Cat 5 vs. phone cable

[Jack]

I read someplace in the setup that you had to tell the controller if you where using Cat 5 cable or Phone, my question is can you mix and match. I have a run that will be over a 100 Ft. from one controller to the next and am wanting to use a shielded cable , will this work?

Also,  it would be helpful if a splitter or "Y" type device could be used in a different location, would this work?

Any advice would be helpful, and thanks,

Jack

[jfuller8400]

I'm not aware of having to change any settings to use a phone cable, but then again I've only ever used Cat 5 cables.  It would help if you could post exactly which controller(s) you are asking about.

In terms of using a splitter, it's generally regarded as a very bad idea.  Some people have used them and gotten away with it, but you're just asking for problems (IMHO).

 

[k6ccc]

There is no normal reason to need to use a shielded cable.  You also talk about a splitter.  As jfuller said, bad idea.  What are you trying to accomplish?

 

[Jack]

Thanks,

As for the splitter idea kinda what I was thinking but wanted to ask.

On the Shielded wire mainly because I have a couple thousand ft..

Does anyone know the wiring pattern of a Cat 5 RJ plug vs a Phone plug?

Thanks,

Jack

[Mega Arch]

Different number of wires and not interchangeable. The price for the connectors and tooling for installing ends are about the same, so the only real difference is cat5 cable is a little more than phone cable. But if you'll go with cat5, you'll loose some of your splicing questions you have as there are 2 cat5 connectors inside the ac controllers vs 1 phone jack each. 

The proper color coding for making patch extension cords is printed on the packaging of the connectors. T568B is the normal jack wiring method. So in other words, make sure you put both ends of cables in same order. --- like when looking straight at the end, make sure the orange pair is to the right side on both ends

Edited November 5, 2017 by Mega Arch

[TheDucks]

20 minutes ago, Jack said:

Thanks,

As for the splitter idea kinda what I was thinking but wanted to ask.

On the Shielded wire mainly because I have a couple thousand ft..

Does anyone know the wiring pattern of a Cat 5 RJ plug vs a Phone plug?

Thanks,

Jack

Different beasts.  Phone cables come in 2,4,6 conductor (4 is most common) and the wires are red,green Yellow,Black Bluewhite

RJ45 (ethernet 568B) uses 4 pair of color-pic   B is the common standard for patch cables (anyone can replace an end without trying to figure out a NON-standard color scheme)

A good set of charts found at

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modular_connector#6P4C

[Jack]

Thanks for the feed back. After looking at some of he links a new question or better question that is:

Has anyone found the need to use shielded cat 5e cable instead of the non shielded cable looking at 150-200 ft range?

Thanks,

Jack

[TheDucks]

1 hour ago, Jack said:

Thanks for the feed back. After looking at some of he links a new question or better question that is:

Has anyone found the need to use shielded cat 5e cable instead of the non shielded cable looking at 150-200 ft range?

Thanks,

Jack

The only reason I see, is if you need to:

1) run parallel for any distance near a high level EM field.  Got High Tension (steel) towers on your show site? Micro Cell pole? 

2) runs where you can't space  Class2 from Class 1 wires for more than a small % of the run

[Jack]

Thanks

[Mega Arch]

1 hour ago, Jack said:

Thanks for the feed back. After looking at some of he links a new question or better question that is:

Has anyone found the need to use shielded cat 5e cable instead of the non shielded cable looking at 150-200 ft range?

Thanks,

Jack

You do. You said that you already have the shielded cable. So use it. 

[TheDucks]

Just now, Mega Arch said:

You do. You said that you already have the shielded cable. So use it. 

Seconded

Just be sure to Ground ONE END only. Ground (loop) current can be worse than no shield