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I am making a portable raspberry pi zero, and I need to have a USB sound card, wi-fi dongle/adapter, and one extra usb port (for keyboard, mouse, etc) all connected to the micro USB port on the Raspberry Pi Zero.

I could buy something like this: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Hot-4-in-1-Micro-USB-Hub-OTG-Cable-Extension-Adapter-for-Android-Samsung-Tablet-/231719134796?hash=item35f389664c:g:WaUAAOSwu4BV0o5l But it takes up a lot of space when your trying to jam a mini keyboard+trackpad, d-pad, buttons, battery, Pi, usb sound card, Teensy Board, HDMI cable, voltage step up board, etc all in a case a little bigger than a Nintendo DSi XL.

Would it be possible just to strip a micro USB cable and solder wires with these: http://www.ebay.com/itm/262461043470 connected in parallel and connect all of the USB devices to those? It would function pretty much the same as a regular USB hub, but without any circuitry.

Would this work like a USB hub? Thanks in advance! :)

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    If that would work, someone would have manufactured it like that
    – Thomas Weller
    Aug 31, 2016 at 23:26

2 Answers 2

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Unfortunately not. USB hubs have active circuitry that controls the data flow (and also power requirements) of slave devices.

You could strip the circuitry out of a USB hub, although I'm not sure how much space you would save by doing that.

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  • Oh, so things like this: ebay.com/itm/… are only for power, right?
    – user38859
    Sep 1, 2016 at 17:08
  • @GreenPlasma correct, and they don't comply with USB standards, if you're into that kind of thing.
    – js441
    Sep 1, 2016 at 17:25
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You can get a USB hub that stacks in the same footprint as your Pi and this model even alllows you to maintain access to the GPIO pins. enter image description here

Note these come in two models, one for the original Pi Zero and one for the Pi Zero with camera connector.

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    Alternatively you could use something like that: USB OTG Hub
    – kwasmich
    Sep 1, 2016 at 7:16
  • OK. Thanks for such a fast and detailed answer! I appreciate the help.
    – user38859
    Sep 1, 2016 at 17:03

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