cheap USB hubs, any risks?

On the internet, I saw some said, buying cheap or low quality USB hubs made in Asia may risk your PC or laptop burned or damaged, is it possible?

 

Possible? Yes.
Likely? No.

A USB hub draws power from the host USB port (laptop). And USB has very specific limits on voltage (5V) and current (2A) that it can output.

So what that random-stranger-on-the-internet is claiming is that a laptop USB port will output power out-of-spec to the point that it can damage itself. Does that sound believable? Nope. Not to me.

Having said that, don't buy crappy USB hubs... Not because of damage, but because you generally don't want to buy cheap knock-off stuff anyway because it might stop working in a month. You're not even saving much money, because a good USB hub only costs about $10 anyway.

Sent from my SM-G935V using Tapatalk

 

I bought a cheap 8 port clear plastic one a few years ago and 3 of the ports did not work, so i never used it.

You are better off buying a branded product as you could blow your usb ports if the cheap hub is faulty.

John.

 

@kenny1999 most of cheap hubs are backfeeding when external power is attached, so if external psu goes bad your port is in danger indeed.

 

Already bought a cheap one from China, very sad.

 

Pluggable makes nice stuff.

 

I use to buy the cheap usb power adaptors from china/hong-kong, I had two go bang in a week, nearly fried my £600 phone, never again, buy a brand with a warranty.

John.

 

Thanks all for all advice
Unfortunately I've already bought one from China,
namely UNITEK
designed and manufactured in China. Anyone knows if it 's a good or poor brand

 

Amazon has excellent reviews (over 600) on a Unitek USB hub. It would be more helpful if you would have included the brand and model number in your original post.

Sent from my overpriced Galaxy S6 Edge +

 

Virtually everything is made in china at the moment, But if the item is really cheap it`s most likely never seen a quality regulation (as certification costs a lot of money) even though it might have all the relevant logo`s on it.

A reputable website that tests a lot of power adaptors ect and gives a safety rating, have a look at the skulls at the right of the listing indication pertentually lethal devices.

http://lygte-info.dk/info/ChargerIndex UK.html

http://www.lygte-info.dk/info/indexUSB UK.html

John.

 

Aslong as its well rated go for it however even well known brands can fail. I had a powered rosewill usb hub fry everything connected to it (a few 256gb usb sticks and xb360 wireless dongle) so there is indeed risk no matter what you choose

 

But big brands will normally refund you for any damage done to you equipment as they don't want the bad publicity, also you can legally take action, but with a no name brand, you are unlikely to get any money back.

John.

 

Pretty much this, you have to be careful about who made it, not really that it comes from China at this point. As an example, Delta is a chinese power supply manufacturer, but they make very good quality PSUs. Dell often uses their PSUs for their laptops.