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FLEX-5000 Transceivers
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Firewire Interface
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FireWire 400 and 800 Cables and Connectors
FireWire 400 and 800 Cables and Connectors
FireWire 400 and 800 Cables and Connectors
FireWire
400 and 800 Cables and Connectors
System Dependencies
Minimum
PowerSDR
Version:
N/A
Applicable Hardware:
Any
FireWire
enabled device
Content provided by:
FlexRadio Systems Engineering
FireWire
400 (IEEE 1394a)
Cable length is limited to 4.5 meters (14.8 ft), although up to 16 cables can be daisy chained using active repeaters, external hubs, or internal hubs often present in
FireWire
equipment. The S400 standard limits any configuration's maximum cable length to 72 meters. The 6-
pin
connector is commonly found on desktop computers, and can supply the connected device with power. See the pictured below. The picture on the left is the 6-
pin
male plug. The picture on the right is the 6-
pin
female connector.
The 6-
pin
powered connector adds power output to support external devices. Typically a device can pull about 7 to 8 watts from the port; however, the voltage varies significantly from different devices. Voltage is specified as unregulated and should nominally be about 25 volts (range 24 to 30).
1394a also standardized the 4-
pin
connector already widely in use. The 4-
pin
version is used on many consumer devices such as camcorders, laptops, and other small
FireWire
devices. Though fully data compatible with 6-
pin
interfaces, it lacks power connectors. The picture below shows a 6-
pin
and 4
pin
FireWire
connector
The picture below shows a 6 to 4
pin
FireWire
cable with the 4-
pin
connector on the left and the 6-
pin
connector on the right.
This cable is commonly used to connect
FireWire
devices such as the FLEX-5000, FLEX-3000 or a
FireWire
based sound card to a laptop computer.
FireWire
800 (IEEE 1394b)
FireWire
800 (Apple's name for the 9-
pin
"S800 bilingual" version of the IEEE 1394b standard) was introduced commercially by Apple in 2003. This newer 1394 specification (1394b) and corresponding products allow a transfer rate of 786.432 Mbit/s full-duplex via a new encoding scheme termed beta mode. It is backwards compatible to the slower rates and 6-
pin
connectors of
FireWire
400. However, while the IEEE 1394a and IEEE 1394b standards are compatible,
FireWire
800's connector is different from
FireWire
400's connector,
making the legacy cables incompatible
. A bilingual cable allows the connection of older devices to the newer port. The picture below shows a
9-
pin
to 6-
pin
bilingual
FireWire
cable
This KB article may reference additional files that are available on the FlexRadio Systems web site Downloads page. Please use the URL(s) below to download the referenced materials.
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KB Source Document(s):
None Referenced
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Last Modified:
Monday, October 20, 2008
Last Modified By:
Administrator
Type:
INFO
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