Panasonic AG-170 VHS Reporter Camcorder pinout

Started by BigD145, Feb 05, 2008, 01:27

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BigD145

I picked one of these up in decent condition for next to nothing recently and the cable pinout has been impossible to find. There are several places that have service manuals and user manuals, but they all charge quite high fees. With two dead lead acid batteries and little money to get a new one, I've taken up figuring out how to make this camera easier to use and run off a larger battery and DC power.

Notes so far:
-14 pin adapter on the back of the unit for video/audio in/out and dc power with possible remote control functions like 'pause' in tripod use.
-The pins are numbered on the unit. Pin 13 is 12V and Pin 14 is the power ground. I got this by finagling a 12V 7A battery to the battery contacts and probing those pins.
-I have had ZERO success finding an online pinout on this unit. But, so far it's beginning to look like a Sony K-connector seen on betamax units. The vertical (column) layout is similar: 3 pins then 4 pins then 4 pins then 3 pins. Number wise, the power and ground for both is exactly the same. The number layout on the Sony K goes from left to right and top to bottom. This Panasonic goes from top to bottom and left to right. The shape for cable alignment is very different. Pin 8 on the AG-170 is empty. Pin 8 on a Sony K would correspond to the "record review" function, which I highly doubt would be existent on a VHS camcorder in the first place.

I will further test pins once I find an RCA cable to gut. Supposedly there is a video museum in my city that also has a store attached. I'll be questioning them as well.

There is one question: How should I go about making a pinouts.ru-friendly image? I have a camera to photograph the connector.