All USB Ports Are Not Equal

I recently encountered a common issue with an unusual solution, and it relates to USB ports.

I've been an avid user of my SanDisk Sansa player. It has a lithium ion battery that lasts quite a number of hours between charges. When it does need to be charged, it does so via the included cable, that plugs into a computer's USB port. I would much prefer the option of a more direct wall charger, but the USB charging is the only option.

Anyway, for the last several months, I've been charging it without incident via a nonpowered hub. The only other thing plugged into the hub is a Bluetooth adapter, and an occasional flash drive. With those low power using peripherals, there should still be plenty of power to juice up the music player. And there always was- after an hour or two, the Sansa was charged.

For the last two weeks, I'm noticing that the Sansa, even after sitting on the charger for over two hours still isn't taking the charge. No matter how long I leave it plugged in, the battery meter won't go to full. Then, I couldn't get it above one half on the battery meter. So, of course, I'm thinking bout how old the battery is, that at least I can replace it, and that maybe I'd rather just put the money towards a new iPod when the new ones come out, likely some time at the end of the summer.

Before I look into this, I think back and realize that the Sansa battery issue started when my desktop died last month. The new Shuttle system has a mere 240W power supply, while my old desktop had an Ultra 400W power supply. Hmmm. Could this make any difference? I doubted it, but had to try something to test the hypothesis...

The ideal way would be to measure the voltage and amperage measurements at the USB ports, and compare them to the old desktop. As I don't have a multimeter, this plan was out. The second best plan was to plug the Sansa directly into the Shuttle, without an intermediary hub. Using one of the front mounted ports, I did this. Low and behold, the Sansa recharged to full in an hour and a half from a half charge!

Therefore, I'll be keeping in mind that while these USB hubs are convenient, when it comes time to charging, I'll be connecting directly into the computer. Also, a powered USB hub would be a better choice as it keeps full power to all of the USB ports (although I've run out of outlets a while ago...). If you're having a similar issue, my fix may help you as well.

--Jonas