CAMBRIONIX PDS-C4 User manual

User Manual
PDS-C4
2022/03
© 2021 Cambrionix Ltd. All rights reserved.
EN

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1. Table of Contents
1. Table of Contents 1
2. Your PDS-C4 at a glance 3
2.1. Key Features 3
3. Safety 4
3.1. Signal word panel 4
3.2. Safety alert symbol 5
3.3. Pictograms 5
3.4. Product modification 5
3.5. Power supply 6
3.6. Storage and Installation 7
4. Getting Started 8
4.1. Opening your product 8
4.2. What's Included 8
4.3. Connecting to the mains 9
4.4. Connecting to Host 9
4.5. Registration 9
4.6. Help and Support 9
5. Using your PDS-C4 11
5.0.1 LED Configuration 11
5.1. Using without connecting to host 11
5.2. Using when connected to host 12
5.2.1 Connecting the Hub to a host computer 12
5.2.2 Charging 12
5.2.3 Data Transfer 13
5.2.4 Communication Interface and Protocol 13
5.3. Data Transfer 13
5.4. Scalability 14
5.5. Manage Ports & Your PDS-C4 15
5.5.1 Port Modes 15
5.5.2 Charging Profiles 15
5.5.3 Firmware 15
5.6. Software 17
5.6.1 Installing-Software 17
5.6.2 LiveViewer 18
5.6.3 Cambrionix API 19

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5.6.4 Updating Software 19
5.6.5 Removing Software 20
5.6.6 Command Line Instructions (CLI) 21
5.7. Cleaning your PDS-C4 24
6. Product Specifications 25
6.1. Input Power Requirements 25
6.2. Output Power 25
6.3. Physical specifications 25
6.4. Consumables and Placing Orders 25
6.5. Power Supply 27
7. Troubleshooting 28
7.1. Initial troubleshooting tips 28
7.2. Device connection. 28
7.3. Hub connection issues 29
7.4. No GUI 30
8. Disposal 31
9. Returns and Damaged Products 32
9.1. What do I do if my order arrives and something the product is faulty
or is physically damaged? 32
9.2. What happens after I have requested a Return? 32
10. Compliance and Standards 34

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2. Your PDS-C4 at a glance
The PDS-C4 has been designed primarily for desktop use, being highly compact and quiet. It
provides 60W of charging power to each of its 4 x USB 2.0 Type-C ports, allowing mobile
devices to be charged quickly, safely and reliably. All ports can be controlled using Cambrionix
software to allow charging and/or data transfer while monitoring important port and device
information.
The PDS-C4 can charge attached USB devices without using a local computer and our intelligent
charging algorithm allows almost any device to be charged at its optimum rate (up to 3A). The
firmware can be up-dated to allow new charging profiles to be added, ensuring the PDS-C4 can
charge the latest devices. It is ready to charge out-of-the-box and to sync devices when
attached to a host computer.
When a local (host) computer is attached, the host can control operation of the ports using
freely available software. Device charging and synchronisation can be monitored through
Cambrionix’s LiveViewer App, the Application Programming Interface (API) or Command Line
Interface (CLI). Cambrionix’s free monitoring and control software can be downloaded from
www.cambrionix.com/software
2.1. Key Features
Up To
480 Mbps
per Port
Up To
3A
per Port
Up To
16
Devices
Transfer Data Seamlessly Power Scalability
Each high speed port can
transfer data up to 480 Mbps
Each port can charge devices up
to 3A (60W)
Up to 16 devices can be con-
nected at once using multiple
hubs

