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The next step involves powering the Local Hub. Be careful about how you do this:
• With KVM/Serial/Audio Local Hubs (ACU1006VRA), enough applications
have high power demands that we recommend you use its external power
supply.
• With other Local Hubs, in one-to-one situations where there is a keyboard-port
connection for each video or serial connection, each Local Hub port with a
CPU attached should be able to independently draw all of the power it needs
from that CPUs’ keyboard port,
but—
• If you are using any of the Local Hub’s ports to extend CPU video and/or
serial output, but
not
keyboard or mouse output (that is, there’s no keyboard
or mouse connection), you
must
power the Local Hub’s video circuitry with its
optional external 5-VDC power supply. This would apply to CPUs with multiple
video outputs, for example, as is often the case in financial houses (see
Figure 7-1 in
Section 7.4
), as well as to CPUs that are functioning only as
displays or passive serial receivers.
If you’ll need to power the Local Hub with its external power supply, take step 4A
below. If the Local Hub can be powered by the attached PCs or KVM switches, take
step 4B on the next page.
4A. If you need to power the Local Hub with its external power supply, make sure
you use the
Local Hub’s
power supply and no other (see the Caution notice on
the next page). Attach the power supply’s output cord to the power jack on
the rear of the Local Hub. Plug the IEC 320 end of the power supply’s input
cord into the IEC 320 inlet on the power supply’s transformer. Then plug the
other end of the input cord into a utility (mains) power outlet. The Local
Hub should power up immediately and all of its LEDs should light; like the
Remotes, it has no ON/OFF switch. (If you’re sure that the Local Hub is in
the location you want it to be, you can leave it plugged in and powered up
more or less indefinitely.) Lastly, power ON the PCs or KVM switches
attached to the Local Hub.
Each of the Local Hub’s ports will try to detect both (a) the presence of
the corresponding Remote and (b) initial keyboard commands from the
attached PC or KVM switch. The ports that detect these will start flashing their
LEDs regularly (to show that the link between the port and the Remote is
working); those that don’t will keep their LEDs steadily lit.
If any LEDs remain dark when you plug in the Local Hub, those ports are
probably defective; call Black Box Technical Support. If any LEDs that should
flash remain steadily lit, even after more than a minute (it might take some
older CPUs that long to boot to the point at which they attempt to
communicate with the keyboard), check the CAT5 cable between the Local
Hub and the matching Remote (is it secure at both ends? is it intact, or is it
broken?).
CHAPTER 6: Installation and Adjustment
