Hardware 3.1 usb Cable Question

[BPalm]

This is probably odd, I don't know for certain however we have purchased a few cameras and purchased a couple kits with aaeon up boards and everyone knows that the cameras use a type c connector yet the cables being supplied are 3.1 micro b to micro b with a small adapter to standard 3.1. Is this a mistake by Intel packaging or were we always meant to purchase our own hirose 3.1 locking cables? I guess it threw me off since I thought with included board it was a packaged as a plug and play dev kit. Please don't take this as a complaint this is merely curiosity if the given cables were meant for something else and we had to buy another cable it seems to be typical of any dev product these daysnot was this just my luck getting the wrong cables packaged with the product. Thanks and if it's incorrect I hope this question helps solve an issue of one exists.

[MartyG · Accepted solution]

The cables supplied with RealSense cameras are not the screw-locking type. The cable lock holes on the side of the 400 Series cameras are just there in case the user has an application that would benefit from purchasing a locking cable (for example, mounting the camera on a moving robot where there is a risk of the cable being moved and worked out of the USB port).

The 'Robotic Development Kit' in the legacy sale section of the Intel Click store (a bundle deal of the older RealSense R200 camera and an Up Board) requires a bundled adapter dongle (the blue stick in the image below) too so that the USB cable can connect to the Up Board's mini 'USB 3.0 OTG (On The Go)' port. OTG is a USB format that allows full-size USB cables to be connected to a smaller port suited to mobile devices such as tablets. The original Up Board has an USB 3.0 OTG mini port and a USB 2.0 port, so it is necessary to attach a RealSense camera to the mini OTG port via an adapter to get a USB 3.0 connection between camera and board.

In the Robotic Kit bundle, the camera and board were two standalone products with their own packaging that were put in a larger box side by side, like an Amazon order where multiple different items are shipped in the same box.

If the same is true of the 400 Series Up Board bundles in the Click Store, then it's likely that the reason for the supplied cables and the need for an adapter is simply because the camera and board are bundled as two separate products put together in one box, and so the cables in the camera's packaging are the same as the ones obtained when buying the camera on its own. The OTG dongle adapter, outside of the camera's packaging, would avoid having to make a special packaging for the camera.

The discussion linked to below looks at locking cables for the camera.