Any Electrical Engineers/savvy guys here?

[bmacd]

I was looking at a portable DVD & screen combo unit that uses a proprietary s-video cable for power, video, and sound. Is there any way to find out which pins on the cable go to the corresponding application? I called up the company looking for a circuit diagram, but they said they had no such documentation.

-=bmacd=-

 

[skarydrunkguy]

google it. pinouts are freely available on the 'net... most of them anyway. i'd give you a link, but i'm assuming that you can google just as well as i can.

 

[Demon-Xanth]

Depending on how proprietary, and what equipment you have available, it might be as simple as viewing the signals and seeing what looks good, what has a certain voltage, and what pins are shorted together (like grounds)

 

[NogginBoink]

An oscilloscope should tell you this in no time flat.

The hard part, of course, is getting access to an oscilloscope.

 

[bmacd]

no luck on google

-=bmacd=-

 

[bmacd]

ttt

-=bmacd=-

 

[flot]

You'd probably have a good shot at it just by trial and error. The power would be easy, so once you have those two labeled, you move on. The sound is next, the only catch here is that it could be anywhere from 2 to 4 wires. That leaves you the svideo. It'll be a pain in the neck, but by trying all the combinations of wires, you'll be able to work them out in an hour or so.

(been there, done that)

The only thing you REALLY want to avoid is accidentally sending the power to either your video test receiver or your audio test receiver... but with a little common sense you could work through most of this with pretty good accuracy.

 

[bmacd]

maybe i worded it wrong.

The sound, video and power are all contained WITHIN an S-video cable, so the 9 pins or however many pins in a cable are a mixture of the sound, video and power. How would i test for the video? Cut the end off of an RCA cable and attach 'gator clips to it?

-=bmacd=-

 

[thraxes]

Originally posted by: NogginBoink
An oscilloscope should tell you this in no time flat.

The hard part, of course, is getting access to an oscilloscope.

Hands down best way to do it.