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3. Safety
This user manual is for informational purposes only, it contains information for start-up and
operation of this product. Note: the contents and the product described are subject to change
without notice. To avoid injuries and damage observe the safety instructions of the user
manual.
This manual has been arranged to follow IEC/ICEE 82079-1 standards. This is to facilitate the
easier understanding and location of information relating to the PDS-C4. Any errors or
omissions can be reported back using our support ticket system (see"Help and Support") this
way any issues can be collected and fixed.
Understanding and observing the instructions in this user manual are prerequisites for
hazard-free use and safety during operation. This user manual cannot cover all conceivable
applications. If you would like additional information or if problems arise that are not
sufficiently addressed in this manual please ask your distributor or contact us directly using the
means preferred which are located on the back cover of this manual.
CAUTION
Personal Injury and Damage to the product
lObserve the safety instructions in this user manual
3.1. Signal word panel
Depending on the probability of serious consequences, potential dangers are identified with a
signal word, the corresponding safety colour, and if appropriate, the safety alert symbol.
CAUTION
Indicates a potentially hazardous situation which, if not avoided, may result in moderate or
minor (reversible) injury.
CAUTION
Indicates a potentially hazardous situation which, if not avoided, may result in damage to the
product and/ or its functions or of a property in its proximity.

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3.2. Safety alert symbol
Use of the safety alert symbol indicates a risk of injury.
Observe all measures that are marked with the safety alert symbol in order to
avoid injury
3.3. Pictograms
Warning Signs
Electrical hazard Fire Hazard
Mandatory action signs
Read operating instructions Mandatory regulation
3.4. Product modification
Cambrionix products are designed and manufactured to meet the requirements of UK and
International safety regulations. Modifications to the product could affect safety and render the
product non-compliant to relevant safety standards, which could result in injury or damage to
the product.
CAUTION
Electric shock or personal injury may occur

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CAUTION
lDo not modify the product in any way
lDo not dismantle the product
CAUTION
Fire or personal injury may occur
lDo not obstruct air vents on the product
lDo not cover the product in combustible material
CAUTION
Damage to your product may occur
lDo not bend or compress any part of the product
3.5. Power supply
This section describes safety precautions you must follow when using the power supply.
CAUTION
Electric shock or personal injury may occur
lDo not use a damaged power cord or plug, or a loose power socket
lDo not touch the power plug with wet hands
lDo not allow liquids to come into contact with the unit or power supply
CAUTION
Damage to your product may occur
lDo not short circuit the Power Supply Unit (PSU) supplied with your
product

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CAUTION
lDo not disconnect the power cord while the product is being used
lDo not bend or pull the power cord with excessive force
3.6. Storage and Installation
This section describes safety precautions you must follow when installing and storing your PDS-
C4.
CAUTION
Electric shock or personal injury may occur
lDo not place the power cord near heat sources
lConnect the plug to an earthed socket
CAUTION
Damage to your Cambrionix product may occur
lOperate the product only in an environment where the ambient
temperature is inside the operating temperature range
lOperate the product only in an environment where the relative humidity is
inside the operating range
lBe careful not to leave the power cord underneath a heavy object
CAUTION
Overheated power sockets may cause a fire
lDo not overload the power socket that your hub is connected to
lInsert the power plug all the way into the socket so that it is not loose

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4. Getting Started
This manual provides a reference for end-users who are installing for the first time and using
their hub thereafter. As well as a guide for product safety-related information.
The PDS-C4 is intended to be used in an indoor static environment in which the environment
falls within the tested specifications to provide charge, sync and management functionality. For
information on the environment specifications please see the physical specifications section of
this manual.
4.1. Opening your product
When you have received your product please check the packing slip to ensure all products and
quantities of them are correct before opening. This is to avoid retesting and repackaging any
items which are not required.
When opening the packaging use a suitable method to open the box i.e. do not use a knife. This
is to ensure the product is not damaged.
4.2. What's Included
lPDS-C4 Hub
l2m Mains power cable (Country specified on order including fuse for UKplugs)
lPower Supply Unit
Part description Part number
Power Supply Unit 200402
UK Power cable 200144
US Power cable 200327
EU Power cable 200329
AUSPower cable 200337
IND Power cable 200341

