USB Mechanical Switch?

I'm going to wear out my USB hub plugging in my head-set for Skype calls, then unplugging to return to PC speakers.

Does there exist a simple mechanic switch I could toggle to disconnect the head-set when not in use? ...Jim Thompson

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| James E.Thompson, CTO                            |    mens     |
| Analog Innovations, Inc.                         |     et      |
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Jim Thompson
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short extension cable will save the hub. or cut the cable and insert a switch Or look around in the sound configuration to see if it lets you use different i/o for calls and not calls.

Reply to
mike

on 19/09/2012, Jim Thompson supposed :

Yes please. Could you ,Jim, design it on one chip.

My daughter has this problem or worse. She likes to use the headset in her embroidery shop to avoid customer listening but then when we call her she cannot hear the call to the headphones. Switching back to speaker would be a great help.

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John G
Reply to
John G

Electronic switching... available off-the-shelf.

I want a TOGGLE switch. ...Jim Thompson

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| James E.Thompson, CTO                            |    mens     |
| Analog Innovations, Inc.                         |     et      |
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Reply to
Jim Thompson

Jim Thompson used his keyboard to write :

I was only joking as you are a reputed chip designer. :-Z

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John G
Reply to
John G

Yep, "Reputed" ;-)

I design all kinds of things I wouldn't spend my own money on >:-)

I guess I could spin my own 4PST, but I thought there might be an off-the-shelf solution... though my surfing finds no such :-( ...Jim Thompson

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| James E.Thompson, CTO                            |    mens     |
| Analog Innovations, Inc.                         |     et      |
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Reply to
Jim Thompson
[This followup was posted to sci.electronics.design and a copy was sent to the cited author.]

How about a mechanical push button toggle switch?

Look at this product:

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It is less than twelve bucks.

To use this plug your headset into one of the Type A ports and then a standard A/B type USB cable from the switch Type B connector over to the place the headset used to plug into. Leave the other side of the switch open.

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Michael Karas
Carousel Design Solutions
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Reply to
Michael Karas

Michael Karas expressed precisely :

I agree that would seem to work for this job but why would anyone buy it for 2 usb devices? Why not just use a very cheap 4 port hub.

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John G
Reply to
John G

Kinda huge :-( My 7-port powered hub is 1/4 that size. ...Jim Thompson

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| James E.Thompson, CTO                            |    mens     |
| Analog Innovations, Inc.                         |     et      |
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Reply to
Jim Thompson

Something like this...

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I guess just cut the headset cable and insert in-line, in a teensy plastic box ?:-) ...Jim Thompson

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| James E.Thompson, CTO                            |    mens     |
| Analog Innovations, Inc.                         |     et      |
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Reply to
Jim Thompson

Or this...

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...Jim Thompson

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| James E.Thompson, CTO                            |    mens     |
| Analog Innovations, Inc.                         |     et      |
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Reply to
Jim Thompson

Surely you know better than to do that? Mechanically toggling one of the data lines (pins 2 & 3) supposedly works.

-- Don Kuenz

Reply to
Don Kuenz

USB devices need power, so you COULD modify a hub, with a SPDT toggle switch, to de-power one or the other of two ports.

An de-powered USB device on the hub is a supported configuration, so there oughtn't be any important current sneak paths.

Reply to
whit3rd

Are you forgetting I have a headset attached? I want the switch equivalent of unplugging the headset.

Adding electronics seems quite superfluous for a headset. For a harddrive, sure, signal intent, so you don't scramble data. ...Jim Thompson

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| James E.Thompson, CTO                            |    mens     |
| Analog Innovations, Inc.                         |     et      |
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Reply to
Jim Thompson

You got to be kidding me? right?

Jamie

Reply to
Jamie

OK, so you need to make/break audio and not USB? That may be a hard nut to crack. Newer PCs seem to sense when an audio connection changes. One way of doing that is to use a phone jack similar to symbol D in this schematic:

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The tip breaks/makes a switch as the plug is inserted/removed. When plug is removed the tip signal lines(s) get(s) connected to an unknown "black box" circuit.

-- Don Kuenz

Reply to
Don Kuenz

Unplugging the USB connector seems to work. So why wouldn't a switch?

...Jim Thompson

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| James E.Thompson, CTO                            |    mens     |
| Analog Innovations, Inc.                         |     et      |
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Reply to
Jim Thompson

I'd have to agree. I have made the same solution with a switch for a similar problem. It works well

Sonnich

Reply to
sonnichjensen

The outer two pins of a USB connector carry VCC and ground while the inner two pins carry a differential pair. Put a switch on either line of the differential pair.

-- Don Kuenz

Reply to
Don Kuenz

=A0 =A0 =A0...Jim Thompson

=A0 =A0...Jim Thompson

DIP switches don't have to be designed for a large number of operations. And, I find them annoying to use.

Reply to
spamtrap1888

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