Question on wiring fire wire to usb wire?

In summary, you are unable to connect a USB device to a Firewire port due to differences in physical layer and protocol. While adaptors are available, they only switch connectors and still require a microcontroller to interface the two. Firewire has a higher loss and requires careful layout due to its 110Ω differential pair. However, its peer-to-peer capability allows for unique communication between devices on the bus.
  • #1
slee95
132
0
Can i wire fire wire to usb wire? What i mean is cut one end off on a fire wire and one end off a usb wire and wire the two together would that work?
 
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  • #2
You mean using a Firewire cable for USB? Firewire is 110Ω differential impedance, USB is 90Ω. I would be careful if you run USB2. For USB 1, I don't think you'll have a problem. Secondly, you are going to have to change the two end connectors to fit for USB, that will cause reflection.

Go buy a cable, why do you want to monkey with RF stuff?

If you try to connect a USB port to Firewire port.....You're funny!
 
  • #4
Why do people want to use adapter? Get a real USB or Firewire cable!
 
  • #5
I imagine he wants to use a firewire device and only has USB on a computer.

Haven't heard of firewire for years, though. Some video cameras used to use the Firewire system for outputting video.
 
  • #6
vk6kro said:
I imagine he wants to use a firewire device and only has USB on a computer.

Haven't heard of firewire for years, though. Some video cameras used to use the Firewire system for outputting video.

To the best of my knowledge, you cannot interface USB to Firewire. Firewire has two pairs of signals and USB has one pair. Firewire is peer to peer where USB is master and slave. The physical layer, protocode are totally different. There is no way you can hook up a USB device onto Firewire or the other way around.

Those adaptor are just switching connectors only. It takes a micro controller the interface FW to USB.
 
  • #7
I have had to install a firewire card in my desktop to support my old video camera.
 
  • #8
I designed both, I don't like FW at all. The 110Ω differential pair make it harder on layout. Even though the two are only 20Ω difference, but the FW traces are much thinner and loss is much higher. Also you have to match the length of the two pairs on the FW. That's why you often see one pair of traces zip zagging to increase the length to match the other pair. TI was the main chip set maker, they never have embedded controller with FW interface. At the time Cypress dominated USB, they used 8051 core with USB interface. This make it a lot easy and simpler to implement a controller. The only one good thing I saw was the peer to peer of FW. You can do things with FW that you cannot do with USB because any FW module can talk to any other FW module on the bus. It is really like a true bus rather than like USB where everyone talk only to the master.
 
Last edited:

1. What is the difference between firewire and USB?

Firewire and USB are both types of data transfer protocols. Firewire was developed by Apple and is mainly used for high-speed data transfer between devices, while USB is a more universal standard for connecting peripherals such as keyboards, mice, and external hard drives to a computer.

2. Can I convert a firewire cable into a USB cable?

No, you cannot convert a firewire cable into a USB cable. They use different connectors and have different transfer protocols, so they are not interchangeable.

3. How do I wire firewire to USB?

You cannot directly wire a firewire cable to a USB cable, as they are not compatible. However, you can use an adapter or converter to connect a firewire device to a USB port on your computer.

4. Is firewire faster than USB?

Yes, firewire is generally faster than USB in terms of data transfer speed. Firewire can transfer data at up to 800 Mbps, while USB 2.0 has a maximum transfer speed of 480 Mbps. However, USB 3.0 and 3.1 have higher transfer speeds of 5 Gbps and 10 Gbps, respectively.

5. Can I use a firewire device with a computer that only has USB ports?

Yes, you can use a firewire device with a computer that only has USB ports by using an adapter or converter. However, the transfer speed may be limited to the maximum speed of the USB port, which is typically slower than firewire.

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