Tech post – 7 Pin DIN to Ethernet adapter for motorised pan and tilt heads

Motorised pan and tilt tripod head kits by Bescor, also sold under the Hague and Maxwell brands, are very useful for remotely controlling cameras from a distance. The manufacturer’s 7 PIN DIN connecting cables come in fixed lengths of 6 meters and 20 meters. If you need more than 20 meters then you need to join a series of extension cables together. The joints part way down a cable are quite lumpy which can make it tricky pulling cables through or taping them down.

We wanted more flexibility in terms of cable length and to convert the connector to a readily available standard type of cable. Our technician built us a prototype adapter kit as shown in the images. They’re made with robust metal parts and should withstand use in the field.

We are delighted with the results and have tested it with heavy duty solid core 50m CAT6 cable and shorter, cheap CAT5 cables. Everything works perfectly and will be more practical because you can get Ethernet cable pretty much anywhere. Our conversion kit doesn’t prevent you from using the original cables and can be used in combination with any that you already have.

You can make these cable adapters with a little soldering knowledge or have a local shop make you a set. All the connections are a straight parallel 1:1 with no crossovers so provided Pin 1 at the control end matches the corresponding Pin 1 at the remote end you’ll be fine. e.g. 1 goes to 1, 2 goes to 2 etc

They are pure point-to-point and don’t carry any data so do not try using any kind of Ethernet switch or router because it will not work. It’s simple using Ethernet because the cables are cheap and readily available.