Price : Too low to display
Wirelessly access a USB device up to 30 feet away - especially great for printers, projectors, and whiteboards!
This review is from : Cables To Go 29571 TruLink Wireless USB Device Adapter Kit (Black)
Not perfect but pretty darn good - once you know the trick . I purchased this for an unusual application - I wanted to control a Nikon D700 digital SLR camera from my laptop. I had software (Breeze Systems NK Remote) that could do this via wired USB. Would it work wireless?
Per the instructions, I installed the software driver, then connected the USB transmitter. I powered-up the wireless hub. The software said it didn't see it. And nothing worked with my camera. I wrote tech support, who replied the next day. They suggested plugging in a simple USB device, like a mouse. I tried again, and as soon as I plugged in a mouse, the laptop could "see" the remote hub. I removed the mouse, and tried my camera. It worked perfect. It would appear that smart devices like my Nikon won't switch to USB-mode unless they see a PC attached. But a mouse is USB-only and starts communication as soon as it gets power. So that is the "trick". And once they wireless devices "mate" they work fine from that point on. It doesn't seem to need the "mouse" trick ever again.
Just to be clear about the "wireless" part - The hub is AC-powered, so it has a power cable, and you would need to cable it to whatever device you intend to use (printer, etc.) The Wireless claim refers to the link between the powered hub and the transmitter (powered by the USB port). An ideal application would be to connect a laptop (with the transmitter plugged into a USB port) and a printer (connected via wire to the USB Hub/Receiver). In other words, it is the laptop that is the remote portable device. I don't believe you can swap the positions of the Hub and Transmitter, since the PC software needs to see the transmitter at the USB port. So don't expect to be able to hook the Hub to a PC, and a mouse or keyboard to the transmitter.
In my case, I'm using it for two portable devices - a laptop and a camera. So the camera end requires AC power for the hub, and while it is wireless, it is not portable. I intend to connect the hub to a 4-cell battery pack, using NiMh cells (AA size). Since battery is 1.2 volts, four should net me 4.8 volts. The hub needs 5 volts, so that should be close enough. Once I get it working (or not) I'll try to remember to update this post.
==== UPDATE #1
I was able to get the device to work using battery power. I used a Radio Shack #270-391A battery holder (4 x AA cells), with the leads soldered to a Radio Shack #274-1571 DC Power Plug (Size H Coaxial), with the red wire attached to the center, and the black wire attached to the outer connector. Using w NiMh cells, I got 4.8 volts and it works fine. Now I have to work on packaging it all together so it fits on the hot shoe of my Nikon D700 camera.
It can be challenging to get the wireless link to connect. Even with AC power, it won't link until it sees a USB device attached to the hub. I use a Logitech USB mouse to make the connection, then it seems OK. Once it has "seen" the wireless, I can power down the hub, connect it to the camera, then turn the camera on and the hub on. After 30-to-45 seconds, it connects. But sometimes it won't. So I have to use the mouse, and sometimes get the devices close before they "see" each other. So it is far from perfect, but it can work. But I still keep a USB extension cord in my camera bag. I don't really trust the device just yet. But it work fairly well if you are willing to play with it a bit. There may be issues in my house with radio interference, so others may have better luck. I'll add more updates if I get it to work better.
Not perfect but pretty darn good - once you know the trick . I purchased this for an unusual application - I wanted to control a Nikon D700 digital SLR camera from my laptop. I had software (Breeze Systems NK Remote) that could do this via wired USB. Would it work wireless?
Per the instructions, I installed the software driver, then connected the USB transmitter. I powered-up the wireless hub. The software said it didn't see it. And nothing worked with my camera. I wrote tech support, who replied the next day. They suggested plugging in a simple USB device, like a mouse. I tried again, and as soon as I plugged in a mouse, the laptop could "see" the remote hub. I removed the mouse, and tried my camera. It worked perfect. It would appear that smart devices like my Nikon won't switch to USB-mode unless they see a PC attached. But a mouse is USB-only and starts communication as soon as it gets power. So that is the "trick". And once they wireless devices "mate" they work fine from that point on. It doesn't seem to need the "mouse" trick ever again.
