CONTROLLER NOT DETECTED IN HWU

[Orville]

I agree with Jim.  I bought mine, same one Jim references in the URL when I first started in this hobby, that little gem is not only a time saver, you know at a glance if there's a problem with the cat cable. 

When I got into this you could get those testers for as low as $2.99 if you were lucky, I paid $3.99 for mine when I finally got to ordering one back in 2010.     So a $4.00 jump in price is still cheap, considering that's not a hefty jump in 8 years, unlike other things that have really hiked up in price!

That little device has saved me a lot of grief, far less down time fixing and looking for a bad cat cable than you could even imagine. 

Well worth the low investment cost for one.  Believe us, in this hobby you really do NEED one of those testers for checking cat cables and it also checks telephone cables too.  So double duty device.

[Al Saunders]

Hey Guys,

Thanks for the link and great advice. For some reason I thought a tester like that was around $60.?

I just ordered one and will test the cat5 cable in question. I already swapped out the cable in question and checked the connection on the other short run cat5 cables. I didn't have time to hook up my laptop to see if swapping the cable fixed it or not before my wife had dinner ready. You know, priorities right?!

Again, thanks for the help.

Al

5 hours ago, k6ccc said:

Invest the eight bucks:

 

[Orville]

11 hours ago, Al Saunders said:

Hey Guys,

Thanks for the link and great advice. For some reason I thought a tester like that was around $60.?

I just ordered one and will test the cat5 cable in question. I already swapped out the cable in question and checked the connection on the other short run cat5 cables. I didn't have time to hook up my laptop to see if swapping the cable fixed it or not before my wife had dinner ready. You know, priorities right?!

Again, thanks for the help.

Al

 

I know, you think tester and uh oh!, I got to spend a ton of money for something that I may not really need.   Fortunately these testers are really dirt cheap and mine has more than paid for itself the first time I ever used it to find a bad cable.   Especially if you're like me you have a back-stock of all sizes and colors and need to know if it's good or bad when pulling one out to use.  

I've gotten bad ones right out of the bag brand new and never used by being miswired, had one I bought and it was actually missing 3 wires in it!  So even a new cable could have a fault that isn't readily noticeable or if you buy them on line and then get them, a bad one can show up since you can't see the ones you're buying to examine them, like in a retail store that may sell such things.

So mine sure saved me a lot of headaches trying to find issues when a controller wouldn't be found or work for some reason, usually always turned out to be a cat cable that was the culprit, only had one that a critter got inside and blew a fuse on one side.

So if your controllers may be outside where little critters, like lizards especially, could climb inside your controller and cause issues, here's a cheap and inexpensive way to keep them out {they always enter via the Cat5 cable entry/exit port}, go to your local Home Depot or Lowes, buy about 1-2" diameter insulation foam that wraps around PVC pipe to keep it protected and cool, these are about 6' long, not sure what the cost is now, but when I bought mine the cost was like $1.00 for 6-12' length of it{I use the gray colored one}, get that, cut pipe foam into small sections, only about 1/2" in size{maybe 3/4"} and stuff it up around the Cat5 Cables until it's snug around them, {I put it in through the top port access area and also inside from the circuit board access port down to the lower port access point and it meets the other port in the middle by the foam touching}, makes it practically impossible for anything to get inside the controller, it definitely helps keep bugs and critters out of your controller.  Been using this stuff for years now and never have an issue with anything getting inside my controllers.

If a wet lizard gets in there it can actually cause a short and if lucky, just blow a fuse, but it can do even more damage if it touches 2 contacts that can short something and start a fire, or blow a triac, then you have a dead channel or even fry your circuit board inside.  And if a fire would start because of a critter and no one is around to know, smell or see that something is burning, that could be really bad.

So I always recommend to find something and some way to keep critters from getting inside your controllers, just keeps everything safer in doing so.  They also have weather proof cat cable dangles that can be put in those entry/exit ports for cat cables as well.  Those will seal the hole as well, but aren't real cheap, not that expensive, and depending on the type you may have to run very short cat cables from the controllers jacks to the cat cable dangle, some have a short length of cat cable pre-installed and will usually reach the controller cat cable port, then you plug the cat cables into the controller from the outside of the controller into this dangle.  You'd have to buy a dual port one since the controllers need two cat 5 cables one in and one out.  So the cost is a bit more for the dual version, but that's what would be required.

Me I like to try and do things cheaply, but work reliably and safely, and the pipe foam works for me.  Like said, been using it for years and no critters get into my controllers.

 

Edited November 27, 2018 by Orville

[TheDucks]

I already had a Klein VDV Scout (1), from when I wired houses for Voice, Data, and Antenna. In addition to the pair checking, it had ID plugs to attach at the far end that you could read at the punch down (great when yo also have bundles of CAT5), and it had a Toner (you did need the probe end) function.

All handy if yo play with deenergized wires. A little  more Pricy $89 (there is an improved model that combines the ID and pai check in one end piece

[Al Saunders]

1 hour ago, Orville said:

buy about 1-2" diameter insulation foam that wraps around PVC pipe to keep it protected and cool, these are about 6' long

Great idea! I've never stuffed the port at the bottom in previous years but when I checked the controllers last night (all numbered correctly and stating no conn, laptop not connected) I noticed a lady bug in one of them. I flicked her/him out of it. We do have those small lizards in our yard and I just found a tiny black snake the other day that I used a flat shovel to toss it into our woods. So we do have critters.

I have some leftover of that foam pipe insulation from insulating our water treatment pipes in our garage so I'll cut some down and do as suggested in stuffing that opening at the bottom of the case.

Thanks again, really appreciate all the help. I might be able to try the connection tonight.

Al

[Orville]

5 hours ago, Al Saunders said:

Great idea! I've never stuffed the port at the bottom in previous years but when I checked the controllers last night (all numbered correctly and stating no conn, laptop not connected) I noticed a lady bug in one of them. I flicked her/him out of it. We do have those small lizards in our yard and I just found a tiny black snake the other day that I used a flat shovel to toss it into our woods. So we do have critters.

I have some leftover of that foam pipe insulation from insulating our water treatment pipes in our garage so I'll cut some down and do as suggested in stuffing that opening at the bottom of the case.

Thanks again, really appreciate all the help. I might be able to try the connection tonight.

Al

Glad to help when I can and make suggestions to keep things working too!