Mini USB activation on camera

[headhunter23]

Ello, I have a couple panasonics striped, I want to get rid of the mini usb cable that u need to active the video out. Have spent some time on the net trying to figure this out, but no luck yet. Bellow is basic mini usb.

http://pinouts.ru/Slots/USB_pinout.shtml

I have soldiered a wire directly to the camera board for the video out, plus one for the ground. Unfortunately the video is only activated if I put a usb cable into the camera.

Solution: figure out what triggers the usb activation.

I had checked with multimeter, pin 4 grounds out when plugging in the mini usb to the camera board. I had soldiered a fine angle hair wire to it and grounded it against the mini usb receiver on the board. Unfortunately this isn't enough for the camera to think that a usb video cable is connected. Any of you guys come across this? Am I also supposed to put some voltage to 1? This stuff is so fine that I'm a little afraid to put multimeter to stuff live, have been checking with battery pulled.

Thanks in advance.

[Kilrah]

Usually the "usb" cable you plus for video out only has video jacks at the end, no actual usb plug, so no, there would be no voltage applied to the camera. But the plug usually used isn't standard mini usb either, it has more pins. So, some more details and pics might help.

But usually detection is only a matter of grounding / shorting one or more pins together indeed, checking continuity on all pins on the cable side should give you the info you need. You probably simply forgot one.

Edited October 25, 2009 by Kilrah

[headhunter23]

Well the one camera is a Ls70, in which the usb is more simple, the fx100 in the photo is pretty much the same except for the retardly small connections and it seems more of them. I swear I'm going to need to pick up a microscope if I keep this stuff up!

Kilrah u ever have to do this?

[headhunter23]

Sorry, need other lens to take better photo, but am at work.

[Kilrah]

Usually what I do with those tiny plugs is cut the supplied video cable and add a standard plug:

Or if I'm in a very good mood that day I'll even remove the plastic shell to access the metal connector itself, and solder directly for a lighter and more compact version:

But fiddling on the PCB side is really a last resort thing, too tiny and fragile.

Edited October 25, 2009 by Kilrah

[headhunter23]

Yea I have a connector cut, but it's pretty much just to activate the usb, everything else is generally on the board, so it's nice n light n compact. Will mess with it a little more tonight. I'm border line on removing the mini usb connector itself, would allow for easier work rather than trying to soldier behind the piece. Thanks for the replys.

Edited October 26, 2009 by headhunter23