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CTB16PCg3 middle port not working


AttaKare

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Hello,

I have a CTB16PCg3 and this year am adding a CCRII to it. I put everything up noticed that it wasn't working correctly - this was due to conflicting UnitIDs between the CTB16PCg3 and the CCRII controller. After fixing that, I noticed that the middle Cat5 port on the CTB16PCg3 does not seem to be working. I'm worried that in getting the cable going to the CCRII out I bent the port slightly, as it now has a tiny bit of wiggle to it. In troubleshooting all of this I did upgrade the firmware on both the CTB16PCg3 and the CCRII controller. Is there any way for me to find out if I did break the middle port, and if so what I can do to fix it?

Thank you!

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You may find that the middle port is now intermittent.  If your layout allows it, you can make that controller the last one on the network.  That way you only need one working RJ-45 connector.  If that is not possible, there are a couple workarounds.  Likely the easiest is to get a RJ-45 splitter adapter.  There usually either have two female jacks and a short pigtail with a male connector, or with three female jacks.  Plug the pigtail into the one working connector and the cables to other controllers for the rest of your network into the two female jacks.  If you find the type that has three female jacks, use a SHORT cable (prefer 1 foot or less) from one of the jacks to the working jack on your controller.

If the pins are just bent, you may be able to straighten them with a small probe or hook.  It the connector has been pulled off the PC board, IF you are good at small part soldering, they are field repairable, or you can send them to LOR and they can repair them.  Note that especially if you will need that controller for Halloween, you may want to use the workaround rather than sending the controller to LOR.  I don't know what their turn around time is this time of the year.  If able, wait till January to send it to LOR if you need to do that..

 

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For future reference always tie/tape off the cat5 cable so if the cable is kicked or pulled it doesn't put any strain on the connector.  There is no strain relief built in for the cat5 so leave some slack and secure them, those connectors will pop loose pretty easily. I have added a pigtail connector to all of mine so I don't even need to open the box to connect them. I wish LOR would put them on all their boxes.

Edited by Mr. P
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I have several things I do per cat5 running across my property per cable because I have a lot of deer that run through. If its on a prop not close to the house I run the majority through pvc conduit that is spiked in the ground on each end and in different parts in the center. Where it runs out of the wall they get zip tied to a bush or spike. Then it goes through pvc conduit . Once it exits the pvc pipe I have another spike and it gets one non kinked loop and a zip tie to the spike. From that spike to the prop (normally my controllers are on the props) I either have another spike that gets another loop and zip tied to the spike or to the prop at the bottom.

This prevents almost any damage to the data port unless cause by me.

If a deer or human gets caught on a cable (it has happened) it usually not damage but I have had one get broken. Normally it gets kinked at the spikes. 

Even if I have multiple cat5 cables running together I do not zip tie them together. They all get their own loops and zip ties. this should prevent all of them from being broken at once.

Its cheaper to replace a cable then to be in a repair mode during the holidays.

JR

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15 hours ago, dibblejr said:

I have several things I do per cat5 running across my property per cable because I have a lot of deer that run through. If its on a prop not close to the house I run the majority through pvc conduit that is spiked in the ground on each end and in different parts in the center. Where it runs out of the wall they get zip tied to a bush or spike. Then it goes through pvc conduit . Once it exits the pvc pipe I have another spike and it gets one non kinked loop and a zip tie to the spike. From that spike to the prop (normally my controllers are on the props) I either have another spike that gets another loop and zip tied to the spike or to the prop at the bottom.

This prevents almost any damage to the data port unless cause by me.

If a deer or human gets caught on a cable (it has happened) it usually not damage but I have had one get broken. Normally it gets kinked at the spikes. 

Even if I have multiple cat5 cables running together I do not zip tie them together. They all get their own loops and zip ties. this should prevent all of them from being broken at once.

Its cheaper to replace a cable then to be in a repair mode during the holidays.

