Canon s410 and standard (powered) USB mini-B cable

(John Faughnan) writes:

Except that there's a "lump" in their cable; I presume it's there to
eliminate the 5V USB output. I found the same thing on my old CLIE
cables.

It's more likely just a ferrite choke around the cable to reduce radio
interference effects. If Canon wanted to produce a special cable that
doesn't have 5 V on the camera end, all they need to do is not connect
one pin of the connector at one end of the cable. But there's no need
to make the cable non-standard; they could just fail to connect the
power pin inside the camera.

So, what would happen if one used a standard mini-B USB cable with
this camera? It would deliver 5 unwanted volts. Anyone try this?

What makes you think that the cable is non-standard? Have you checked
for the presence of 5 V on the camera end of the cable?

As for "what would happen", probably nothing. It *would* be nice if the
camera would operate in its data transfer mode using only USB power,
without a battery installed, but this isn't likely because the camera
isn't designed for 5 V operation. And there's not much point in doing
so, since USB doesn't provide enough current to actually operate the
camera or recharge the battery.

Not that I'm keen to try, but it would be handy to carry one less
cable (ex:the Tungsten T syncs and charges with a mini-B).

If I remember correctly, the Palms with a mini-B connector also have a
3.5 mm power jack for normal charging via their wall wart power supply.
They may also charge through their USB connector, but charging takes
longer because USB doesn't provide enough current.

Dave

(Dave Martindale) wrote in message ...

It's more likely just a ferrite choke around the cable to reduce radio
interference effects. If Canon wanted to produce a special cable that
doesn't have 5 V on the camera end, all they need to do is not connect
one pin of the connector at one end of the cable. But there's no need
to make the cable non-standard; they could just fail to connect the
power pin inside the camera.

Thanks Dave, this makes lots of sense. I'll check the pin counts. I'll
also try using the Canon USB mini-B cable to charge a USB device.
Assuming it's a standard cable I'll stop carrying it and use my
Zip-Linq retractable instead.

If I remember correctly, the Palms with a mini-B connector also have a
3.5 mm power jack for normal charging via their wall wart power supply.
They may also charge through their USB connector, but charging takes
longer because USB doesn't provide enough current.

I used to charge my Tungsten T via USB (used standard mini-B, and I
charge my CLIE TJ-27 via USB (requires special cable - yech). Both
charged very well. It took longer, but I just left them charging
overnight.

john

meta: jfaughnan, jgfaughnan, camera, s410, USB cable



Dave

(Dave Martindale) wrote in news:celura$207$2
@nntp.itservices.ubc.ca:

(John Faughnan) writes:

Except that there's a "lump" in their cable; I presume it's there to
eliminate the 5V USB output. I found the same thing on my old CLIE
cables.

It's more likely just a ferrite choke around the cable to reduce radio
interference effects. If Canon wanted to produce a special cable that
doesn't have 5 V on the camera end, all they need to do is not connect
one pin of the connector at one end of the cable. But there's no need
to make the cable non-standard; they could just fail to connect the
power pin inside the camera.

So, what would happen if one used a standard mini-B USB cable with
this camera? It would deliver 5 unwanted volts. Anyone try this?

What makes you think that the cable is non-standard? Have you checked
for the presence of 5 V on the camera end of the cable?

As for "what would happen", probably nothing. It *would* be nice if the
camera would operate in its data transfer mode using only USB power,
without a battery installed, but this isn't likely because the camera
isn't designed for 5 V operation. And there's not much point in doing
so, since USB doesn't provide enough current to actually operate the
camera or recharge the battery.

Not that I'm keen to try, but it would be handy to carry one less
cable (ex:the Tungsten T syncs and charges with a mini-B).

If I remember correctly, the Palms with a mini-B connector also have a
3.5 mm power jack for normal charging via their wall wart power supply.
They may also charge through their USB connector, but charging takes
longer because USB doesn't provide enough current.

I use the same cable for my Palm Tunsten E and my Canon S400. I don't think
there is anything special about this cable.