D4 to BNC cable & Break-out Power Box

[Neurodancer]

Sorry for the dual posting (posted by accident in DVX100 Forum)

I am on a roll, these are the latest 2 homebrew items.

The D4 to BNC cable was purchased for $8.00 at:
https://www.digitalconnection.com/st...MFG=i-o data

I discovered that the signal wire (in middle of cable) is only something like 30 AWG. This is very thin and fragile wire. If you decide to solder your own connectors use the shield wire as a strain relief. The cable is approximately 18" long, it is a pretty good length.

I have found that this cable and the D4 cable supplied with the HVX both have very fragile signal wires. I have developed a work-around for this issue. If anyone wants to see how I did it I will post details. I believe that all these cables will fail sooner than later. Unfortunately modifying your own may be the only solution

Power Break Out Box
Warning: don’t mess with this unless you know what you are doing!

This should stop those breakers from popping. The power box is an old 4 breaker box. I have each receptacle on its own circuit. The cable I had laying around was a 4/10 AWG. This is good for 2- 30 amp circuits. It can be pushed to 40 amps on each leg. You can use a larger panel if you have a lot of lights. I was short one alligator clamp rubber insulator. You do not need any insulation on the neutral and ground. A flat-bar handle was welded on top for easy handling. The outlet boxes were welded on also, but can be screwed on. Just know what you are doing before you open someone's panel and start clamping onto the main bus.

I normally keep a few of the more common dual 40 amp style breaker with me. I add a pigtail onto the breaker then clamp onto that. That way I stay off the main bus and don't have to power down the entire panel and everything connected to it. Staying off the bus bars will keep you out of trouble.

 

[filmstox]

Neuro,

Tie-Ins used to be a common request back in my gaffer days, I hated doing them and often refused jobs that wouldn't hire a generator or licensed electrician to do them. Finally IATSE got involved and has helped to pass legislation in California making them illegal without a permit. If someone on your crew is injured because of an unpermitteded tie in your production's liability insurance will most likely not cover the damages and the person responsible for installing the tie in as well as the producer that required them to do it can be held criminaly liable.

Take a look at

The official safety bulletin that prohibits the use of alligator clips. And that mentions tie-ins should only be installed by personel authorized to do so, think insurance company and OCHA when you read the word "authorized" and

a great discussion why this is a bad idea .

I'm sorry to say it, but as a guy that's been on the wrong end of a lot of juice, your box is one of the scariest things I've seen on the net in a long while. Folks, just don't do tie ins... period.

Love the Monitor cable though...

filmstox

 

[Neurodancer]

Neuro,

Tie-Ins used to be a common request back in my gaffer days, I hated doing them and often refused jobs that wouldn't hire a generator or licensed electrician to do them. Finally IATSE got involved and has helped to pass legislation in California making them illegal without a permit. If someone on your crew is injured because of an unpermitteded tie in your production's liability insurance will most likely not cover the damages and the person responsible for installing the tie in as well as the producer that required them to do it can be held criminaly liable.

Take a look at

The official safety bulletin that prohibits the use of alligator clips. And that mentions tie-ins should only be installed by personel authorized to do so, think insurance company and OCHA when you read the word "authorized" and

a great discussion why this is a bad idea .

I'm sorry to say it, but as a guy that's been on the wrong end of a lot of juice, your box is one of the scariest things I've seen on the net in a long while. Folks, just don't do tie ins... period.

Love the Monitor cable though...

filmstox

We might have the making of a horror movie! Gaffer gets fried, but eyes remain glowing.

The box looks scarier than it is. I threw it together out of stuff I had laying around, so it looks rough. Actually I am a licensed electrical contractor. The box has all the proper breakers; it also has a 20 amp GFIC breaker connected to the brown receptacle. I have no problem connecting a box like this. It has the right grounding and capacities and wire gauges. For me this falls in the category of a temp sub panel.



I warned people as carefully as I could about not messing with this stuff unless you know what you are doing.

 

[Neurodancer]

I checked the article you were referring to. The only item they specifically say is a forbidden is using alligator clips. I can definitely go along with that. The also say to only do a tie-ins under an electricians supervision. I totally agree with that as well. So I guess I am the rare bird who is filmmaker/electrician who is not afraid of working on hot equipment.

I did a lot of work in a hospital where we hardly ever shut down any power. It was common to work on 480 hot, now that is scary!

 

[filmstox]

480 Hot, not for the faint of heart.

I'm glad to hear that you are experienced and know what you are doing, unfortunately, when it comes to this sort of thing, it's easy to think you know what's up until you are proven painfully wrong. Thankfully the worst I've had to endure was a faulty shop flo ballast sending me a few feet and a 4k ballast exploding at my nether regions because the leads from the transformers had grounded themselves to the case. That was on a commercial with a tie-in, I went over the the Best Boy, shook his hand, and thankd him for doing his job so well... had he not taken the time to ensure a proper ground connection, I wouldn't be alive.

I hope my post wasn't too harsh, I just would hate for someone to take a less educated stab at building a box such as yours.

Stay safe and live to shoot another day.

-filmstox

 

[konton]

I wasn't able to find the D4 to BNC. Just the one with RCA inputs on the end. But as it's 18" it was too small for me anyway. So I had to get some cable to extend it by 1 foot anyway. however what did you search on to find the D4 cable with the BNC ends?

 

[Neurodancer]

I wasn't able to find the D4 to BNC. Just the one with RCA inputs on the end. But as it's 18" it was too small for me anyway. So I had to get some cable to extend it by 1 foot anyway. however what did you search on to find the D4 cable with the BNC ends?

I switched the female RCA ends for BNC. I will post method for making a cable that won't break too easy if I get a request.