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4.3. Connecting to the mains
Connect the Power Supply Unit (PSU) to the hub using the 4-pin DIN plug. Connect the power
cable to the PSU. Making sure you adhere to local safety regulations, connect the power cable
to the 100 – 250 VAC mains power outlet and switch the hub on using the small power switch
located adjacent to the power input connector on the hub. When the device is switched on, a
red LED will be illuminated. The hub is now ready to charge attached devices.
Periodic inspection should be made to power supply cables and any USB cables for any signs of
damage. If any damage is found then replace damaged cord before further use.
4.4. Connecting to Host
Once the power is connected connect the PDS-C4 to your host system using a USB 2.0 Type-C
cable, this is provided with your hub. Using an incorrect host cable may result in the hub and all
subsequent ports not being recognised by your host.
Please note that USB specifications require a minimum 100 mA charge current to be delivered
during data transfer. As indicated in above, if the attached device has a BC1.2 compliant CDP
port, the device can draw up to 3A while transferring data.
4.5. Registration
You may register your product at www.cambrionix.com/product-registration
4.6. Help and Support
FAQs and help can be found on the Help page here
lwww.cambrionix.com/help_pages/help.
You can raise a support ticket for more in depth support here
lhttps://cambrionix.atlassian.net/servicedesk/customer/portals
You can also download any of our manuals and keep up to date at the link here
lwww.cambrionix.com/product-user-manuals
When contacting support it will be helpful to supply us with the product information for the
hub in question. This can be found on the Device Information Plate which is either on the

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underside or back of the unit. Including serial and POnumbers can help identify the product in
question faster and speed up the process.

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5. Using your PDS-C4
In this section you can find information information on how to use your hub in a charge only or
a charge and sync application. You can also find information on managing your hub and
changing port modes, connecting multiple hubs to one host and using Cambrionix Software.
5.0.1 LED Configuration
Your PDS-C4 has inbuilt LEDs used to show the state of the ports or devices. These LEDs can be
configured to support your own use case, this can be controlled either by using the APIto send
commands directly or through separate software.
The default LED behaviour of the hub is below.
Colour Behaviour
Flashing Red Port is in charge mode and is profiling the device
Red Port is in charge mode and is charging
Yellow Port is in sync mode and has a host connection
Green Port is in charge mode and the device has reached the
charged threshold
5.1. Using without connecting to host
When the Hub is switched on and is not connected to a local host computer it is
automatically configured to charge devices using its intelligent charging algorithm. Simply
connect the devices to be charged to any of the available ports (not the Host Port) using
USB - compliant cables.
Once the devices are connected, the algorithm will detect the highest charge rate allowable for
each attached device. Charging at the optimum rate (up to 3A) specified by the manufacturer
will commence once profiling is complete. Depending on the state of charge of the device
attached, this may take tens of seconds.

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5.2. Using when connected to host
5.2.1 Connecting the Hub to a host computer
You can use either Thunderbolt™™ host port on the rear of the hub to connect to your host
system, there are two ports on the rear so you can use one port to connect the host and the
other port to daisy chain multiple hubs together.
5.2.2 Charging
When the Host Port is connected to a local computer, the hub defaults to Sync mode and
charge currents are determined according to USB Implementers Forum (USBIF) Super-Speed
USB3 specifications. If the attached device complies with USB-IF Battery Charging
specification BC1.2 and supports Charging Downstream Port (CDP), the hub can provide
high-speed charging at up to 3A. If the connected device does not comply with BC1.2, the
charge current will be limited to 500 mA in compliance with USB specifications.
If you wish to limit the charging to your devices whilst connected to your host system then you
can disable CDPon all ports by inputting the following commands.
The CLI commands for turning off the sync charg options, with a 1 or 0 per port.
settings_unlock
settings_reset
settings_set sync_chrg 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
settings_set alt_sync_chrg 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
reboot
This can also be done via the API if this is easier. Just supply that string (joined with \n) like:
cbrxapi.cbrx_connection_set(handle, "Settings", "settings_unlock-
\nsettings_reset\nsettings_set sync_chrg 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
0 0 0 0\nsettings_set alt_sync_chrg 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
0 0\nreboot")
Note that settings_reset clears any previous settings, so if you need to retain something else, it
would be better to issue settings_display first, which gives you the entire settings which you
can then modify and re-issue in entirity.

