Usb C Switch

Posted : admin | On 30-04-2021



What are USB Type-C and USB 3.1?

Featuring dual USB Type-A and USB Type-C interfaces, this drive offers easy plug-and-play operation with a wide range of devices. This all-metal SanDisk Ultra Dual Drive Luxe Type-C drive accommodates impressive amounts of data with its 64GB capacity and boasts transfer speeds of up to 150MB/sec. Product Title Insten 7-Port USB Hub with ON / OFF Switch Adapter L. Average rating: 4.1 out of 5 stars, based on 442 reviews 442 ratings Current Price $8.99 $ 8. 99 List List Price $12.99 $ 12. The USB-C 4K DisplayPort KVM switch allows you to switch between these devices using a single DisplayPort monitor, keyboard, and mouse saving valuable desk-space. Equipped with USB 3.0, this device also supports your high speed external peripheral devices, or HID devices such as touchscreens. The Control Port on USB-C-Switch is used to both power the switch and to establish software control. The USB-C-Switch does not have a separate power connection. All power and control functions (including channel selection) are under software control from the host.

USB Type-C is a new USB connector shape that is able to utilize the capabilities of USB Power Delivery and USB 3.1 for faster data transmission over a USB connection. Most users will recognize the traditional USB Type-A connectors, which have long been the standard for USB connection. This is because although USB technology has progressed through USB 1, USB 2, and USB 3, the connector has stayed the same. A growing demand for USB integration with smaller devices, such as smartphones and digital cameras, has resulted in a wide array of different USB connectors being introduced, including micro USB and mini USB connectors.

USB Type-C connection takes the functionality of all the different types of USB connections and consolidates them into one standardized USB connection. Type-C connectors are 60% smaller than the traditional Type-A connector, are more durable, and are the same size and shape from device to device. Type-C also supports a variety of different protocols which allow for HDMI, VGA, DisplayPort, and more to be used through Type-C via an adapter to allow a variety of displays from one single USB port. Type-C cables can be used for power charging as well and offer bi-directional power, meaning that aside from charging a peripheral device, when applicable, a peripheral device could also be used to charge a host device. In addition, Type-C is the first USB connector with a reversible design, meaning that users never have to fumble around trying to plug it in right-side-up ever again. Type-C is regarded as a super-speed cable and can handle up to 10Gbps as well as support the delivery of video with resolution of up to 3840x2160.

Despite being a versatile connector, USB Type-C‘s actual capabilities are ultimately determine by the underlying USB technology being used. USB 3.1 (Gen. 1) provides a bandwidth of 5Gbps, which is more than ten times faster than the previous USB technology. Larger power supply is also supported, allowing the supply of up to 60w of power to peripheral or mobile devices. In addition, USB 3.1 (Gen. 1) is backwards compatible, meaning that even older USB peripherals can still be used by plugging them into an adapter.

Now that you have your USB-C-Switch from Acroname, here are a few steps to help get started using your switch.

In your package, you should find these contents for each switch:

(1) Acroname USB-C-Switch
(1) USB-C to USB-C cable
(1) USB-C to USB-A cable

**An Acroname Universal Orientation Cable (UOC) may also be included in orders which specified that option.

USB-C-Switch is a 4-channel, bi-directional USB selector switch. It allows you to connect any of the 4 Mux channels on the front of the switch...:

to the Common Port on the rear of the switch:

Usb C Switch Port

All control and monitoring of the USB-C-Switch, including channel selection, is executed via software through the Control Port connection.

