Tethering a Firewire back

[young'ee]

I have an Aptus II10 back. I dont actually have it in my hands yet but it will soon be inbound to me. So getting ready for it.

I want to understand the tethering operation on this back.

I understand that there are some issues tethering the Aptus II series of backs. Specifically that the battery blocks the firewire port. Because of this if one wants to tether then the back has to be powered via the firewire port.

From what i understand there few laptops and even less tablets that can provide power over firewire. I believe this is because most laptops that even had firewire were 4 pin firewire ports and a 6 pin firewire port is required to provide power to a peripheral device over the firewire bus and that the power is supplied on pins 5/6.

I think i have all that right.

From research i have done it seems firewire voltage over pins 5/6 can be anything between 7 and 40v.

How much voltage is required to drive a back via fw ?

I have found a touchscreen tablet running WIN 7 and that has a core i7, 8GB's RAM and a SATA SSD onboard. It has a 6 pin fw port and tech support tell me it outputs 19v on the firewire port to drive peripherals.

If these specs are actual (having that checked by tech support to be 100% sure but it looks to be the case) will this tablet be able to run the II10 in tether mode?

Which is the best software to run in tether mode on that back? Ver of that software given WIN 7 OS.

Thanks for any info anyone can provide.

 

[steve_cor]

Leaf Aptus II uses 12 volts input. I wouldn't connect 19 volts.

You could test the output from the tablet with a meter to see if it is really 19 volts.




--Steve.

 

[young'ee]

Leaf Aptus II uses 12 volts input. I wouldn't connect 19 volts.

You could test the output from the tablet with a meter to see if it is really 19 volts.




--Steve.

Hi Steve,

I have bought the tablet and its currently on the tech repair bench being checked out (bought it used and having it refurb'd)

I have asked them to do exactly that - test the actual voltage coming out over pins 5/6.

The way i was taking it is that it can output up to 19v - but the device being powered will use whatever it needs from the available 19v. Not sure. My best guess is that the back will take a range of voltage input (say, 10 to 20v or something similar)

Would the specs for the firewire input Voltage be in the documentation that comes with the back?

 

[young'ee]

So the update to this is that power is actually on pins 1/2. + is on pin 1 and ground on pin 2. Data is carried on pins 3/4/5/6

Power is measured as 19V coming out of the port by the tech on his meter. He checked another tablet to make sure mine is OK and putting out a normal voltage for these tablets. The other tablet measured exactly the same voltage out - 19V

Is this OK to connect an Aptus II 10 too or not?

This should be a question to the back maker i guess. There used to be a Yaya guy here - does he still come by? Its been awhile since i was active here (long holiday :-0 )

There was also a Shilomi who seemed to know a lot about Leaf Aptus backs - is he still active here?

Thanks for any input that anyone can provide.

 

[yashima]

Hi Youngee, may you share what tablet it is? Very interested to know as well. Thanks

 

[young'ee]

Hi Yashima,

The tablet is the Sahara i500. Its out of production so you have to look for a used one as i did.

Mine is a core i7 with up to 8GB ram max (2 x ram slots on the MB) - it takes a Sata II HDD/SSD. Its a 2013 vintage setup as far as hardware goes. I have the capacitive touch screen with Win 7 onboard. Firewire port is 6 pin and as stated and tested outputs 19v on the firewire bus.

Mine is being refurbed before it gets sent out to me - having new facia panels fitted, RAM/SSD etc and Win 7 being re- imaged onto the SSD so it's all fresh.

It has 2 batteries onboard and can take a back plate that has an extra large battery so you end up with 3 batteries and with extra ports as well.

All in all quite nice for a windows tablet.

How well it will work with an Aptus II back i have no idea yet but will find out. Hopefully the back will function tethered to this tablet. As you most likely know, to tether an Aptus II you have to remove the battery on the back itself - so power in tether mode has to come via firewire. I am hoping 19V is enough juice to let the back work as well as it does on its own battery.

Nice thing about this tablet is it comes standard with 2 batteries onboard and can be fitted with a third - nice considering the tablet is power itself and the back. Should allow decent run times - **IF** and its a very big IF, the tablet can power the back and the back runs well in that mode.

Well someone had to be the guinea pig - so what i do for you guys ;-)