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5.2.3 Data Transfer
If you wish to transfer data, install applications, restore or update attached mobile devices, a
data connection to a local host computer is required. The hub works independently to the
Operating System (OS) and data transfer can be performed on all common operating systems,
such as iOS™, Android™, Chromebook™ and Microsoft Windows™. Many versions of Linux® are
also supported.
5.2.4 Communication Interface and Protocol
ThePDS-C4 appears as a virtual serial port (also called a UART or VCP). On Microsoft™ Windows,
the system will appear as a COM port. On macOS®, a device file is created in the / directory.
This is of the form /dev/tty.usbserial S where S is an alpha-numeric serial string unique to each
device.
Devices incorporate a FT230X USB to UART converter IC from FTDI International. On Windows 7
or later, a driver may automatically be installed (if Windows is configured to download drivers
from the internet automatically). If this is not the case, or if a Mac® or Linux® platform is used,
the driver may be downloaded from www.ftdichip.com. The VCP drivers are required. For
Linux® or Mac computers the default OS drivers should be used.
The default communications settings should be set to 115200 baud, 8 data bits, no parity, and 1
stop bit. This is sometimes referred to as 115200,8,N,1. No flow control is used. ANSI terminal
emulation should be selected
5.3. Data Transfer
If you wish to transfer data, change applications, restore or update your mobile device, a data
connection to a local host computer is required. The hub is compatible with macOS®,
Windows™ and Linux® operating systems and can transfer data between these operating
systems and many mobile operating systems such as iOS™ and Android™. In order to transfer
data, connect the host port to your local (host) computer using a Type-A to Type-A USB2.0 (or
higher) compliant cable. Any devices connected to the hub will now appear as if they were
connected to the host computer’s USB port. The hub is fully compliant with High Speed USB2.0
and supports data transfer at speeds up to 480Mbps. The red power LED may flicker when the
hub is syncing.

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5.4. Scalability
If you wish to synchronise more devices, multiple hubs can be connected together to allow
more devices to be managed from a single host computer simultaneously.
In order to daisy-chain multiple hubs, each hub needs to be connected to mains power
individually and the first hub in the chain should be connected to the local computer through
the hubs’ “host port”. The Host port of the next hub in the daisychain is then connected to any
of the first hubs downstream USB ports. More hubs are added in the same way.

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5.5. Manage Ports & Your PDS-C4
Each port on your PDS-C4 can be managed either individually or all together. You can turn the
ports off and on, change the port mode or change the charging profiles. This can be done either
through LiveViewer or by connecting to the hub via the API.
5.5.1 Port Modes
Sync Turn specific ports or the whole hub to sync mode (data and power
channels open)
Off Turn specific ports on or off or switch the whole hub on or off. (no
power and no data channels open)
5.5.2 Charging Profiles
To ensure attached devices charge at their optimum rate, our smart USB hubs come with the
below intelligent charging profiles built in:
1 15W
2 27W
3 45W
4 60W
5.5.3 Firmware
The firmware can be kept up to date using our LiveViewer software. As part of delivering an
easy user experience our LiveViewer application is now a set-and-forget solution. The
LiveViewer application will find out what firmware your USB hub has and present an update for
you, ready to just hit install.
To update the firmware first go to the firmware updater section of LiveViewer. Here you can
see the available Firmware versions available to download and install to the hub. To download
a firmware file click on the version under the "downloadable firmware updates" section. once
downloaded it will appear in the "Available firmware files" section.
The current firmware version on the hub is displayed in the firmware updater section alongside
the hubs name. This will appear red if a newer version is available or green if it is the most up to
date.

