ADVC 110 go boom

[rando]

As I meantioned earlier my ADVC-110 blew up I can smell the caps burning. The question I had is the night it blew I lost the 110, a JVC GY-HD100(firewire port) , a DSR-30 (firewire port) and a home camera (firewire port). Now that I have mentally recovered I want to know if it can happen again. I understand that the GY-HD100s could blow because the have 6 pin firewire which carries power the weird one was the DSR-30 which used a 4 pin firewire. I connected it through my ADVC 110 and becasue of conflicts I had to remove the DSR-from the ADVC 110 when I was editing then I would plug it back in when I wanted to capture. I ran the ADVC 110 off the Firewires bus power, is it possible that the ADVC 110 blew the DSR-30 when it blew? Has anyone had any other experiances like this (hopfully not this severe).

[GrassValley_BH]

Sounds like you had a severe power surge (lightning strike nearby?) that was enough to "jump" the power through all the connected chain.

Were all of these devices connected to the same power circuit and/or computer? It's possible that ground (which is common, funny pun) somehow "came loose" somewhere, which could then induce voltage.

How was all your equipment connected signal-wise and power-wise?

[THoff]

A 6-pin to 4-pin Firewire cable that is faulty or poorly made can deliver current on the data pins. The IEEE 1394a spec calls for up to 30V DC and 45W to be available, and that is easily enough to fry non-protected circuits.

[rando]

They didnt all die at once, it was one of those nights where I just went to capture some footage. I tried hooking my DSR-30 to my ADVC-110 and I couldnt get it to work BUT the ADCV-110 would output. I tried turining everything on and off connecting at re-connecting until the red light came on on the 110 abd I smelled caps burning. at that point I could get anything to work. It was all smoked. I since have bought a advc card( I forget the model number) I will eventually get a NX/HDV card. After I get my cameras fixed I want to go tapeless but even if I dont I just cant afford to ever have this happen again.

[rando]

This is why on another place on this forum I asked about the Firewire ports on the NX/HDV card. I would rather they NOT carry power. Since the meltdown ive been doing alot of research and what ive found is you should 1.Turn off your computer and camera before connecting or disconnecting a firewire camera. 2. watch for static 3. use a Firewire port issolator (mainly a 6 pin pigtail that remove power) after e-mailling posting and talking to everyone I could find the main thing I learned is no one really knows why it happens for sure they just know it does. If it is power it shouldnt happen with my DSR-30 but it does. Ive hot swapped cameras since I got my first Firewire camera and have never had this problem before.

[GrassValley_BH]

Even a port isolator won't help you in all cases, but I suppose it doesn't hurt.

[rando]

Doesnt a port isolator remove voltage from the 6 pin FW?

[GrassValley_BH]

Doesnt a port isolator remove voltage from the 6 pin FW?

Yes, but a short or surge can still introduce voltage and the power isolater can fall to the same fate as a 6-to-4-pin Firewire cable.

The best way to make things safe would be to opto-isolate everything, but everything needs power somewhere, so it's still not foolproof.