Junction Box

A Junction Box (JBox) rests on the seafloor and is connected to shore via a series of fiber optic cables. Several instruments can be attached to a single Jbox and Jboxes can be connected to each other. Jboxes draw energy from the cables to power instruments and to transmit data from the instruments back to shore. In this way, Jboxes act like both a power strip and a converter. The OOI employs three kinds of Jboxes: Low Voltage (LV) Node, Low-Power (LP) Jbox, and Medium Power (MP) JBox. LV Nodes convert high power from the primary node to a lower power that can then be distributed to LP or MP Jboxes and cabled moorings. LV Nodes cannot directly connect to instruments. LP Jboxes directly connect to instruments and receive power from LV Nodes. LP Jboxes convert power from LV Nodes into the appropriate power for their associated instruments. The MP Jbox can draw power from either a Primary Node or a LV Node as well as connect directly to instruments and other Jboxes. The MP Jbox converts high power from the primary node to a lower, medium-level power that that can then be distributed to other nodes.