Installation

Installing the USB Hub Zero requires soldering the power and USB connection cables to the Raspberry Pi Zero. After that the USB Hub Zero is mounted under the Raspberry Pi Zero with the supplied screws and nuts. The instructions below assume that the USB Hub Zero will be powered through the Pi Zero, i.e. it will receive power when the Raspberry Pi Zero's micro USB socket is connected to a power supply.

Soldering the connection cables to the Raspberry Pi Zero

There are four solder points, please refer to the picture. The red/black cables should be cut to about 2.5 cm, the green/white cable to about 5 cm prior to soldering. About 1mm of the cable isolation needs to be removed. The cables then need to be soldered to the following pads on the Pi Zero :

Red cable	PP1	+5V
Black cable	PP6	GND
Green cable	PP22	USB D+
White cable	PP23	USB D-

 

 

After the cables have been soldered to the Pi Zero, be careful not to bend the cables too often, else the cables will break near the solder point.

Mounting the USB Hub Zero

Connect the two cables that have been soldered to the Pi Zero into the USB Hub Zero. The green/white cable has to be plugged into the socket on top in the picture below, near the IC, the red/black cable has to be plugged into the socket on the bottom. Be careful again, not to bend the cables.

At this time it may be a good idea to test the setup, by connecting the Pi Zero to a monitor and power, and connecting a USB keyboard or other device to the USB Hub Zero.

If the cables need to be detached again later to separate the Pi Zero from the USB Hub Zero, carefully detach the connector by using a small screwdriver, do not pull on the cables !

Mount the 4 screws from the bottom of the USB Hub Zero and fix them with 4 nuts.

Put 4 more nuts on the screws, about 1 cm away from the USB Hub Zero PCB.
Carefully mount the Pi Zero on top of the USB Hub Zero, make sure the cables are not blocking the recessed USB socket, then mount and secure the remaining 4 nuts to attach the Pi Zero to the hub.

That completes the installation of the USB Hub Zero and it is ready to be connected to USB keyboard, mouse, WiFi adapters, flash drives, etc. !

 

Using the 4th USB port

The 4th USB port can be used by soldering USB D+ and D- directly onto the designated pads on the USB Hub Zero PCB.

Please note that the internal micro USB port on the Pi Zero cannot be used while the Pi Zero is connected to the USB Hub Zero, because it is needed for the uplink USB connection to the USB hub.

Powering the hub externally

External power can be supplied to the USB Hub Zero by soldering +5V and GND cables onto the provided pads on the USB Hub Zero PCB. This is recommended, if the USB devices connected to the USB Hub Zero draw more than about 1A current combined (for example for an external harddisk). In case the USB Hub Zero is powered externally, and the Pi Zero is connected by the red/black cable as described above, then the Raspberry Pi Zero will be powered by the USB Hub Zero. Please note that in this case the resettable fuse protecting the USB Hub Zero against overcurrent from USB devices is not protecting the Pi Zero. The external 5V will be directly connected to the Raspberry Pi Zero, i.e. this is the same as connecting power to the Pi Zero through its micro USB connector.

 

Back to the product page of USB Hub Zero

 

This page was last updated 06-Mar-2016