The Benro Polaris is a fantastically compact motorized 2-axis (or 3-axis with astro mod) electric tripod head with a very active user community.
One of the biggest sources of user confusion is the cables. All of the cables connecting to the Benro Polaris use the USB-C connector, but none of them are actually valid USB-C standards-compliant cables.
IF you follow the Benro Polaris official documentation and use their official cables exactly as they instruct, you'll be fine.
IF you are certain you are following their documentation correctly and things are still not working, get replacement official cables (Benro support is excellent in this regards) and try those instead.
Using the official cables as documented is the path of least resistance - everything else written below is purely technical trivia for the intellectually curious.
A USB-C connector has two sides (A and B) with 12 pins each. The USB-C standards assign each pin a specific function.
| Side A Pin | Side A Function | Side B Pin | Side B Function | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| A1 | GND | B12 | GND | |
| A2 | TX1+ | B11 | RX1+ | |
| A3 | TX1- | B10 | RX1- | |
| A4 | VBUS | B9 | VBUS | |
| A5 | CC1 | B8 | SBU2 | |
| A6 | D+ | B7 | D- | |
| A7 | D- | B6 | D+ | |
| A8 | SBU1 | B5 | CC2 | |
| A9 | VBUS | B4 | VBUS | |
| A10 | RX2- | B3 | TX2- | |
| A11 | RX2+ | B2 | TX2+ | |
| A12 | GND | B1 | GND |
Note that not all pins are used by all cables or devices. To learn more, check out this this article
The Benro Polaris includes a number of "USB-C-to-proprietary-camera-connector" cables - if you're using an older camera, find the cable with the matching camera connector, plug that into your camera, plug the USB-C end into the Camera port, and everything will work.
If you're using a newer camera that comes with a USB-C port built in, the Benro Polaris ALSO comes with an aptly named USB Type-C to USB Type-C Camera Control Cable that looks like this:
Yep, that's right - the vast majority of Benro Polaris kits shipped include a defective version of this cable. Before you bang your head against the wall too hard trying to make it work, drop a note to Benro support, follow their troubleshooting steps, and if it really is the cable they'll send you a replacement pretty quickly.
Alternatively you can buy a replacement - there are virtually no reports of defective replacement cables being sold.
That's right - if you suspect your official Benro USB Type-C to USB Type-C Camera Control Cable is defective and you try to use a spare USB-C-to-C cable you have laying around, it will probably not work.
Why not? Let's play "spot the difference" in the wiring of a regular cable vs. the Benro cable. In both cables only the A-side pins are wired up, but they're wired up slightly differently - specifically for the CC1 pin.
- Working Benro C-to-C camera cable connects the CC1 (A5) pin on each side to VBUS (A4) with a 56KΩ resistor
- Standard C-to-C cable connects CC1 (A5) pin on one side to the CC1 (A5) pin on the other side
- Defective Benro C-to-C camera cable leaves CC1 (A5) pin disconnected on each side
While the Benro C-to-C camera cable might look like a USB-C-to-C cable, the extra 56KΩ pullup resistor on CC1 is used to trick the camera into thinking it's connected to a USB host via a USB-A-to-C cable.
The Benro C-to-C camera cable puts one 56KΩ pullup resistor on each side of the cable - whichever way it's plugged in, the camera will always see the 56KΩ pullup on CC1 and work correctly.
In case you lost or damaged your official Benro USB Type-C to USB Type-C Camera Control Cable, you do not necessarily have to buy a replacement.
The same 56KΩ pullup resistor trick is also used by USB-C OTG adapters like this one which are used to convert a USB-C host port to a USB-A host port.
Simply plug the USB-C end of the OTG adapter into your Benro Polaris Camera port, and use any ordinary USB-A-to-C cable to connect the OTG adapter to your camera and you're in business!
Benro Polaris <-> OTG Adapter <-> USB-A-to-C Cable <-> Camera
Note that USB-C OTG adapter only has a resistor on one side, not both sides like the Benro C-to-C camera cable. If you plug the USB-C end of the OTG adapter into your camera and plug the USB-C end of your ordinary USB-A-to-C cable into the Benro Polaris, nothing will work.
The Benro Polaris Astro Module comes included with the Polaris Astro Edition or it can be purchased as a separate add-on. This module adds a third axis of rotation, allowing precise polar alignment and tracking.
The Astro Module connects to the Extra port of the main Benro Polaris body using a very specifically labeled Astro Control Cable
If you thought there were shenanigans going on with the camera control cable, you ain't seen nothing yet.
The astro cable simply is NOT a USB cable - it does not carry USB signals or in any way know or care about the USB standards.
Literally the ONLY thing the astro cable has in common with a standard USB-C-to-C cable is the connector and the VCC and GND pins. Everything else is different.
Here is how the Astro Control Cable is wired:
| End 1 Pin | End 2 Pin |
|---|---|
| A1 | GND - A1,A12,B1,B12 |
| A2 | A2 |
| A3 | A3 |
| A4 | VCC - A4,A9,B4,B9 |
| A5 | - |
| A6 | - |
| A7 | - |
| A8 | - |
| A9 | VCC - A4,A9,B4,B9 |
| A10 | A10 |
| A11 | A11 |
| A12 | GND - A1,A12,B1,B12 |
We should be grateful that VCC and GND are wired up the same way between standard USB-C cables and the astro cable, otherwise accidentally plugging in the wrong cable would cause permanent damage to your equipment. But that's about all we can be grateful for.
If you lose or damage your astro cable, just buy an official replacement. It's the only cheap and easy option.
If you want a not-cheap-and-not-easy alternative, consider making your own pair of PCBs with a USB-C connector on one end and some sort of 6-pin mini connector on the other end following the connection list above.
You may be tempted to make your own astro cable using commonly available USB-C breakouts but I have bad news for you - those breakouts typically only expose GND, VCC, D+, D-, CC1, and CC2 pins because those are the ones used by USB 2.0. The astro cable uses pins with otherwise are only used by high-speed USB 3.x cables and are only accessible in much larger 24-pin breakout boards which are too big to fit properly when the astro mod is connected.
Don't trust the words of an internet stranger, especially in our new horrifying future of LLM-generated hallucinations masquerading as information.
If you want to confirm/reproduce any of the findings above, consider buying a USB-C 24-pin breakout kit and a multimeter and test your Benro cables yourself.