Just to be clear about the "wireless" part - The hub is AC-powered, so it has a power cable, and you would need to cable it to whatever device you intend to use (printer, etc.) The Wireless claim refers to the link between the powered hub and the transmitter (powered by the USB port). An ideal application would be to connect a laptop (with the transmitter plugged into a USB port) and a printer (connected via wire to the USB Hub/Receiver). In other words, it is the laptop that is the remote portable device. I don't believe you can swap the positions of the Hub and Transmitter, since the PC software needs to see the transmitter at the USB port. So don't expect to be able to hook the Hub to a PC, and a mouse or keyboard to the transmitter.
In my case, I'm using it for two portable devices - a laptop and a camera. So the camera end requires AC power for the hub, and while it is wireless, it is not portable. I intend to connect the hub to a 4-cell battery pack, using NiMh cells (AA size). Since battery is 1.2 volts, four should net me 4.8 volts. The hub needs 5 volts, so that should be close enough. Once I get it working (or not) I'll try to remember to update this post.
==== UPDATE #1
I was able to get the device to work using battery power. I used a Radio Shack #270-391A battery holder (4 x AA cells), with the leads soldered to a Radio Shack #274-1571 DC Power Plug (Size H Coaxial), with the red wire attached to the center, and the black wire attached to the outer connector. Using w NiMh cells, I got 4.8 volts and it works fine. Now I have to work on packaging it all together so it fits on the hot shoe of my Nikon D700 camera.
It can be challenging to get the wireless link to connect. Even with AC power, it won't link until it sees a USB device attached to the hub. I use a Logitech USB mouse to make the connection, then it seems OK. Once it has "seen" the wireless, I can power down the hub, connect it to the camera, then turn the camera on and the hub on. After 30-to-45 seconds, it connects. But sometimes it won't. So I have to use the mouse, and sometimes get the devices close before they "see" each other. So it is far from perfect, but it can work. But I still keep a USB extension cord in my camera bag. I don't really trust the device just yet. But it work fairly well if you are willing to play with it a bit. There may be issues in my house with radio interference, so others may have better luck. I'll add more updates if I get it to work better.
Cables To Go 29571 TruLink Wireless USB Device Adapter Kit (Black) Reviews
Wireless tethering for photographers . Those of you who like photography may know what the title means. For the uninitiated, it means a method to transfer pictures from your digital camera, back to a computer, as you shoot them, so that someone sitting in front of the computer can see what you just shot.
Most camera manufacturers (and I am talking about dSLR cameras mostly) offer some hardware/software combination, which allows you to do that trick, these things are used by professional photographers all the time. However, these solutions are proprietary and tend to be rather expensive. Nikon's solution requires a WiFi transmitter which costs around $750 and a dedicated software, which costs about $150, so you are looking at a large bill, if you want to do what the pros do. There are some other solutions in the market too, but they are limited to cameras which use SD cards, unfortunately both my cameras use CF cards, so I couldn't use these solutions.
While browsing the Internet, I found that there are some devices around, which can replace a USB cable with two small "dongles", which create a wireless USB connection, between them. In other words, you plug one dongle in a USB port on your computer, you plug the other dongle on any USB device you want to connect to your computer and essentially it is as if you had a USB cable connecting the two together, but without the hassle of the cable itself. Typically all dSLRs I know of, connect to a computer using a USB cable, so this kit sounded like the perfect cable-eliminating idea.
So I decided to order this kit and see if I could use it for wireless tethered shooting with my Nikon cameras (D700 and D300).
The short answer is, that indeed this kit can easily replace the $750 Nikon transmitter and allow you to immediately transfer every picture you shoot, back to your computer, in almost real-time.
There are some issues that need to be stressed here and some other issues that you have to solve, but overall, it can be done. The issues you need to know are:
1. The dongles come with drivers only for Windows, no drivers for Mac OS-X, at least not yet. While I am a Mac user, I managed to solve the problem by using Parallel's Desktop 6, which recognizes the dongles fine. From then on, the pictures can be imported into Aperture or whatever other program you are using for processing.
2. The remote dongle, which you connect to your camera, comes with a 5V plug adapter for power. Now, if you are trying to eliminate the USB cable, it is silly to acccept the restriction of a cable connecting your camera to the plug on the wall. You need to provide a 5V power supply to provide current for the dongle. That's easily done with a 4 AA batteries box (sold on Ebay for a few dollars), if you use rechargeable Ni-MH batteries in it, the current is just right.
3. You still need a program to accept the incoming photos, store them on your disk and allow you to see them in real-time, as they are transferred to the computer. While there are some free programs doing those things, on the Internet, I have found that either they do not work well inside Parallel's Desktop, or they do not provide the level of functionality I was looking for. So far, I've been satisfied only with Nikon Camera Control Pro, which for me is the best software for this job. Canon users are luckier, because Canon ships the corresponding software with their dSLR cameras for free. Nikon users will have to buy it.
