Dave Zent Posted January 23, 2011 Share Posted January 23, 2011 I managed to pull a cat5 connector loose when unplugging the cable. Its still attached to the board but...now the rest of the lor boxes connected with that cable aren't "connected" anymore.Am i SOL for next year using that cat5 connection or can i fix it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cmoore60 Posted January 23, 2011 Share Posted January 23, 2011 You can fix it or have it fixed. If you are handy with a soldering iron. You can contact LOR concerning a replacement.Chuck Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ace_master Posted January 23, 2011 Share Posted January 23, 2011 i did this exact same thing... lucky for you it was after xmas, mine happened like a week before xmas, and I had to unplug everything to bring the controller inside and fix it.As Chuck said... you can likely fix it with a little soldering skills...Just remove the board from the enclosure and check the solder points behind the cable in question... if any of the contacts are 'loose' or if the solder is pulled out all together... just hold the network plug in place (pushing in place against the board) and solder the contacts on the other side of the board with a bit of fresh solder.You can use hot glue or silicone on the top of the board between the plugs and the board. this should help from having this kind of thing happening again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
-klb- Posted January 23, 2011 Share Posted January 23, 2011 We lost one during take down this year as well. Looks like we missed a few boxes when we did strain relief on the cables this year.Now the question: Will I find the ones I already own, before, or after I break down and order more from Mouser. From another thread here:http://www.mouser.com/ProductDetail/Tyco-Electronics-AMP/5520260-4/?qs=sGAEpiMZZMvQhAhQbXdbBhNT0gJkPXLDNkGuGc7xM04%3dThe one that took damage wasn't one of the ones out where we would normally think of tripping damage, but rather one attached to the building, behind some shrubs. We think what actually got it was some of the power cords being pulled out of the shrubs likely caught on the cat 5.In the park, I actually try to make a point of getting all the cat 5 out early. Unfortunately, I did not manage to do that on the fire house. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Denise Brunner Posted January 30, 2011 Share Posted January 30, 2011 Due to heavy ice conditions on my gutters (icicles lights actually becoming major icicles) and starting pull the gutters down I had to cut my icicle lights out. Decited that since we were going to have another major snow storm maybe I should take in come of my lower controllers before they are 2 feet under snow. After removing the first controller I found the weight of the snow had pulled on the cat 5 wire enough that it pulled the connector partially off the board. So then I checked the 3 other low controllers. So now 3 out of the four are bad. Two other controllers are under plastic under a wireframe that is 30" under snow, so I have no idea what shape they are in.I can do soldering, with no problem. Do I need to order new connectors or can I reuse the ones on the board? Also to remove the board from the ctb16pc, do I need to unscreww all the heat sinks????Not very happy right now. I think I might make cat 5 dongles and make a strain relief on them !!! There has to be a better way. Appears to be the weak link in the ctb16pc controllers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Surfing4Dough Posted January 30, 2011 Share Posted January 30, 2011 I drill a hole in the corner of the heatsink, and loop the cat5 cable near that area and zip tie it to the heatsink, therefore creating a strain relief of sorts. Works great, and is easy. You can see the drill hole with the arrow pointing to it. Sometimes if located in a "high risk, trip-prone area", I will also zip tie the cat5 cable outside the enclosure to the adjacent power input cords (since the exit the enclosure near where the cat5 exits). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Denise Brunner Posted January 30, 2011 Share Posted January 30, 2011 I think I am going to use a keystone modular jack externally and make a cable to go into the ctb16pc housing. Once the male is connected inside the box and its closed I will (almost) never have to go into the box. I will plug my Cat5 into the modular jack, if the jack wears out I can easily replace it. Will not have to deal with those circiut board jacks. Put the problem behind me Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr. Jones Posted January 30, 2011 Share Posted January 30, 2011 all of my controllers use a Neutrik cat 6 connector - easy to install and easy to replacehttp://www.neutrik.com/us/en/dataconnectors/204_1954039963/etherCON_CAT6_group.aspx Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
