CTB16PC cat5 vs phone cable

[nunofernandes]

are there advantages/disadvantages to using a phone cable verses a Cat5 cable for CTB16PC or dumb controllers?

 

 

[k6ccc]

In the way back, Cat-5 cable was expensive and harder to come by than phone cable.  One of the concepts was people could use phone cable for the first run from the show computer to the first controller because it would save some money, then use Cat-5 for the presumably shorter runs between controllers.

These days, Cat-5 is generally easier to find (except for short lengths), and the price of Cat-5 has come way down so that is no longer the case.  I exclusively use Cat-5.  BTW, there is ZERO need to use Cat-6 instead of Cat-5 and some reasons NOT to use Cat-6.  Cat-6 cable is stiffer (does not bend as well) than Cat-5.  The result of that is that with Cat-6 cable when used with certain controller packaging, can break connectors when the door is closed on the controller.

 

[TheDucks]

13 minutes ago, nunofernandes said:

are there advantages/disadvantages to using a phone cable verses a Cat5 cable for CTB16PC or dumb controllers?

 

 

AFAIK only if you need to fit it thu a reeeely tight space.

IMHO there are lots of disadvantages: It is more fragile, The length is more limited, specially if you have the older 'silver Satin' which was  foil over cotton conductors (Powering an ELL will probably fail).

CAT5 is now common, and fairly cheap, and easy to find (was not as true, 10+ years ago)

[TheDucks]

CAT5e is also better in noisy (EMI) environments. phone wire has almost zero rejection

[nunofernandes]

Thanks everyone. It was more curiosity than anything else. I have a bunch of telephone cable laying around and was debating its future, before tossing it. 

I (like most of you I'm sure) make my own cat5 cable for my runs... but figured maybe the telephone cable could have a useful life, instead of the trash.

Thanks for the comments. 

[TexasLights]

what about for high speed networks?, i bought a used gen3 and one of the cat5 ports works intermittent so would be easier to use a phone line rather than tear it apart to fix the soldering.

[k6ccc]

6 minutes ago, TexasLights said:

what about for high speed networks?

What constitutes high speed for LOR or DMX is still quite slow. 

7 minutes ago, TexasLights said:

i bought a used gen3 and one of the cat5 ports works intermittent so would be easier to use a phone line rather than tear it apart to fix the soldering.

No problem on using the phone jack, but I would recommend still using Cat-5 cable (not using all the wires).  Obviously that only works if you are making your own cable.

 

[TexasLights]

yes, LOR "high" speed networks and not even really high with that, i don't have that much to control.

and thanks for the idea on using cat 5 with a phone connector, i can see the advantages 

[LaughsBrightly]

I concur with everyone else: use Cat5e.  But not for the speed (Standard LOR network is 1 megabit per second and Cat5 is rated 100 and Cat5e is rated for 1000.).  Cat5 and higher has more twists and can handle a lot more interference than phone wire. Plus it was a lot easier to get various lengths  of Cat5e than RJ11 phone wire. (Of course, I'm an IT engineer so I had a billion feet lying around). Cat5/5e is going to much more durable as well and you can even get it outdoor rated if you wish. Also I don't suggest Cat6 or higher - waste of money and harder to work with and absolutely not needed to handle the low speeds that the LOR protocol runs on. One last thing - don't buy the $3 x  50 footer on Amazon. Get something like Cables2Go, Monoprice, Belkin, etc.  A quality cable will last you and the last thing you want is a dollar store special going out on you  during your show. I actually have a 100' Belkin from my basement to the yard and use Cables2Go 6' footers from box to box.

[TheDucks]

12 hours ago, LaughsBrightly said:

I concur with everyone else: use Cat5e.  But not for the speed (Standard LOR network is 1 megabit per second and Cat5 is rated 100 and Cat5e is rated for 1000.).  Cat5 and higher has more twists and can handle a lot more interference than phone wire. Plus it was a lot easier to get various lengths  of Cat5e than RJ11 phone wire. (Of course, I'm an IT engineer so I had a billion feet lying around). Cat5/5e is going to much more durable as well and you can even get it outdoor rated if you wish. Also I don't suggest Cat6 or higher - waste of money and harder to work with and absolutely not needed to handle the low speeds that the LOR protocol runs on. One last thing - don't buy the $3 x  50 footer on Amazon. Get something like Cables2Go, Monoprice, Belkin, etc.  A quality cable will last you and the last thing you want is a dollar store special going out on you  during your show. I actually have a 100' Belkin from my basement to the yard and use Cables2Go 6' footers from box to box.

I have seen some CRAZY call out SPECS of late.  My Samsung 50" (2018 model) called for CAT7 to connect the 10/100 jack to a wired network 😲

I do not find issue pulling CAT6 if wired to JACKS (you can use a noodley, CAT5 cable to the device). Or, you can do as I have, LOR's W/P cat5 dongles to the case edge. No need to open the case when setting up (all mine have P-touch labels as too their config)

Caution, I bought some pre-made 100' Mini-CAT5 cables from Amazon. They PASS the basic VDV Scout tests (I do not have access to a TDR that the pro installers use) and WILL NOT even run RS485 LOR (and I terminated, thinking they had nasty cross talk issues).