4. The distance between the two dongles is limited (according to the manufacturers specifications) to 10 m, I haven't tried to reach their limit but others who have tried this solution say that they work fine up to 35 feet.
5. When you first try out this kit, you may have a hard time making the dongles talk to each other. What I have found is that the following sequence helps overcome this problem:
- connect the computer-side dongle to your computer. The tell-tale light on the dongle should go on.
- connect your camera to the remote dongle.
- power on your camera.
- power on the camera dongle and wait for a few seconds, watching for a small blue light on the computer dongle. If that light doesn't come on, after 10 seconds power the camera dongle down and power it up again.
The above sequence usually works fine. As soon as the blue light comes on or starts blinking, the two dongles are connected and from then on you can shoot away at your heart's content. The connection is quite stable, as long as you remain within the specified distance mentioned above and it will be lost if you unplug any of the dongles or if you power off your camera.
Here is a link to a photography-related site, where my experience with this kit has been described and discussed in more details.
[...]
Wireless tethering for photographers . Those of you who like photography may know what the title means. For the uninitiated, it means a method to transfer pictures from your digital camera, back to a computer, as you shoot them, so that someone sitting in front of the computer can see what you just shot.
Most camera manufacturers (and I am talking about dSLR cameras mostly) offer some hardware/software combination, which allows you to do that trick, these things are used by professional photographers all the time. However, these solutions are proprietary and tend to be rather expensive. Nikon's solution requires a WiFi transmitter which costs around $750 and a dedicated software, which costs about $150, so you are looking at a large bill, if you want to do what the pros do. There are some other solutions in the market too, but they are limited to cameras which use SD cards, unfortunately both my cameras use CF cards, so I couldn't use these solutions.
While browsing the Internet, I found that there are some devices around, which can replace a USB cable with two small "dongles", which create a wireless USB connection, between them. In other words, you plug one dongle in a USB port on your computer, you plug the other dongle on any USB device you want to connect to your computer and essentially it is as if you had a USB cable connecting the two together, but without the hassle of the cable itself. Typically all dSLRs I know of, connect to a computer using a USB cable, so this kit sounded like the perfect cable-eliminating idea.
So I decided to order this kit and see if I could use it for wireless tethered shooting with my Nikon cameras (D700 and D300).
The short answer is, that indeed this kit can easily replace the $750 Nikon transmitter and allow you to immediately transfer every picture you shoot, back to your computer, in almost real-time.
There are some issues that need to be stressed here and some other issues that you have to solve, but overall, it can be done. The issues you need to know are:
1. The dongles come with drivers only for Windows, no drivers for Mac OS-X, at least not yet. While I am a Mac user, I managed to solve the problem by using Parallel's Desktop 6, which recognizes the dongles fine. From then on, the pictures can be imported into Aperture or whatever other program you are using for processing.
2. The remote dongle, which you connect to your camera, comes with a 5V plug adapter for power. Now, if you are trying to eliminate the USB cable, it is silly to acccept the restriction of a cable connecting your camera to the plug on the wall. You need to provide a 5V power supply to provide current for the dongle. That's easily done with a 4 AA batteries box (sold on Ebay for a few dollars), if you use rechargeable Ni-MH batteries in it, the current is just right.
3. You still need a program to accept the incoming photos, store them on your disk and allow you to see them in real-time, as they are transferred to the computer. While there are some free programs doing those things, on the Internet, I have found that either they do not work well inside Parallel's Desktop, or they do not provide the level of functionality I was looking for. So far, I've been satisfied only with Nikon Camera Control Pro, which for me is the best software for this job. Canon users are luckier, because Canon ships the corresponding software with their dSLR cameras for free. Nikon users will have to buy it.
4. The distance between the two dongles is limited (according to the manufacturers specifications) to 10 m, I haven't tried to reach their limit but others who have tried this solution say that they work fine up to 35 feet.
5. When you first try out this kit, you may have a hard time making the dongles talk to each other. What I have found is that the following sequence helps overcome this problem:
- connect the computer-side dongle to your computer. The tell-tale light on the dongle should go on.
- connect your camera to the remote dongle.
- power on your camera.
- power on the camera dongle and wait for a few seconds, watching for a small blue light on the computer dongle. If that light doesn't come on, after 10 seconds power the camera dongle down and power it up again.