JR

I usually just have my controllers mounted to something, like a wooden backing or a long telephone box stake, then if on a wooden backing mounted to the house or another object where I just bolt the wood panel to another medium, I use plastic C cable clamps, the type you use a screw with to hold in place, I use two of these just under my CTB16PC Controllers and clamp each Cat5 cable down, then I use 2 more of these plastic screw down C clamps about an inch or so under those clamps to hold the Cat5 in place. 

Depending on where the controller is mounted, I also use these along the Cat5 cables along their run if possible.  I also do this with all my CCB-100D and Pixie2D RGB Controllers as well.    Where a controller may be mounted on a fence or wire frame type prop, then I used Zip ties as close to the Controller Cat5 output area and along the Cat5 cable to keep it secure.   And sometimes in my own clumsiness I've tripped over and pulled a Cat5 cable, but in my 10 years of doing this hobby now, I have yet to break or damage any of my Controllers Cat5 jacks. {Knock on Wood}.  But I have had to replace a few Cat5 cables here and there that got stretched and didn't work after those encounters, either by me or someone else just not paying attention and being where they weren't supposed to be in my display.

Just know this has worked for me for 10 years now.  Much cheaper and easier to replace a damaged Cat5 Cable than a Controllers Cat5 jack!

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1 hour ago, Orville said:

I usually just have my controllers mounted to something, like a wooden backing or a long telephone box stake, then if on a wooden backing mounted to the house or another object where I just bolt the wood panel to another medium, I use plastic C cable clamps, the type you use a screw with to hold in place, I use two of these just under my CTB16PC Controllers and clamp each Cat5 cable down, then I use 2 more of these plastic screw down C clamps about an inch or so under those clamps to hold the Cat5 in place. 

Depending on where the controller is mounted, I also use these along the Cat5 cables along their run if possible.  I also do this with all my CCB-100D and Pixie2D RGB Controllers as well.    Where a controller may be mounted on a fence or wire frame type prop, then I used Zip ties as close to the Controller Cat5 output area and along the Cat5 cable to keep it secure.   And sometimes in my own clumsiness I've tripped over and pulled a Cat5 cable, but in my 10 years of doing this hobby now, I have yet to break or damage any of my Controllers Cat5 jacks. {Knock on Wood}.  But I have had to replace a few Cat5 cables here and there that got stretched and didn't work after those encounters, either by me or someone else just not paying attention and being where they weren't supposed to be in my display.

Just know this has worked for me for 10 years now.  Much cheaper and easier to replace a damaged Cat5 Cable than a Controllers Cat5 jack!

Deer would break those nylon clamps in a heartbeat. I had a fire on my farm where a deer actually got caught on  the cat5 cable going from underground PVC conduit to the pole where it was mounted. This was the only camera that had about 4' of exposed wire because I ran out of pvc and it was the same night i had finished the install. That night that camera went out. The next day I discovered the surrounding bushes were burnt and the short had caused my video ballons to explode in several of the underground junction boxes. Video balons work just like a null pixel but the send data and power ever 500-750 feet.  That is when I learned how much damage exposed wire can cause. It was a time consuming and expensive mistake.

I broke a jack on one of my 1st gen controllers by using cat 6 cable thinking it would clear the cover when I shut it. The lack of lights proved otherwise.

He must have got the cable stuck on his antlers because it had been separated from the last ballon and the cable was ripped from the balon and 500' was out through the woods and bushes. Luckily i didn't burn down my woods just about 10' circumference of bushes.

JR

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8 minutes ago, dibblejr said:

Deer would break those nylon clamps in a heartbeat. I had a fire on my farm where a deer actually got caught on  the cat5 cable going from underground PVC conduit to the pole where it was mounted. This was the only camera that had about 4' of exposed wire because I ran out of pvc and it was the same night i had finished the install. That night that camera went out. The next day I discovered the surrounding bushes were burnt and the short had caused my video ballons to explode in several of the underground junction boxes. Video balons work just like a null pixel but the send data and power ever 500-750 feet.  That is when I learned how much damage exposed wire can cause. It was a time consuming and expensive mistake.

I broke a jack on one of my 1st gen controllers by using cat 6 cable thinking it would clear the cover when I shut it. The lack of lights proved otherwise.

