dave58921 Posted February 7, 2017 Author Share Posted February 7, 2017 A little update on the CAT5 data problems The halloween show ran for a week then the Xmas show ran for a couple months, now a new show is running til the end of March. I never actually fully solved the issues mentioned above and now that I have a bit of time I would really love to solve them to make the show look that much better. 4 networks seem to be working fairly perfectly, I've not noticed any major issues with signal dropping or any glitching since adding the RS-485 terminator at the end of line. However, 2 networks are still having issues and although during the shows the glitching isn't too noticeable, there are still random boxes losing communication fairly regularly on both lines. Grounding the Shielded CAT5e cables - Didn't improve the problems at all I re-terminated all of the CAT5 connectors on the first CAT5 cable of all 6 networks to make sure the braid shielding was making a good contact to the shielded CAT5 connectors (as these are the longest cables in the run, 40m or so, and when leaving the computer all 6 CAT5 cables plus 3 110v power cables run in the same conduit) and grounded all 6 CAT5 connectors at the computer end. This made no difference to problems. LOR Data lines twisted with Accessory Power I had a thought today though, I wired all of the CAT5 cables 1 to 8 (White/Orange, Orange, White/Green, Green, White/Blue, Blue, White/Brown, Brown) without crossing over 4 and 6. So effectively I've got the LOR accessory power lines twisted with the Data lines. Could this be an issue? I would say almost definitely, but 4 networks are working fine, if it was an issue, surely it would effect all networks? What else could be causing the problems? So I'm still at a loss to what is causing the issues, from having a fairly long conversation with Dan at Light-O-Rama back in October, it does sound like data reflections is the issue. But what else could be causing the reflections? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheDucks Posted February 8, 2017 Share Posted February 8, 2017 AC power and data should never be run parallel for any distance. IMHO under 6' Class 1 (AC power, voltages over 48) are not to be run in the same raceway (conduit) as Class 2 (LV,network) per the NEC That said, I would also recommend shielded power cables. (I spend quite a bit of time in Data Centers. HP, SUN, Dell all ship shielded power cables, as they know cables will be close to data in modern, high density racks..) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dave58921 Posted February 8, 2017 Author Share Posted February 8, 2017 5 minutes ago, TheDucks said: AC power and data should never be run parallel for any distance. IMHO under 6' Class 1 (AC power, voltages over 48) are not to be run in the same raceway (conduit) as Class 2 (LV,network) per the NEC That said, I would also recommend shielded power cables. (I spend quite a bit of time in Data Centers. HP, SUN, Dell all ship shielded power cables, as they know cables will be close to data in modern, high density racks..) In this case, due to the route the cables had to take, unfortunately there wasn't really another option. I was under the impression the Van Damme SF/UTP CAT5e would be fine running in the same conduit as the 110v power cable supplying the LOR equipment. Do you think this is likely to be the issue? I thought it could be at first, but I just don't see how it can be when the other 4 networks that are working fine, which are also running next to the 110v power cables. One thing I don't think I did was bypass the first CAT5 in the line and run a different CAT5 cable, away from any power cables, from the computer straight to the first box on one of the networks with issues, this would in theory rule out the power cables in the same conduit as being an issue. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
k6ccc Posted February 8, 2017 Share Posted February 8, 2017 I would suggest for a test, run a temporary power or data feed to get the power and data out of the same conduit. Run for long enough time that you can confirm if the problem is the same or different - or best is that it's gone! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
khawes Posted February 9, 2017 Share Posted February 9, 2017 I wired all of the CAT5 cables 1 to 8 (White/Orange, Orange, White/Green, Green, White/Blue, Blue, White/Brown, Brown) without crossing over 4 and 6. On 2/7/2017 at 3:35 PM, dave58921 said: LOR Data lines twisted with Accessory Power I had a thought today though, I wired all of the CAT5 cables 1 to 8 (White/Orange, Orange, White/Green, Green, White/Blue, Blue, White/Brown, Brown) without crossing over 4 and 6. So effectively I've got the LOR accessory power lines twisted with the Data lines. Could this be an issue? I would say almost definitely, but 4 networks are working fine, if it was an issue, surely it would effect all networks? I know standard ethernet had trouble if you do not swap 4 & 6. Re do your cables in this order and see if it helps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
k6ccc Posted February 9, 2017 Share Posted February 9, 2017 On 2/7/2017 at 3:35 PM, dave58921 said: I had a thought today though, I wired all of the CAT5 cables 1 to 8 (White/Orange, Orange, White/Green, Green, White/Blue, Blue, White/Brown, Brown) without crossing over 4 and 6. So effectively I've got the LOR accessory power lines twisted with the Data lines. Could this be an issue? I would say almost definitely, but 4 networks are working fine, if it was an issue, surely it would effect all networks? I'm with khawes on this one. Very well could be the problem. Most data communication standards that use twisted pair cable depend on the two wires in each circuit being twisted together. There are many things that we can generally get away with even though they are not correct. For example the RS-485 spec calls for termination at both ends of the circuit. Very few people do that and generally get away with it - but that does not make it right. As for why three worked with the cables wired wrong and only one had problems, could be lots of reasons. For example, length of the circuit, how much noise is present from other sources (like power cables), how many drops there are on the circuit, speed of the network, a poor connection somewhere, etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheDucks Posted February 9, 2017 Share Posted February 9, 2017 when you split pairs, you lose the shield effect. Standard wiring is what you show. I run 2 channels of Audio across the house on it without hum. That should be good enough for LOR Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts