USB adapter power usage

I have a Belkin F5D7050 USB adapter fitted to an 11 inch diameter
stainless steel salad bowl reflector - to drag in a weak access point.

This works excellently, but the adapter seems to have a healthy
appetite for power.

The rating is quoted as 500 ma (the usb maximum).

Whereas the inbuilt wireless on the associated Compaq 2200 notebook
uses bugger all power, this USB device really knocks the battery about
very quickly.

Is this common? Are they power hungry?

Do USB adapters ramp up power usage significantly as connection speeds
increase?

Using the dish the connection speed has gone from 2 mbits/sec up to
12-18. Signal quality has also gone up about 50%.

The strange thing is that the battery seems to recharge as fast as it
goes down (very quickly) and I am wondering if the USB device is
putting such a load on the USB port that the battery monitoring circuit
is giving a false reading and shutting off power (into hibernation)
early.

I checked the battery cell leds and they all came on.

Anyone else had this happen?

Cheers

Rob

me here wrote:

>
> I have a Belkin F5D7050 USB adapter fitted to an 11 inch diameter
> stainless steel salad bowl reflector - to drag in a weak access point.
>
> This works excellently, but the adapter seems to have a healthy
> appetite for power.
>
> The rating is quoted as 500 ma (the usb maximum).
>
> Whereas the inbuilt wireless on the associated Compaq 2200 notebook
> uses bugger all power, this USB device really knocks the battery about
> very quickly.
>
> Is this common? Are they power hungry?
>
> Do USB adapters ramp up power usage significantly as connection speeds
> increase?
>
> Using the dish the connection speed has gone from 2 mbits/sec up to
> 12-18. Signal quality has also gone up about 50%.
>
> The strange thing is that the battery seems to recharge as fast as it
> goes down (very quickly) and I am wondering if the USB device is
> putting such a load on the USB port that the battery monitoring
> circuit is giving a false reading and shutting off power (into
> hibernation) early.
>
> I checked the battery cell leds and they all came on.
>
> Anyone else had this happen?
>
> Cheers
>
> Rob

Looks like the monitoring circuit in the battery pack has had it, so
that's solved that.

Amazing how it managed to die just outside the 12 month warranty period.

Then again, it was a Hong Kong elcheapo off Ebay.


Rob