He must have got the cable stuck on his antlers because it had been separated from the last ballon and the cable was ripped from the balon and 500' was out through the woods and bushes. Luckily i didn't burn down my woods just about 10' circumference of bushes.

JR

Fortunately I don't have any deer in my area.  but we do have opossums, squirrels and raccoons, not to mention dogs and cats and occasionally stray people{LOL}.  I've never had a Cat5 cable catch fire.  However, I do try and keep my Cat5, power cords all secured down and out of the way, as well as off the ground, so if something did get broken, it would snap in two and shouldn't cause any fires.   So far, I have had one power cord and 2 Cat5 cables broken in two and no issues, when that happened with the power cord, my GFCI tripped and stopped power from going to anything on the power cords.    Also 98% of my power cords are made from old recycled Christmas light plugs, and since they are "fused", if the power cord would get broken, not only does the GFCI trip, it blows the fuse{s} in the male plug, preventing power along that cord.  Then I just replace that cord with a different one, repair the old one, replace fuses and good to use another time.   Kind of the reason I love using the old Christmas light male and female plugs to create extension cords from, because they are fuse protected.

I wouldn't think there is enough voltage in a Cat5 cable to do much in starting a fire, I'd think it'd cause the Controller to burn out and blow its fuses before that would occur.   But suppose there is always a first time for anything.

But that's why I use the plastic clamps, and they are doubled up, by the time the first one breaks, the second one has always been kept intact, I have to replace many secondary ones that got broke because of a pulled Cat5, replace it and everything's fine.   In my 10 years of using this method I might replace 3 or 4 of these "secondary" clamps during the Christmas Season, if that.  Some seasons I get by and have no broken clamps at all.   But they've saved my Controllers from having their Cat5 jacks damaged.  I have yet to ever replace the {primary} clamps closest to the Cat5 exit port under any of my controllers.

I guess maybe I've just been lucky in my experience doing it this way.

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5 minutes ago, Orville said:

Fortunately I don't have any deer in my area.  but we do have opossums, squirrels and raccoons, not to mention dogs and cats and occasionally stray people{LOL}.  I've never had a Cat5 cable catch fire.  However, I do try and keep my Cat5, power cords all secured down and out of the way, as well as off the ground, so if something did get broken, it would snap in two and shouldn't cause any fires.   So far, I have had one power cord and 2 Cat5 cables broken in two and no issues, when that happened with the power cord, my GFCI tripped and stopped power from going to anything on the power cords.    Also 98% of my power cords are made from old recycled Christmas light plugs, and since they are "fused", if the power cord would get broken, not only does the GFCI trip, it blows the fuse{s} in the male plug, preventing power along that cord.  Then I just replace that cord with a different one, repair the old one, replace fuses and good to use another time.   Kind of the reason I love using the old Christmas light male and female plugs to create extension cords from, because they are fuse protected.

I wouldn't think there is enough voltage in a Cat5 cable to do much in starting a fire, I'd think it'd cause the Controller to burn out and blow its fuses before that would occur.   But suppose there is always a first time for anything.

But that's why I use the plastic clamps, and they are doubled up, by the time the first one breaks, the second one has always been kept intact, I have to replace many secondary ones that got broke because of a pulled Cat5, replace it and everything's fine.   In my 10 years of using this method I might replace 3 or 4 of these "secondary" clamps during the Christmas Season, if that.  Some seasons I get by and have no broken clamps at all.   But they've saved my Controllers from having their Cat5 jacks damaged.  I have yet to ever replace the {primary} clamps closest to the Cat5 exit port under any of my controllers.

I guess maybe I've just been lucky in my experience doing it this way.

This is cat 5 with a separate power cable for 120v that gets reduced down to 12v just before the cameras. Sorry I had to update that. As far as I know only 12v can be sent through Cat5 like the cameras i use at my home.

The racoons, possums, fox, coyotes and other critters have never cause a problem and the deer have only cause a couple but its not worth the risk. Their hooves are also sharp enough to cut a cable.

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