At the Band Pro Open House this year we were surprised to see how many new products were launching for the first time at the event. The show combines a variety of top professional cinema and broadcast tech companies with drinks, foods, and industry attendees from the community. Besides the lengthy exhibitor list that includes Atomos, Zeiss, Sony, Canon, Leica, Blackmagic Design, RED, Fujinon, Zylight and many more, they honored director Enzo Castellari – known for Keoma and the original Inglorious Bastards.
One of those products that caught our eye was a new take on power taps (D-Tap/P-Tap) by Lentequip. Dubbed SafeTap, it constantly monitors reverse polarity, voltage, and short circuits. If you’ve ever damaged a camera or a device by just plugging in power, you may want to consider SafeTap. It features a computer controlled connection that gives the user feedback from a multicolored LED indicator.
LED Color
Green: All systems are good and the input voltage is between 11-18V.
Fast Flashing Orange: Input voltage is above 18V.
Slow Flashing Orange: Input voltage is at or just below 11V, signaling a low battery.
Blue: Input voltage has fallen to 10V and below and the connector is in sleep mode.
Red: 8 amps of current limit have been exceeded.
Flashing Red: The SafeTap was accidently plugged in backwards.
LED Color Output Indication
Green: Output is enabled.
Fast Flashing Orange: Output is disabled and must be power-cycled to below 18V to enable.
Slow Flashing Orange: Output is enabled, but altering the user there’s low voltage.
Blue: The Blue LED will stay on for five minutes to alert the user that it will disconnect itself from the battery. Output is disabled at this time. After the five minutes, the connector only draws 130 micro amps to prevent deep discharging.
Red: Output is immediately disabled.
Flashing Red: Output is never enabled.
This simple device is one of the little game changers that’s perfect to have in your tool-kit. It’s also great for rental houses and it’s easy to assemble. There are knock-out sections on both the left and right sides for cable exits and to add strain relief on the cable, a tie-wrap is built in for resistance on the housing. The street price is $75, and you can find out more at lentequip.com.
