Adafruit USB Host FeatherWing with MAX3421E

SKU: ADA5858 Brand: Adafruit

Lots of microcontrollers these days have USB ports on them, to program or debug, act like a keyboard or disk drive, or simply send data between a computer...

$29.40 AUD, inc GST

$26.73 AUD, exc GST

Available with a lead time
Expect dispatch between Dec 30 and Jan 03

Quantity Discounts:

10-25 $25.65 (exc GST)
25+ $24.85 (exc GST)

Lots of microcontrollers these days have USB ports on them, to program or debug, act like a keyboard or disk drive, or simply send data between a computer and your firmware. But did you know that you can also add a USB Host port? That means that your microcontroller project can have a keyboard or mouse or disk drive plugged into it - which opens up a huge ecosystem of common off-the-shelf devices that you can now integrate. The Adafruit USB Host FeatherWing makes it easy to add USB Host support, especially now that TinyUSB supports it in the Arduino library as a 'native' interface for host support.

This Wing uses the MAX3421E - a tried and true USB Host chip. It uses SPI plus an IRQ pin to send data to just about any USB device. Note that because the chip is older, and you're limited to the SPI port speed, you're not going to get blazing 480Mbps high speed data transfer. But for basic HID interfacing, or even reading/writing to a Mass Storage device, it does work quite well. There's a famous USB Host Library that can be used, and it's specialty is AVR support, but also seems to support nRF52 and ESP32. Adafruit personally recommend using the TinyUSB Arduino library - however the trade-off is that the chip must have TinyUSB support already which means it's great for RP2040, ESP32-S2 or S3, nRF52840, SAMD21/51 chips. Between the two libraries, just make sure your desired Feather mainboard is supported before purchasing!

Next to the MAX3421E Adafruit have a 5V 1A booster with 500mA fuse, which can provide a nice clean 5V from the USB or Battery power supply. An enable pin is available to power cycle when desired.

Comes as an assembled Wing with some header. Solder on the header and plug into a Feather Mainboard to expand it's capabilities! Don't forget, you need driver support for the MAX3421E (see above for chips that are known working) and unless you're using a generic mouse, keyboard, CDC serial or USB mass storage device you will also need a USB driver that knows how to talk to the device - and writing a driver is non-trivial.

Technical Details

Product Dimensions: 52.0mm x 22.8mm x 8.8mm / 2.0" x 0.9" x 0.3"

Product Weight: 6.3g / 0.2oz

This product is listed in:

Breakouts & Modules>Others

Product Comments

Start the conversation

Exact shipping can be calculated on the view cart page (no login required).

Products that weigh more than 0.5 KG may cost more than what's shown (for example, test equipment, machines, >500mL liquids, etc).

We deliver Australia-wide with these options (depends on the final destination - you can get a quote on the view cart page):

$3+ for Stamped Mail (typically 10+ business days, not tracked, only available on selected small items)
$7+ for Standard Post (typically 6+ business days, tracked)
$11+ for Express Post (typically 2+ business days, tracked)
Pickup - Free! Only available to customers who live in the Newcastle region (must order online and only pickup after we email to notify you the order is ready). Orders placed after 2PM may not be ready until the following business day.

Non-metro addresses in WA, NT, SA & TAS can take 2+ days in addition to the above information.

Some batteries (such as LiPo) can't be shipped by Air. During checkout, Express Post and International Methods will not be an option if you have that type of battery in your shopping cart.

International Orders - the following rates are for New Zealand and will vary for other countries:

$12+ for Pack and Track (3+ days, tracked)
$16+ for Express International (2-5 days, tracked)

If you order lots of gear, the postage amount will increase based on the weight of your order.

Our physical address (here's a PDF which includes other key business details):

Unit 18, 132 Garden Grove Parade
Adamstown
NSW, 2289
Australia

Take a look at our customer service page if you have other questions such as "do we do purchase orders" (yes!) or "are prices GST inclusive" (yes they are!). We're here to help - get in touch with us to talk shop.

Have a product question? We're here to help!