OK,

So there is a small port on the left side of the computer next to the USB, and I-link firewire port.  It says something to the effect of DC power out.

My question is how can it be utilized.  Specifically, I know that the 4 pin I-link firewire is not powered so that you can not use the firewire port to power a portable firewire hard drive.  Can you use the DC out to power an external firewire drive.

Generally speaking I want to know how to utilize this power out port and all of the different devices that it would work for.  Where do I get the cables?  How much?

Specifically, I want to get a high capacity portable hard drive but I dont want to have to plug the hard drive into its own power supply and thereby be required to be near an electric outlet.  I know that there are USB drives that do not need external power, but I have heard that firewire is less demanding on the system resources.  What hard drives do you all suggest, either firewire if I can use the dc out on the TR for power, as well as USB for convenience sake.  Further, where should I buy from.

I was pretty shocked not to find much about the DC out on this forum already.

Thanks

Search the archives for the DC port - ‘tis what they are there for…

LaClie do a 40 Gb firewire that ships with a USB to power adapter which works fine as USB and FireWire are both present on that side.

you’ll find out about the DC out. Mostly used to power drives like the CD burner and DVD burner (sony vaio ones);
most subnotebooks come without drives and also on most you need to plug in the burners (pcmcia or firewire/usb) to the mains power to use which defeats the purpose of an ultra-portable. Sony solved this by getting the drive to use the computers power. The most interesting use of it though is a guy who uses an incredibly high resolution scientific camera and attaches it to a PCG-U3, which can run with the screen closed,  in a pouch on his belt. He can capture in eccess of 20 megapixel images and also power the camera from the DC out.
I think sony also call it the bio-technical DC power out of something.

The VAIO DVD-RW drives that you can use with your DC-out are:
PCGA-DVRW1
PCGA-DDRW1 (2x -+RW)
PCGA-DDRW2 (4x -+RW)

And Sony VAIO 60 Gig Hard drive PCGA-HDM06 also utilizes the DC out port.

Those special iLink cables are supplied with the drives.
Stan

yup..you can’t purchase the cables seperately.. plus they are designed for use with sony products. you are better off with usb2

Except that USB is 5 volts at 0.5 amp.  That miserable little jack is capable of delivering 10-11 volts and likely up to 1 amp.

Hey, I am trying to find a way to use my DC OUT to power my handycam station.  The AC converter for the handcam station says the out is .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).

Does anyone know the specs on the DC Out of the TR?  Or a part number to connect the two devices…?

There must be a way because it is right next to the i.Link port.  Any help would be much appreciated…

thanks,
dz

Except that USB is 5 volts at 0.5 amp.  That miserable little jack is capable of delivering 10-11 volts and likely up to 1 amp.

this will bump up the voltage from 5vdc to 9vdc.

[quote author=“dbs”]That miserable little jack is capable of delivering 10-11 volts and likely up to 1 amp.

that step up is for usb… not for the dc out ...

that comment was directed toward dbs.

Except that USB is 5 volts at 0.5 amp.  That miserable little jack is capable of delivering 10-11 volts and likely up to 1 amp.

this will bump up the voltage from 5vdc to 9vdc.

Not enough current to run the drive.  0.5A x 5V = 2.5 watts
Thats the max power you can get out of it. If you use a volatage doubler the maximum output is still 2.5 watts less the loss in the doubler.

He needs 8.4V at something under 1.5A   At one amp he burns 8.4 watts.

Here’s a pic of that gawdawful connector:

[quote author=“dbs”]Here’s a pic of that gawdawful connector:

Looks ‘shocking’ in a small way…  :shock: