Power standards

A number of different power supplies are used around the station.

XLR-4 (4-core)

In February 2014, the umbilical power cables were replaced with 4-core cable. This was to allow both 12V and 8.7V on the same cable but different pins, avoiding the possibility of the wrong voltage being connected

Pin-out

• 1 = Ground (yellow/green)
• 2 = Unused (brown)
• 3 = 8.7V (black)
• 4 = 12V (grey)

Standardised devices

• Sony HVR-HD1000E (HD cameras) - 8.7V
• Sony DSR-PD150 (Ex-BBC cameras) - 8.7V
• Skycam - 12V
• Howard - 12V
• Wedge (Comms) - ??

Non-standardised devices

Warning - do not connect the power supplies of these devices to anything other that the device it is intended for.

Previous standards

These standards were once in service, but have since been removed or superseded.

XLR-4 12V

These are 12V supplies of different current ratings, all ended with female 4-pin XLR connectors. This was superseded by the above XLR-4 standard.

Pin-out

• 1 = Ground
• 2 = unconnected
• 3 = unconnected
• 4 = +12V

XLR-4 8.7V

Similar to the 12V XLR-4's, but only 8.7V on pin 4. They are used for powering the Sony HD cameras. This was superseded by the above XLR-4 standard.

Pin-out

• 1 = Ground
• 2 = unconnected
• 3 = unconnected
• 4 = +8.7V