UsbSwitch

In our setup example, we will set up the USB-C-Switch to allow one host computer to power and control the switch as well as to connect to any one of 4 devices.
We are using USBHub3+ to help give us additional USB ports and assist with monitoring, but that is not necessary for bringup.
Our final connections will look like this:

Let’s get started:

  1. Download the latest BrainStem
    Download the latest BrainStem Development Kit (BDK); v2.4.4 or higher from www.acroname.com/software.
    From this download, we will be using the StemTool GUI application to exercise USB-C-Switch. The StemTool GUI uses BrainStem API calls in C++ to communicate with the USB-C-Switch.
    * Windows 7 requires special installation of BrainStem USB drivers from the BDK. If you are using Windows 7, please see the driver installation instructions in the BDK download under the drivers folder.
    ** For more advanced operation of USB-C-Switch, you can use the BrainStem API set to control directly. Documentation of the BrainStem API is located at: www.acroname.com/reference
  2. Connect Power and Control to the Control Port
    All connections to USB-C-Switch use USB-C connectors.
    The Control Port on USB-C-Switch is used to both power the switch and to establish software control. The USB-C-Switch does not have a separate power connection. All power and control functions (including channel selection) are under software control from the host PC.
    Connect your host to the Control Port on USB-C-Switch:
  3. Update USB-C-Switch to the latest firmware
    - Ensure that the Control Port is powered on from your host and that the BrainStem drivers are loaded
    - Locate the “Updater” firmware update utility in the BDK bin directory
    - From a terminal or command line window, run these two commands:
    updater -D
    (this will Discover the BrainStem device(s) attached to your system and respond with serial number(s) in the format XXXXXXXX)
    updater -G -U -d XXXXXXXX
    (this will Get the latest BrainStem firmware and Update firmware in device XXXXXXXX)
  4. Connect your host to the Common Port

    ** In our example, we are connecting the Control Port and the Common Port to USBHub3+. USBHub3+ is not necessary in this application, but we are using USBHub3+ for it's additional monitoring capabilities.
  5. Connect your devices to the MUX Channels
    In our example, we have elected to connect:
    - CH0: (empty)
    - CH1: USB-C memory stick
    - CH2: Apple iPad
    - CH3: Android phone
  6. Run StemTool
    Now that we have made all of our connections, go to the BDK download directory and find StemTool under the bin folder.
    Once you have StemTool running, you will find all attached BrainStem devices attached to your system in the left hand pane.
    Select your USB-C-Switch in the left hand pane and you will see the StemTool window for USB-C-Switch come active. You should now have a BrainStem connection to your USB-C-Switch, indicated by the flashing BrainStem heartbeat LED.
  7. Using StemTool
    By default, USB-C-Switch comes up with the Common Port enabled and Mux CH0 selected.
    In the our example, even with everything connected and working, the host should still see no device connection since we have no device connected to Mux Ch0.
    Controls for the COMMON connection or “USB Port” are listed on the left side of the USB-C-Switch panel.
    Controls for the Mux channel selection are listed on the right side of the USB-C-Switch panel.
    ​As best practice for host switching, Acroname recommends that before you switch mux channels, that you first disable the Common Port so the host sees a “break before make” connection:
    - Disable the Common Port by un-checking the Port checkbox on the left side of the USB-C-Switch panel.
    - Select the channel you wish to see enabled in the Mux selector dropdown on the right of the panel.
    - Enable the Common Port by checking the Port checkbox.
    You should now see the device on the newly selected channel available.
  8. Keep Alive Charging (KAC)
    Acroname has included Keep Alive Charging – which allows devices on non-selected channels to receive some small charging power from USB-C-Switch.
    Power for KAC is provided by the host PC through the Control Port on the USB-C-Switch. When KAC is enabled, you can see the Vbus levels on non-selected channels rise to +5V.
    When KAC is enabled, there is only a VBUS/+5V connection and no data connection to the devices on the affected Mux channels. As such, USB policy states that with only a small amount of power may be drawn by devices where there is no data connection.
    KAC currents are not monitored by USB-C-Switch, so we are using USBHub3+ in our example to show the amount of power drawn through the Control Port when KAC is enabled.

Usb C Switch Charger

If you have any questions about bringing up USB-C-Switch or how USB-C-Switch may work in your application, please contact us at:
support@acroname.com
720-564-0373