medman2000 Posted February 2, 2011 Share Posted February 2, 2011 Denise Brunner wrote:I think I am going to use a keystone modular jack externally and make a cable to go into the ctb16pc housing. Once the male is connected inside the box and its closed I will (almost) never have to go into the box. I will plug my Cat5 into the modular jack, if the jack wears out I can easily replace it. Will not have to deal with those circiut board jacks. Put the problem behind meI did this with 50+ boxes this year (100 modular jacks) - and had to replace maybe 10 of them during the first few days of the show, thinking it was condensation (?) because they worked for a few days. Otherwise, it was a great solution to replacing cords when the rabbits chewed through the cat5... removing the cat5 from the jack on the board in past seasons just kept breaking them due to the cold I suppose. Good luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimswinder Posted February 2, 2011 Share Posted February 2, 2011 I used two of these in each of my enclosures...got them on eBay... Attached files Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Denise Brunner Posted February 3, 2011 Share Posted February 3, 2011 I have been looking for something just like that.... how long are they???? and what are they called???? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimswinder Posted February 3, 2011 Share Posted February 3, 2011 Denise Brunner wrote: I have been looking for something just like that.... how long are they???? and what are they called????They are about 12" long..They are RJ45-ECS Connectors...mine were used on eBay...Do a search in Google...will see lots of them..Here is one that is 11" long...http://www.google.com/products/catalog?q=RJ45-ECS+Connector&oe=utf-8&client=firefox&rlz=1R1DVFC_en___US340&um=1&ie=UTF-8&cid=14542288591582866374&ei=mLBKTbXlGoT68AaLz-DXDg&sa=X&oi=product_catalog_result&ct=result&resnum=4&ved=0CD8Q8wIwAw# You can see mine in the picture below... Attached files Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott Cockroft Posted February 3, 2011 Share Posted February 3, 2011 I use these on all my controllers too. Here's a link where I got mine. This was the cheapest I could find.http://www.sparcotech.com/cgi-bin/commerce.cgi?preadd=action&key=RJ45-ECS Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Denise Brunner Posted February 3, 2011 Share Posted February 3, 2011 Thanks guys, Jim that exact box will house each set of controllers (4) for each of my two Mega/Spiral trees next year each tree will be 72 channels. Scott - great connector, thanks for the link Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John2571 Posted February 3, 2011 Share Posted February 3, 2011 (not to change the topic) Jim, what quick connects do you use and how do you attach them to the spt cable?(pliers?) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aaron Maue Posted February 3, 2011 Share Posted February 3, 2011 Scott Cockroft wrote: I use these on all my controllers too. Here's a link where I got mine. This was the cheapest I could find.http://www.sparcotech.com/cgi-bin/commerce.cgi?preadd=action&key=RJ45-ECSTough to tell from the picture, but does this just provide a regular RJ45 jack external to the box? No special connector type to use? Just a normal patch cable? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bisquit476 Posted February 4, 2011 Share Posted February 4, 2011 These are the ones that Scott is talking about from Sparcotech. I use them on all of my controllers, and have never had a problem. Attached files RJ45-outdoor.pdf Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aaron Maue Posted February 4, 2011 Share Posted February 4, 2011 bisquit476 wrote: These are the ones that Scott is talking about from Sparcotech. I use them on all of my controllers, and have never had a problem.Just what I was looking for.A final question... Is the connector issue associated only with the PC type of enclosure? I have the LOR1602W enclosure type. I'm planning to add these strain relief cables. That is, unless its unnecessary, in which case I'll save the time and effort and sequence an extra song instead. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
-klb- Posted February 4, 2011 Share Posted February 4, 2011 Aaron Maue wrote: A final question... Is the connector issue associated only with the PC type of enclosure? I have the LOR1602W enclosure type. I'm planning to add these strain relief cables. That is, unless its unnecessary, in which case I'll save the time and effort and sequence an extra song instead. There is no inherent strain relief in the 1602 case. But, there are a couple of differences. First, the case is deeper, so there is no pressure from the cover on the cable, and connector. But, this does not seem to be an issue, only possibly a contributor to how bad things get when yanked.Second, the inner face is in the path of the cables. So instead of the pull force being at nearly a 90 degree angle to the connector, it is somewhat less, depending on how tall the strain relief on the cable is.So, the way I see it, the 1602 case has some minor mitigating factors, but does not solve the issue. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimswinder Posted February 4, 2011 Share Posted February 4, 2011 John2571 wrote: (not to change the topic) Jim, what quick connects do you use and how do you attach them to the spt cable?(pliers?)do you mean the female spade connectors to the controller?I crimp them on with a crimper... Attached files Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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