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

The Canon s410 has abandoned Canon's proprietary data/AV cable in
favor of a mini-B USB cable connector and a standard video connector.
Since I've never used the TV/video out on any camera I don't care
about that, but I do like their use of a (cheap) standard cable.

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.

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?

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).

john
jfaughnan@spamcop.net

PS. I have a mini-review running comparing this camera to our prior
mini-digital, the s230.

http://googlefaughnan.blogspot.com/2...12633979502435

I don't think it looks as elegant as the s230 and it's definitely
fatter. 3x zoom and 4 mpx is awfully nice though. I considered the
s500, but it seems like picture quality suffers in that range. I'm
impressed with the problems we're seeing in the 5+ mpixel images with
these thumbnail sized CCDs.

I'll be comparing the s410 as well to my much loved G2.

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

jfaughnan@spamcop.net (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

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

davem@cs.ubc.ca (Dave Martindale) wrote in message news:<celura$207$2@nntp.itservices.ubc.ca>...

> 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

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

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

> jfaughnan@spamcop.net (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.