Network Switch/hub

[morningsidemustangs]

What I know about networking stops after I plug in a Cat5e cable. I know that LOR uses a defferent protocol than standard and doesn't work on a network.

What I'm wondering is: instead of daisy chaining LOR, is there a hub/switch/router (not sure which is appropreate here) that would work with LOR to run a single Cat5e out to the LOR board.

This might be easier.




Attached files

[Guest wbottomley]

Using a hub/switch will not work as I know of. It can damage the boards.

[hbomb341]

The only way I know to do a "mesh" network is through the ELL's.

Harrison

[Steven]

The USB Adapter with Booster has two RJ45 jacks that you could use to connect two network cables. If you only have a single cable available, you could rewire it to use the unused pairs. A CAT5 cable has 4 pairs (8 wires), but the LOR network only uses 2 pairs (4 wires).

LOR II will support multiple USB adapters.

Someone here did get a TCP/IP to RS485 controller to work with LOR.

Plugging a LOR network into an Ethernet hub probably won't damage the LOR controller, but it may damage the Ethernet hub. In any case, it definately won't work.

[cmoore60]

Morningside,

Although LOR choose to use the RJ45 plug/jack as is used on netowrk installation. The protocal is not the same. LOR is NOT a TCP/IP protocal. LOR IS a 485 network. Most 485 networks that I am aware of is a daisy chain type.

Like is said in another post. Don't do the connection that your thinking of doing. It will not work and most likely will damage boards and/or hub.

Chuck

[sparky741]

There is such a thing as an active RS485 hub. It allows you to create a "star" network rather than daisy chain your rs485 devices together, i.e. you would be able to run a single cable from the controller to the hub. You can see an example here:

http://www.cc-concepts.com/products/rs485/hub/

Something like this may require you to cut off one end of the Cat5 cable in order to wire it to the screw terminals. It's a little pricey, but it should allow you to do what you asking about.


Here is the same hub with a wiring diagram to help clarify the star network layout:

http://www.jdstechnologies.com/8ah485.html

[Steven]

Wow! That will be perfect for some LOR installations!

A question: The RS-485 hub in question supplies (optional) power to the RS-485 devices. The voltage is 12 volts. A LOR controller will supply 9 volts. Would the 12 volts from this RS-485 hub be too much for an ELL?

[sparky741]

I'm not familiar with the ELL's internal components, but I imagine if it uses some type of regulator to derive the voltage it needs that 12v might be OK. That's a question for our man Dan.

[sparky741]

Actually, I just looked in the RF-V4 manual and there is a picture of an ELL with the bottom cover off and it looks like IC4 is a 5V regulator. I would imagine that 12V from the hub would be fine, but I would still run it past Dan just to be 100% certain.

[vincerules]

My opinion is that cat 5 cable prices are so low these days, you would be better off cost wise just to run some longer cables then try to implement this hub that may or may not work. I do kind of understand what you are trying to do, because I had also thought of that before, but after thinking it through some more, it just makes sense to me to just connect everything the way Dan recommends, which is the daisy chain method.

That hub thing costs $140, without shipping. You can buy a lot of Cat 5 cable for that much money!

[Steven]

It's more than just the cost of the cable. It may be that you have a pre-existing run of cable through walls or other places where it would be inconvenient to run a new one, or a small conduit that won't fit more.

There's also the added reliability. When you have a daisy chain, a single break will disable everything past that break. A single short will disable the entire network. If you use the hub, then a break or short on a segment will disable that segment only and the rest of the network will continue to run.

[sparky741]

Steven wrote:

It's more than just the cost of the cable. It may be that you have a pre-existing run of cable through walls or other places where it would be inconvenient to run a new one, or a small conduit that won't fit more.

There's also the added reliability. When you have a daisy chain, a single break will disable everything past that break. A single short will disable the entire network. If you use the hub, then a break or short on a segment will disable that segment only and the rest of the network will continue to run.

+1

Imagine the time saved troubleshooting a communication problem if you only have to look at a handful of controllers on a particular branch rather than every controller in the loop. Now, granted I will probably be using only 32 channels and possibly DMX this year, a hub like this would not benefit a display like mine, but for some people here with many, many controllers, I could see it as a definite advantage. And as far as it working, RS485 is RS485. As long as the baud rate and such is set correctly, it will work.

[Dr. Jones]

I have been looking at the unit RCS sells -8AH485

Are the lor controllers self terminating?

I might cough up the dough and give this a try, so i dont need to run cat5 back and forth across the yard to little pockets of controllers

Chris