Cat 5 problem

[kevinandamy]

I went and bought a cat 5 chord to run from our fourth controller to the fifth. We have been running shows on four just fine but when I plugged in the cable, five won't work and now four isn't either. The light in the boxes are still flashing so I'm really confused. Any ideas. Thanks

[Santas Helper]

Is it a crossover cable? If so, it will not work right. Try moving other cat5 cables or move the 5 controller to the forth position to make sure the controller isn't at fault.

[nutjob]

Have you set the ID on the 5th controller box?

[kevinandamy]

Yeah I set the id on five. I ended up unplugging five all together but four is not working at all. One thru three are working fine. Very frustrating. The guy at Home Depot said it was the same cable I was using but now I'm doubting. Here is a photo of the package. Controller 4 led1 light is flashing when the program is running. One thru three are all solid when running. Getting very frustrated but still new to this. Thanks for any help. Hope this is enough info

[jtomason]

The cable looks right from the packaging.   Hold the two connectors side-by-side with the wires visible; they should be in the same positions - i.e. if orange is on pin 3 on one end, it should be on pin 3 on the other end.  Same for all the colors/pins. 

[Santas Helper]

Take the cable in question and connect it from the computer to the first controller. If that controller doesn't connect (steady light) obviously it is the cable.

[Max-Paul]

So as not to confuse people. I suggest that we do not say anything about connecting a cable to the computer. Unless we are talking about E1.31. I would recommend we say the USB adapter or RS-485 adapter.  Just trying to point out that some of our newer brothers and sisters of the lights might misunderstand.

[Santas Helper]

Good point MP.