[New Release] PowerExpand 8-in-1 | Anker's First Hub with Dual HDMI Ports Now Available!

UPDATE

Anker’s PowerExpand 8-in-1 is now available to order from amazon.com for $59.99 and should begin shipping on June 2.

Yeeeeeeees :fire:
Edit: nvm this is the wrong one :man_facepalming: :cry:

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Any updates on the other 8-in-1 Powerexpand

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Probably isn’t far behind! Should be a similar price.

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Hey, I am having an issue with the new Windows Surface Laptop 3. Everytime the laptop gets into sleep mode, when I unlock the laptop the extended screen dont light up. I have to unplug and plug the adapter again to make it work. Anyone facing the same issue? Is there a solution for this?
Cheers!

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Is it possible to use this hub for 2x 1440p displays? And can I use it to extend the displays? So not a duplicate screen, but opening 1 application on the left and another on the right screen?

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Yes, but I believe it would have to be 30Hz.

PC — yes, Mac — no

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Thanks, If this is true, I think this must be the one!!

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FYI, this is currently 30% off on Amazon right now. Dropping the price to $41.99.

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I’m having this same issue and it’s driving me insane. I also was able to get two displays extended for a brief time, then it just stopped working. Only one display works (plugging both in at the same time takes them both out) and I have to plug it in again when it sleeps. Hoping there’s a solve for these issues! BTW, also have a Surface Laptop 3.

Hi,

I have bought one of those and i have issues with USB A ports, whenever i insert an usb stick or ssd it keeps resetting all usb ports i have(including laptop ones )
I have tried to install firmware update tool from anker website and it doesn’t recognize that the device is connected.

Anyone else encountered this?
Please advise,
Regards,
AB

Sounds like the USB-A devices might be requiring more power than is available in the hub, therefor the hub powers off and all devices disconnect temporarily. Do you have the hub connected to a USB-C charger? (If I’m not mistaken, I believe this hub support USB-C pass-through charging.)

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True can be insufficient battery but in this case it’s also impacting the non hub ports so this could be mixing usb2 and usb3 devices causes usb3 connection to downgrade to usb2.

If the latter then change the sequence in which items connected.

This hub has USB 3.0 ports so if the internal ports are say USB 3.1 you’d get a hiccup as it downgraded all ports to USB 3.0 so you’d begin with laptop off, all peripheral connected then power on, it would then select a common USB version.

While USB has backwards compatibility, the chips cannot run all versions of USB concurrently, either in the hub or in this case the laptop can’t.

Also as a general rule I’d always connect the fastest or most power hungry devices in directly and slowest into hub as that is asking the least of both the hub and the OS to resolve devices in the hub.

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Hi,

Thank you for your answer.
I am using as a daily driver a Zephyrus G14 which has 2 usb 3.0 and 2 usb3.1 ports
Before i bought the anker usb 8-in-1 hub, i was using only the monitor hub which also has 3.0 ports.
now i have added this hub but i want to use it without power delivery directly in it, it can take enough power from the usb c connection. mostly i wanted to use it for 1 usb stick and 1 samsung t7 ssd, and sometimes to charge keyboard via usb-a to usb-c, and most important the lan socket. so i don’t think that 1 usb stick drains too much power from my machine that makes it fail like this.
I will also try to connect it when the power is off and see what happens and revert.
Thank you for your info

I would try it with USB-C PD connected to it and see if you have the same issue - that would at least narrow down whether a lack of power is the issue. The USB-C spec allows for plenty of power to a hub peripheral like this, but not all computers support it properly.

My anker 7 in 1 hub is in use right now, and has been stable for months. But I have had issues in the past with overloading and disconnecting when too much power is drawn at once. My solution has been to limit what connects to it - I have an HDMI monitor, LAN cable, keyboard, and an external SSD (Samsung T5) plugged in there, and that doesn’t have issues. The keyboard is a very low power wired peripheral, not charging. The LAN and HDMI should be negligible power. But I have had issues with the T5 and a second USB 3 media device, I have had it disconnect during transfers before as the power demands get too high.

Your 1 USB stick might be bumping it just over the limit with the other things plugged in. Plugging in additional power to the USB-C PD port (even if it is just a basic non PD power supply) should provide enough to cover that and let you know if that is the issue.

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Usb output ports can deliver power or not. If yours aren’t giving power it will be 5W and the hub is likely taking all of that for itself.

You may find one laptop port is powered, it would look different and if so you may get lucky but in general when you attach a hub you must deliver more power to the hub than you’d give directly to laptop to allow the hub to power itself, as well as give the hub the least work to do, so use all of the laptop ports first.

I suspect @technicallywell was correct now I see your reply. The Ethernet is taking all the power and you’re tripping the USB bus to reset by forcing it to give more power.

The SSD is likely the most power hungry. Connect it to the laptop ports not the hub ports, or power the hub.

USB pd either is a sink or source not both. So if you power the hub at a high level like 85W then 60W would pass thru and laptop may then ignore any additional direct power. It’s not additive.

What you may next encounter is if you do power the hub using the charger from the laptop, your laptop will recharge slower or even discharge as the pass-thru is reduced. If that happens and is the only issue then you need to buy a higher Watts charger and check the specs of the hub it can pass-thru enough (most can’t). If that is the remaining problem you’re stuck, your concept of laptop and hub won’t work unless you return this hub for one with higher pass-thru and buy a higher Watts charger and the costs stack up.

Personally I just advise people to buy laptops with all the ports they need as even if a hub does work often software updates break them unless they are the official hub “docking station” the laptop maker ensures is tested in upgrades.

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Wow! thanks everyone for your support and quick replies.
I will take all advices into account!
Thank you again and have a nice day!
BTW: turned off the power, plugged in the hub and stick into it and it didnt ‘hiccup’ anymore, then i plugged it out while power was on and tried a small 100gb ssd and it did it again, so after all it might be a usb backwards compatibility issue. Guess i will use it only for LAN and for charging devices like keyboard/ e-cig etc.

SSD needs more power both Watts and higher USB version so we don’t know which is the fault.

Plug SSD directly into laptop ports if you can and low power like flash stick into hub. SSD usually need 15W while flash drive happy on less than 5W.

Could be power or USB version or both.

The perfect best answer is a hub which supports pass-thru and a high enough Watts input and cable and enough power gets to the laptop to fully recharge it. That is expensive though when you add it all up. Lowest cost is just find a combination which is stable (what you’re doing now).

He specifically mentions the T7 SSD - those are sub 5W peak. My T5 is similar.
https://www.anandtech.com/show/14661/usb32-g2-portable-ssds-roundup/

So I would be surprised if it is that. But combine that with the other stuff, and it could easily be 10-15W total.

I made an error you’re correct.

“While Thunderbolt 3 ports are guaranteed to supply up to 15W for client devices, USB 2.0 ports are guaranteed to deliver only 4.5W (900mA @ 5V)”

I was referring to that 15W and the port may be enabled to 15W forcing a power renegotiation which then trips everything. The hub may think it needs 15W at connection due to the USB version and it’s not there.

But we suspect it’s either power or versions so investigation in those areas, if only to eliminate.