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To install the firmware onto the hub simply click the hub/ hubs connected that you want to
update and then select the firmware version you want to upgrade to. Once selected press the
update button at the top and the update will commence.
CAUTION
Your Cambrionix Firmware may get corrupted
lDo not interrupt the Firmware update process
lDo not disconnect the power during the update process

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5.6. Software
More productivity, saving you time. Cambrionix provides three interfaces by which the Hub can
be monitored and managed:
• LiveViewer
• Cambrionix API
• Command Line Instructions
The PDS-C4 uses string commands to communicate with the host system. These can be sent via
the virtual serial port of the PDS-C4 directly, or the API can be used to provide other protocols
that sends translated string commands. LiveViewer can use the API to interact with the devices
through a user friendly application.
There are three different channels for both our LiveViewer application and the API. The three
channels are Alpha/ Beta and Release. We would recommend using the release version of both
the APIand LiveViewer.
We will push bug fixes and any updates through Alpha and then onto Beta before it is merged
into the Release version. If you have found a bug that we have a fix for, the Alpha and Beta
releases may already have addressed these and implemented fixes.
5.6.1 Installing-Software
Cambrionix has 2 pieces of software which can be used to manage the devices and your hub
using different host systems. In this section we have instructions and information on using our
software on 3 of the most popular host systems.
Our software is available to download from www.cambrionix.com/software, you will find
software available for Windows™, Mac® and Linux® Systems.
To install on Mac® and Windows™ systems download the install files from the above link, once
downloaded run the install process and dialogue boxes will appear to help you through
installation and initial set up.
For Linux® systems download the install files from the website at the above link. Once
downloaded, you can either install it from the desktop GUI, or from the command line via:
sudo apt install ./

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after this command you will need to enter the file name that has just been downloaded from
our website.
5.6.2 LiveViewer
LiveViewer is an Application that can be downloaded from
www.cambrionix.com/products/liveviewer . Once downloaded and installed on the host
computer, LiveViewer allows you to switch the ports on and off, set the port to charge only, or
to sync mode. LiveViewer’s home page shows the following information about all the ports:
• Status (attached/disconnected)
• Mode (Charge/Sync/Off)
• Profile (Charging profile)
• Duration (how long the device has been attached)
• End time (time the battery reaches a threshold (full) level)
• Current (instantaneous charge current in mA)
• Energy (present energy rate)
Tick boxes adjacent to each port symbol allow that port mode to be changed. When the port is
in Sync mode, only instantaneous current can be monitored through LiveViewer. When the port
is in Charge mode, the charge profile, instantaneous current, energy rate, duration of charge
and end time are displayed. In addition to individual port information and control, LiveViewer
displays the hub rail voltages, time since switched on, total instantaneous current and power,
and temperature. Further information on LiveViewer is available on our website.
NVRAMsettings
Within your hub there are some specific controllable settings called "none volatile
RAMsettings" which are referred to as NVRAM settings. These control a variety of different
settings on your PDS-C4.
You can navigate to the NVRAMsettings by opening LiveViewer, and selecting the Hub you
want to connect to. Once you have chosen the connected hub navigate to the below icon on
the top right of the screen from LiveViewer and click on Advanced.

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Once you have pressed Advanced this will take you to the advanced settings page where you
can view and change the NVRAMsettings, including reverting back to default factory settings.
5.6.3 Cambrionix API
Cambrionix API allows you to monitor and control each port in more detail and to integrate
these functions into your own workflow processes. The API comprises a daemon that can be
downloaded from www.cambrionix.com/products/api and installed on the host machine. Port
information and control can be provided through the API using JavaScript Object Notation
(JSON) Remote Procedure Calls (RPC) over TCP. JSON-RPC calls send a request to the API to
“Get” port, device or Hub information, or “Set” port functions (such as mode). A library of
sample Python code can be obtained from www.cambrionix.com/products/api to help you
integrate many of these functions into your process workflow alongside the full User Guide.
5.6.4 Updating Software
By using LiveViewer you will be able to automatically download and install the most up to date
software (LiveViewer and the Cambrionix API)
By going into the settings section on the left hand side of LiveViewer you can navigate to the
general tab and under this can see the options for keeping both LiveViewer and the APIup to
date.