Novastar BR462 Plus

NovaStar BR462 Plus — power supply and receiving card on one PCB

The BR462 Plus belongs to NovaStar's BR series, a family of integrated control boards combining the AC/DC power supply and the receiving card on a single board. At the back of a cabinet it replaces the usual "power supply unit + receiving card" pair with one item: less internal cabling, fewer connectors, fewer failure points, and depth saved.

It sits between the BR460 and the BR460 Pro: 24 A instead of 15.5 or 32, the 512×512 capacity of the Pro models, and above all four floating connectors — a mechanical design that absorbs manufacturing tolerances and vibration.

Key specifications

Load capacity: 512×512@60Hz en 8 bits — 512×384@60Hz en 10 et 12 bits. Avec contrôleur COEX : 512×512@60Hz en 8 et 10 bits, 512×384@60Hz en 12 bits.
Module connectors: 4 connecteurs flottants, JH1 60 broches, jusqu'à 24 groupes RGB parallèle
AC input: 90–264 Vac, 47–63 Hz
DC output: 3,8 / 4,0 (défaut) / 4,2 V — 24 A nominal, 115 W absorbés au secteur
Dimensions: 361,8 × 195,0 × 22,6 mm (25,0 mm hors tout)
Weight: 358,8 g
Operating temperature: -20 °C à +70 °C, humidité 0 à 85 % (déclassement de 1,5 %/°C au-delà de 50 °C)
Image processing: Image Booster, HDR, pixel-level brightness and chroma calibration, Low Latency, 3D, 90-degree rotation, individual RGB gamma, Smart Module

NovaStar BR462 Plus — technical analysis

Buying a BR board is not the same reasoning as buying a receiving card. What decides is the available DC current, because it caps the luminance the cabinet can hold at full white. Its 24 A under 4 V gives around 96 W, for 115 W drawn from the mains. It is the intermediate tier of the series: above the 15.5 A that saturates on fine pitch, below the 32 A of the Pro versions, with the 512×512 load capacity the 15.5 A models lack.

The floating connectors are the argument to understand. On a cabinet assembled and disassembled dozens of times — rental, touring, events — connectors are what fail first. A floating connector tolerates mechanical misalignment between board and module and does not transmit stress to the solder joints. On a fixed install that matters little; on rental hardware it is the difference between a board lasting three seasons and one coming back for service.

Three design points: the module connector format must match your panels exactly (4 connecteurs flottants, JH1 60 broches, jusqu'à 24 groupes RGB parallèle); thermal derating means sizing cabinet ventilation accordingly; and since the board is both power supply and receiver, one failure takes out both — on a critical installation, plan spare stock accordingly.

On the "-1" references: NovaStar publishes a "-1" suffixed variant of this model whose published specifications are strictly identical: same dimensions to the tenth of a millimetre, same weight, same current, same load capacity. The manufacturer nowhere documents what the suffix means. We treat them as equivalent in performance and refer you to the cabinet manufacturer for mechanical compatibility.

• Rental and touring hardware — floating connectors, resistance to repeated disassembly.
• Budget-controlled 512×512 cabinets — the Pro capacity without the Pro current.
• Events — vibration, transport, fast rigging.
• 500 × 500 cabinets — standard 362 × 195 mm format.
• Rental panel manufacturing — one board instead of two, built to survive disassembly.

• Available current — 24 A nominal, the intermediate tier: 512×512 without the 32 A premium.
• Connectors — 4 connecteurs flottants, JH1 60 broches, jusqu'à 24 groupes RGB parallèle: check the exact match with your modules before ordering.
• Thermal — derating of 1.5 %/°C above 50 °C, admissible humidity 0 to 85 %.
• Floating connectors — they tolerate mechanical misalignment: the decisive argument on rental hardware assembled and disassembled often.
• Single point of failure — power and reception on the same board: one failure takes out both, plan spare stock.