Vince LeGrand Posted November 17, 2015 Share Posted November 17, 2015 I purchased 6 of the RJ45 Waterproof dongles to allow quick connect and disconnect to Cat5 cable without having to remove the covers of LOR controllers and CCR controllers. It is pretty easy to connect a Cat5 cable to the dongle, but disconnecting it is a nightmare. The RJ45 connector is so far inside the dongle that you can't get to the tab to press it to release connector. It certainly seems to be designed to permanently connect to a Cat5 cable. Of course, what happens if the connected Cat5 cable goes bad?? Perhaps there is some trick to getting the RJ45 connector out of the dongle??? Initially I plugged the RJ45 connector at the end of dongle cable into the other dongle connector. That is when I learned how difficult it is to remove. After many attempts using a screwdriver, I was able to press down the tab and remove the connector. The tab did get mangled in the process. I noticed that the other end of dongle has the female RJ45 connector much closer to the end of the dongle. I was able to get that connector out with only a little difficulty. I tried plugging another Cat5 cable (with a boot) into the dongle and by having the boot, it was very easy to pull it out. Unfortunately, the dongle is designed for bootless connectors, and I could not screw the end of the dongle all the way on with the booted connector. Overall, I am very dissatisfied with these dongles. Just a couple of design changes would make these so much more useful. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
k6ccc Posted November 17, 2015 Share Posted November 17, 2015 Vince, the end that is deeply recessed is intended to be connected to the cable that comes with it - and every one I've gotten came with it already connected. In fact on the previous design, that was not removable. I will note that the previous design leaked too. I hope these are better in that regard. I also use them on my CCP controllers. BTW, I hate booted RJ-45 connectors. First thing I do is cut off the boot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vince LeGrand Posted November 17, 2015 Author Share Posted November 17, 2015 Update: As I said I ordered 6 of the RJ45 dongles. It turns out the first 2 that I opened are what I consider to be defective. When I opened the other 4 dongles, they are fine. The RJ45 connector for the Cat5 cable protrudes from the dongle a little. So, it is easy to insert and remove the Cat5 cable (just as I had hoped). Of the 2 defective ones, their short dongle cables were connected at opposite ends. On one, the cable was connected to the recessed end (where it should be), but on the other it was connected to the "shallower" connector. In both cases the "shallower" connector is too deep inside the dongle and makes it very difficult to remove an RJ45 connector. Definitely some issues with manufacturing and with assembly on this product. I'll be contacting LOR to exchange the defective dongles. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vince LeGrand Posted November 19, 2015 Author Share Posted November 19, 2015 Just wanted to say that after I contacted Light-O-Rama about the defective dongles, they shipped replacements the same day. As always, great service from Light-O-Rama!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LightHouse_Papa Posted November 26, 2015 Share Posted November 26, 2015 Hey - I'd like to just drop a bomb here ... What most of us would like to have are truly "waterproof" connectors. Sorry, they DO NOT EXIST unless you are ready to drop some SERIOUS coin on them. Military Grade stuff. Marine grade stuff. It's been tested and proven to work "AS ADVERTISED". 30 years and I've not found anything commerically available that is truly waterproof unless it comes with a certification. That requires testing and raises the cost of the device. What is upsetting to me is all these "VENDORS" that advertise "water proof" but are unwilling to show the certification. WELL ... then it is at BEST 'water resistant'. at worst ... yeah ... it has issues. You CAN do things to help protect yourself from vendors and their inferior products. Examine all the points of contact - do they all mate well? Do they look like they slip together and maintain integrity without any fasteners? How is the orientation ... Like is the cone up or down? is it sealed around the wire (molded) or was it slipped over a cable. There is a heck of allot of stuff that has to be examined. Marine grade RJ45 connectors are for panels and DO keep out water. They start around $50 per cable for a box mount device. So if finances are an issue - then yah - cheap is okay but do the checks ... test it in a bucket of water for a few days - then use a digital meter ... see if you can read any voltage (use a couple of AA batteries in series) ... it is a simple SAFE test. Put one side of the battery to the cable in test. Put the meter probe on the other side of the battery. Stick the other probe into the water ... you will see something ... if you see full voltage (2x AA = 3.2-3.6v) as you get closer to the device - yeah - it is wet inside. Yeah - I work in the field - and when you have to mix 120v and low voltage - keeping them all DRY and NON CONDUCTIVE is key. Some of my displays have direct contact with low voltage and high voltage cabling. I do have means to test for AC leakage into the DC components - literally submersed in water. I don't do deep marine stuff - that's another competely different world. I do have some methods mixing low and high voltage and I'm very comfortable using (b/c it has been tested, extensivly) - some old school stuff - haven't burnt or have suffered any "smoking" issues in 20+ years Good Luck w/the water.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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