Basic questions about the pins of a cable

[Henol]

Hello everyone,

First of all, I'm sorry for any mistake I may make, I'm not English.
I've also never worked in electronics.

Here is my situation: I've been told to power a particular device and to transmit its signal to a BNC, without any more information. After some research, I found that I'm gonna have to deal with a 9pin cable. I found two diagrams of this cable:

Firt diagram:
Shield
Pwr Rtn
Power-
Pwr Rtn
Power+
Lock-
Lock+
Sig -
Sig +

Second diagram:
Shield
Gnd
Power-
Gnd
Power+
Gnd
Press+
Sig -
Sig +


Here are a few questions, but feel free to give any advice for newbe:

1) Shield, Power Rtn (Return?), Lock-, and ground all have to be grounded, have they not? Why are they called differently ?

2) How to transmit the signal to a BNC ?
Sig- for the outside of the BNC, Sig + for the inside ? Or should I ground the outside and transmit only sig+ to the inside, and don't use sig- ?

3) What's Press+/Lock+ ? What do I have to do with that ?

I will perhaps think about other questions later;

Thank you for your help!!

 

[FvM]

Can't be answered without knowing what the "particular device" is, and some additional information.

Apparently the "device" involves differential signal outputs, so "transmit its signal to a BNC" possibly implies to connect an instrumentation amplifier. To determine a suitable gain, more device data is needed.

 

[fuuton]

please be specific..... it depends on the device being used