduino MEGA clone and couldn’t get anything to work. Upon closer inspection, the main microcontroller was soldered poorly and had no contact.
If your boards don’t have the CH340, they may have a CP2102, which works fine on Windows. Can you clarify what the current issue is? From what I understand, you connected a USB Host Shield to a genuine Arduino and it powers on, but there’s still an issue with Windows connectivity?
For CH340 drivers, use this guide: https://soldered.com/learn/ch340-driver-installation-croduino-basic3-nova2/
There’s likely a similar guide available online for the other chip.
Customer:
I was wrong about the clone being the issue. I’m trying to connect a PS3 controller to a USB Bluetooth dongle on the USB Host Shield.
When I connect both the genuine Arduino and the clone to my computer, everything works perfectly. The Bluetooth dongle has power, the controller connects to it, and I can see the inputs on the serial monitor. My voltmeter shows 4.9V at the USB port on the Host Shield when connected to the computer.
When I power the Arduino with a 9V battery, my voltmeter shows 5.03V at the USB port on the Host Shield, but the Bluetooth dongle doesn’t power on. I tried a basic laser mouse to verify it’s not just the Bluetooth dongle - same result. It works when powered by the computer but not by the 9V battery.
I have working versions of this setup, so I know it’s possible. The Bluetooth dongles work with a 9V battery on my operational setups, but when I swap the same dongle from a working one to a new one, it fails to power on.
Soldered Support:
My best guess on what could be causing this:
- Voltage regulation on the clones is not well made
- There’s an issue with how much current the battery can output - it’s simply not enough for the circuit
If you have a custom power supply or a plug-in switchable power supply, try setting it to 9V and connecting it to the battery terminals instead of using the battery. This might work better because a power supply like this can output much more current than a battery. It’s worth ruling out.