Power Connector Polarity

Blogged by Jonathan Maron on September 21, 2007 and tagged with FAQ.

One of the most commonly posed hardware related questions in our support department is:

I need to use the 4 pin to 6 pin Y cable (CA-1394-64/PJ/2) or a USB hub to connect my astronomy camera to my laptop. What is the polarity of the power connector?

First of all, you will need a power supply that outputs between 8 VDC and 30 VDC. This is required to power the cameras. Secondly, the polarity of the power connector depends on a number of factors.

The easiest way to find out which polarity you need is to try it out! The cameras are protected again inverse polarity, hence, you will not damage them by connecting the power supply the wrong way round.

Power up the camera and connect it to your PC. If Windows recognizes the camera, the polarity is correct. If Windows does not recognize the camera, then the polarity is probably incorrect. Simply switch around the polarity and reconnect the camera to you PC. Windows should then recognize the camera.

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