Buddy Link allows two similar CobraNet devices (i.e. BLU-800, BLU-320, BLU-80 or BLU-32) to operate as a redundant pair with fail-over capability. Buddy Link is a clock connection (48kHz on a BNC coaxial cable) from Buddy Link Out of primary device to Buddy Link In of the secondary device. Presence of the clock signal at the Buddy Link In of the secondary unit indicates proper operation of the primary unit.
The primary unit will not produce Buddy Link clock output if it has no power. The Buddy Link signal is generated by the CM-1 module and may continue to function while a fault condition exists in the audio processing system. Buddy Link should never be used for life safety applications.
If the Buddy link input signal is present at the BNC IN, a unit will send empty reservation requests. This prevents the unit from transmitting any bundles. This also prevents the unit from receiving unicast bundles (including multi-unicast). A unit in this state will still receive multicast bundles and will process any audio in multicast bundles.