Phone Connection / CAT5 Connection

[zman]

I know there was a thread here somewhere, where connections between boards was accomplished via the phone jack instead of the CAT5 jack.

I have an issue with one of the CAT5 connectors on one of my boards. I have 2 CTB16PC boards in the same housing. I need to use all the CAT5 connectors to complete my controller loop.

Is it possible to use the Phone Jack, and connect between boards? This would be a very short cable, 18" tops.

Also, what would the connection diagram look like.

[cmoore60]

Yes you can use 4 conductor phone cable. The in port is the left port and the out is either of the RJ45 (cat5) connectors.

Chuck

[zman]

So my first question, can I go from RJ11 to RJ11 between boards. Later today or tomorrow is when I will be able to test things out.

I understand the wiring diagram. If I use a standard phone cable, will that work, or does it have to be wired myself, custom?

I have been making a lot of my own RJ45 CAT5 cables and have those plugs. I don't have any of the phone plugs.

Thanks for looking at this and providing some input.

[iresq]

Yes, as stated earlier, it needs to be 4 wire phone cable. They plug into the left jack. The first run from the computer needs to be cat 5.

[cmoore60]

zman wrote:

So my first question, can I go from RJ11 to RJ11 between boards. Later today or tomorrow is when I will be able to test things out.

You cannot run a cable from controller 1 RJ11 to controller 2 RJ11. This will short the on board power supplies on the controllers. When using phone wire you use the RJ11 as in "IN" port and the small RJ11 plug will fit in the RJ45 jack for the "OUT".

Chuck

[Alan Roten]

OK I'm confused now. When I did my setup I used phone cable to connect my last unit. I went from the RJ45 to the RJ11 and was not able to get a connection. When I changed the setup and went from RJ45 to RJ45 ( still using phone cable) it worked ! After reading this thread, as I understand it what I did should not work, But it does. With the setup I used both controllers work and the show runs normally. I am going from a 1602W to a CUTBACK. Why does this work?

[taybrynn]

I recommend using RJ45 cables ... they are better quality and more reliable. You can get good 75' ones for around $10 each on newegg dot com. I had nothing but problems with telco cords (probably were not 4 conductors) ... and in Colorado, the UV and weather is harsh on those cables outdoors.

[Tim Fischer]

I use almost entirely flat phone cable in my display and this is my 6th season. We now have 16 controllers and probably 600-700' of comm wire.

Just follow the instructions above and it should work fine.

Cat-5 is great for ethernet but overkill for LOR IMHO...

-Tim

[Tim Fischer]

Jeff Millard wrote:

Alan Roten wrote:

OK I'm confused now. When I did my setup I used phone cable to connect my last unit. I went from the RJ45 to the RJ11 and was not able to get a connection. When I changed the setup and went from RJ45 to RJ45 ( still using phone cable) it worked ! After reading this thread, as I understand it what I did should not work, But it does. With the setup I used both controllers work and the show runs normally. I am going from a 1602W to a CUTBACK.  Why does this work?

Your phone cable is probably not wired in reverse order as is the case with most of them. The only way yo tell would be to ring it out to see if it's wired pin 1 to pin, pin 2 to pin 2 etc... which is probably what you have if it works going from an RJ45 jack to another RJ45 jack. The rules are clear on this. If it's a phone cable wired in reverse order as in the image in my previous post, it has to be plugged into an RJ45 jack out, and an RJ11 jack in.

Jeff

right... did you (or someone else) wire this phone cable or was it purchased? They should be wired as "crossover" for phone use... Cat-5 cables are usually wired as "straight", unless they're sold specifically as "crossover cables" for special uses...

-Tim

[taybrynn]

I agree Tim, that was my thought at well ... but after trying 3 phone cords with no luck, I switched to RJ45 cables and all problem went away.

I'm glad it works for others ... I was hoping to save the $$ on no RJ45 cables myself.

[Tim Fischer]

Jeff is there a thread here on the alarm thing? I thought someone once said that the 'extra' pins didn't pass through the boards, but it sounds like some of them do?

I'm guessing you just need to jumper them together after the last controller to create a closed loop, then have something monitor it from the other end (near the pc)?

-Tim

[zman]

Wow, glad my question generated so much interest.

So let me clarify for my own situation. I need to create a cable per the diagram, that goes from the RJ45 out on one board to the RJ11 of the other board and it will work. Given that I create the cable as define above. I am going to have to run out for the RJ11 jobs. Hopefully Fry's.

So the Cable has to be like this:

RJ45 ---- Cat5 wired straight through ---- RJ11

Thanks for all your input.

[Steven]

Tim Fischer wrote:

Jeff is there a thread here on the alarm thing? I thought someone once said that the 'extra' pins didn't pass through the boards, but it sounds like some of them do?

The CTB16PC passes the pins through, as does the ELL.

However, the older CTB-08 did not, and neither did the USB485B I bought last year, so I had to modify them myself.

I use the extra pins to send audio to speakers mounted near the controllers. I use something similar to a constant voltage speaker system, but only at 3 watts.

[Steven]

zman wrote:

So the Cable has to be like this:

RJ45 ---- Cat5 wired straight through ---- RJ11

That's going to get very confusing, because you'll have a very non-standard Cat5 cable, and the RJ11 jack will have to be "flipped".

If you're trying to work around a damaged RJ45 jack (the correct term is 8P8C jack), then I would do this:

Get a short(!) Cat5 cable with a plug on one end. Strip the other end to leave about 4 inches of wire. Connect these wires to two(2) 8P8C jacks like these these. Now insert the plug into the working jack in the controller, and your network into the two jacks.

Don't worry about making a "Y" connection in the network because it's short enough that it won't make a difference.