Custom power cables

[Steven Davis]

Does anyone know a shop that can made a male LEMO to male Powertap cable. The Steadicam Scout I'm buying has a female LEMO power plug, and my Frezzi lights have a Powertap female.

[Jim Andrada]

There are a few outfits in China advertising on e-bay - they seem to have just about any cable you can think of and deliver quickly. Aside from that Markertek does custom cables. Not sure about $$$ and haven't used them myself because I could always get what I needed from one of the Ebay guys, but can't hurt to give them a holler.

In-House Custom Manufacturing - Cables, Wall Plates, Metalwork, Production Trailers - Markertek

[Steven Davis]

Originally Posted by Jim Andrada

There are a few outfits in China advertising on e-bay - they seem to have just about any cable you can think of and deliver quickly. Aside from that Markertek does custom cables. Not sure about $$$ and haven't used them myself because I could always get what I needed from one of the Ebay guys, but can't hurt to give them a holler.

In-House Custom Manufacturing - Cables, Wall Plates, Metalwork, Production Trailers - Markertek

Thanks Jim, this male to male doesn't appear to exist. I have a guy at Markertek working on it.

[Don Bloom]

Not sure if this is what you need or want to spend this kind of money but....


lemo to D tap | B&H Photo Video

[Steven Davis]

Originally Posted by Don Bloom

Not sure if this is what you need or want to spend this kind of money but....


lemo to D tap | B&H Photo Video

Thanks Don, I just need the male d-tap on it. That's been the tricky part. As for price, the custom cable is going to cost about 130.00 or more. That's one quote.

[Tom Wills]

Stephen,

A few thoughts. First of all, I'm pretty sure you've got the gender wrong on that. Your Frezzi light should have a Male Power Tap connector on it - it should have two pins, not two sockets. If it has a female power tap connector on it, I can't see how that would work with any standard battery plate.

Second of all, you need to be careful who you get your cables from. The LEMO connector needs to be wired specifically for the purpose of connecting the 12v and ground pins on that connector to the appropriate pins on the female P Tap. Just because a pre-made cable is a 3 pin LEMO to Female P Tap (or any other combination of LEMO to any other end) does not mean it will work. I (and several friends) have blown up very expensive gear this way. A notorious offender of this is that the 2 pin LEMO on many older Steadicam sleds and the 2 pin LEMO on Bartech Focus Device units are wired the same, yet the 2 pin LEMO on ARRI cameras and on the Teradek Bolt are wired the other way. Use the wrong cable in the wrong place, and the whole thing is likely to go up in smoke.

To go from the 3 pin LEMO on your sled to a female P Tap on your sled is going to need to be a custom cable - whether it's from Markertek, Chris Konash, Terry West, or any of the other custom cable makers (which includes me - though I mostly do it as a hobby, not as a real business). It will likely cost in the $130-175 range, which is typical for a custom LEMO cable. LEMO connectors run between $30 and $50 per connector, and then adding on the labor and other connectors, prices add up quickly.

One thing to check would be whether your light could be changed to run off a 4 pin XLR connector. Your new rig should come with a LEMO to 4 pin XLR cable, which you could easily plug your light into. The female P Tap connector may be more versatile in the future, however.

As you asked in your post in the Steadicam section, as to why there aren't common solutions for this, or how other Steadicam people fly onboard lights, the answer is simple - most of us aren't flying onboard lights, and the few who are are usually flying either self-powered ones, powering them off of a battery on the back of the camera, or have custom cables made to power them from the sled. Steadicam is simply too small of an industry for big shops like B&H to keep cables in stock that they might only sell a few of per year, if that.

Hope that helps!

[Steven Davis]

Originally Posted by Tom Wills

Stephen,


As you asked in your post in the Steadicam section, as to why there aren't common solutions for this, or how other Steadicam people fly onboard lights, the answer is simple - most of us aren't flying onboard lights, and the few who are are usually flying either self-powered ones, powering them off of a battery on the back of the camera, or have custom cables made to power them from the sled. Steadicam is simply too small of an industry for big shops like B&H to keep cables in stock that they might only sell a few of per year, if that.

Hope that helps!

Thanks Tom. I have the wiring schematics from Steadicam, I sent that along with all the other information to Markertek and I have a quote. I've done all I can do to ensure I get the correct cable built, which included connecting Steadicam with Frezzi. I run lights on my rig, and when I bought the Pilot, I had Frezzi make an adapter that plugged into the Pilot, which is just a simple power plug.

Enter the LEMO connector for the Scout. It's probably put on there because you can lock the connection. But as for it's flexibility in application, I can't think of a single application for it except a monitor maybe? Not sure. I asked B&H if they knew of any lighting system that runs off the LEMO connector, and they didn't. So in my mind, the philosophy of the Steadicam is movement going to places and angels where 'set' lighting is not going to be available, my Frezzi lights do an amazing job, giving me the lighting as I move. So in theory, why not make a power plug that is more universal?

Thanks again for the advice. I've spent two weeks going back and forth making sure I can have the best cable made. If all goes well, I'll have my scout soon, and a crazy story to boot.