mmkooiman67 Posted May 4, 2012 Share Posted May 4, 2012 Hello all,I have a chance to get a couple 1000' rolls of cat-3 telephone wire for free and I was wondering if I could use it for my data cable for my new DMX controllers. I have some rather large runs and this would save me some$$.Thanks in advance,Mark Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bdeditch Posted May 4, 2012 Share Posted May 4, 2012 What size of wire is it and how far is your run? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr. Jones Posted May 4, 2012 Share Posted May 4, 2012 What is the resistance? will you run it for long distances?You may experience anomalies with wire that is not ~120ohm - more so at longer distances Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mmkooiman67 Posted May 4, 2012 Author Share Posted May 4, 2012 I think the wire size is 24 gauge just like cat-5 but it is solid core. My longest run will be no more than 150 feet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stephanschulz Posted June 18, 2014 Share Posted June 18, 2014 (edited) @mmkooiman67did you ever end up using the cat3 solid wire for dmx?i am thinking about doing the same but am not sure if this would work. was/is your cat3 with twisted pairs? thanks, stephan Edited June 21, 2014 by stephanschulz Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hilltop Posted September 16, 2014 Share Posted September 16, 2014 Old thread, but to answer this for everyone... In most situations. using cat 3 would work just fine. It is not however the "right" cable to use. Straight from wikipedia. (I'm guilty of using cat5 and balanced (mic cable) for all my dmx. Never had an issue) The electrical characteristics of DMX512 cable are specified in terms of impedance and capacitance, although there are often mechanical and other considerations that must be considered as well. Cable types that are appropriate for DMX512 usage will have a nominal characteristic impedance of 120 ohms. Cat5 cable, commonly used for networking and telecommunications, has been tested by ESTA for use with DMX512A. Also, cables designed for EIA485 typically meet the DMX512 electrical specifications. Conversely, microphone and line level audio cables lack the requisite electrical characteristics and thus are not suitable for DMX512 cabling. The significantly lower impedance and higher capacitance of these cables distort the DMX512 digital waveforms, which in turn can cause irregular operation or intermittent errors that are difficult to identify and correct. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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