The above sequence usually works fine. As soon as the blue light comes on or starts blinking, the two dongles are connected and from then on you can shoot away at your heart's content. The connection is quite stable, as long as you remain within the specified distance mentioned above and it will be lost if you unplug any of the dongles or if you power off your camera.
Here is a link to a photography-related site, where my experience with this kit has been described and discussed in more details.
[...]
Cables To Go 29571 TruLink Wireless USB Device Adapter Kit (Black) Opinions
Not good for wireless keyboards . I love my RF wireless split-key keyboard, but I don't love that the range is only 6' for my living room PC setup. They don't make one in Bluetooth, so I just have to deal with the low range. I thought this little wireless USB would be the answer to my problems, but it was not - I returned it after a few days. The reception on the device was only about 3/5 bars approximately 10 feet from the device, and the delay and drop outs when typing was not acceptible. Setup was easy and it may work well for using wireless camera tethers like other reviewers said, but don't get it if you want to use a wireless USB keyboard.
Not good for wireless keyboards . I love my RF wireless split-key keyboard, but I don't love that the range is only 6' for my living room PC setup. They don't make one in Bluetooth, so I just have to deal with the low range. I thought this little wireless USB would be the answer to my problems, but it was not - I returned it after a few days. The reception on the device was only about 3/5 bars approximately 10 feet from the device, and the delay and drop outs when typing was not acceptible. Setup was easy and it may work well for using wireless camera tethers like other reviewers said, but don't get it if you want to use a wireless USB keyboard.
Does the job . Works as advertised. If you are having distance problems I would suggest building a couple do-it-yourself "Windsurfer" antenna reflectors. You can find the template here: [...]
Wireless USB link . This unit is somewhat overpriced and of limited use because it works Strictly "LINE OF SIGHT". Forget trying to connect with something in another room. It seems to work well as long as both units can SEE each other.
So if all you need is a wireless link across the room, this is for you.
So if all you need is a wireless link across the room, this is for you.
Cons Review
Warning - Item is no longer available. . Cables To Go 29571 TruLink Wireless USB Device Adapter Kit (Black) Save yourself months of frustration trying to procure this unavailable item! Over 2 months ago I ordered this item (via Amazon) thru their subcontractor MarginMart, who changed the part number on my order without my permission, and wasted my shipping money by sending a wrong item. Upon receipt I contacted MarginMart (via Amazon) asking if they had the correct item to send right away. Without thanks, apology, or answer, they instructed me to return the item. I sent it at my expense via their shipper (UPS Ground). Weeks later, Amazon notified me that the return shipment must be certified. I escalated this issue within Amazon without satisfaction. UPS lost the shipment, MarginMart is holding my money for ransom, and Amazon is playing dumb. When I search for this item at Amazon I am notified in a special yellow banner that ...You purchased this item on February 7, 2011... patently wrong! Today Amazon reports inventory on-hand for this item. You have been warned.
Unstable connection . Did not work as expected, VERY unstable connection. Perhaps it's OK to use with a printer within a couple of meters.
Only works with certain devices . I needed this to extend a USB headset, but it doesn't work. I also tried it with a Livescribe pen. Doesn't work. Does work with a wired mouse and with a USB memory stick. Worked, sometimes, with my still camera, but will not work with my video camera.
Product Image
Feature Cables To Go 29571 TruLink Wireless USB Device Adapter Kit (Black)
- In-room wireless connectivity up to 30 feet
- Ultra-Wide Band operates in the frequency of 3.1 GHz to 4.8 GHz (WiMedia Band Group 1)
- Certified Wireless USB 1.0 compliant
- ItÆs never been more convenient to connect to a printer, projector, scanner, or any other USB device! Thanks to a secure wireless connection between your computer and the TruLink wireless USB device adapter, you can easily connect any USB device and access
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Product Details
EAN : 0757120295716UPC : 757120295716
MPN : 29571
Brand : Cables To Go
Color : Black
Weight : 2 pounds
Height : 3 inches
Length : 12 inches
Width : 9 inches
Binding : Electronics
Hardware Platform : PC
Manufacturer : Cables To Go
Model : 29571
Operating System : DOS
Publisher : Cables To Go
SKU : 3812@634523000158197500
Studio : Cables To Go
Where To Buy
You can buy Cables To Go 29571 TruLink Wireless USB Device Adapter Kit (Black) on Amazon . Click here to Read More
