diamond - Wiring

This topic describes the wiring from the diamond frame(s). 

If the frame includes a VX module, then please also refer to diamond - Configuring the Virtual Extension.

diamond Frame (Connections)

All plug-in connectors are located on the frame's connector board (on the underside of the frame).

The position of the connector board is specified at the time of order (as described earlier). If the frame width is 5ME or above, then there are two connector boards (for slot positions 1 to 4 and 5 to 8).

Power In (Kycon)

The Power In port connects to the external DC power supply (to power the frame).

See diamond - Power Supplies.

CAN A & CAN B (RJ45)

The diamond frame supports two CAN bus speeds: CAN A (high speed) and CAN B (low speed).

• CAN A operates at 1Mb/s. It is used, internally, to daisy-chain the control surface modules and, externally, to connect another diamond frame.
• CAN B operates at 500Kb/s. It is included to support products that cannot operate at a higher speed such as Lawo's KSC and GPIO panels.

All CAN bus connections must be point-to-point; a switch or hub is not allowed.

Use a standard (straight 1:1) network cable: STP-CAT 5e with RJ45 connectors.

Important:

• The CAN A port on the diamond frame must be fitted with the terminator (provided), unless you are linking another frame.
• When linking more than one frame via CAN bus, the CAN A cable length must not exceed 13 meters including the internal wiring. This is explained in more detail later.

The maximum CAN B (low-speed) cable length must not exceed 60 meters.

The CAN bus can be hot-plugged and so the cabling can be performed while the frames are powered.

ETHERNET (RJ45)

The ETHERNET port provides a network connection to the diamond IP module. This is the module that sits above the frame's connector board. It is used for the IP connection to Power Core and for the diamond Web UI administration.

When connecting via a network, then this can be shared with other devices, such as in the regular "house network" of a typical broadcast facility. Routers are permitted as long as the minimum requirements of the network interfaces are met. By using routers, or similar devices, the latency of the communication will increase.

Choose an Ethernet cable that meets the following specification.

• Cable: CAT 5 or CAT 5e; straight (1:1) cable.
• Connector: RJ45.
• Speed: 1000 or 100 Base-TX LAN. 100 Base-TX (Fast Ethernet) is recommended.
• Length: up to 100m (to the network switch).

Functional Earth

The M4x10 grounding screw must be used to ground the frame. If not, then you may see some odd behaviours once the console is operational. 

See diamond - Grounding.

CAN A Bus Cable Length

To ensure the correct operation of the hardware components, the maximum CAN A (high-speed) cable length must not exceed 13 meters including the internal wiring.

This becomes important when daisy-chaining more than one frame, as you must include the length of both the internal and external cables.

The table below provides the internal CAN bus cable lengths for frames from 1 ME to 4 ME. These figures can be summed to calculate the cable lengths for larger frames from 5 ME to 8 ME.

Once you know the internal CAN bus cable length, you can calculate a safe value for the external cabling.

Example 1 - single diamond frame (8ME) with extension modules.

The internal CAN bus cable length equals 4.403m x 2 = 8.806m.

A safe length for the external CAN bus cable <= 4m.

Example 2 - two diamond frames: 1 x 5ME and 1 x 3ME. Both frames are standard depth without extension modules.

The internal CAN bus cable length is calculated as follows:

• Frame 1 (5ME) = 4.403m + 0.903m = 5.306m.
• Frame 2 (3ME) = 2.703.

Thus, the total internal CAN bus cable length equals 5.306m + 2.703m = 8.009m.

A safe combined length for the two external CAN bus cables <= 4.9m.