Hi Brian,
Here’s how I’ve been doing it:
1. strip off the outer jacket (after poking it through the PVC end cap!)
2. cut the wires at different lengths (optional, see below*)
3. strip the insulation off each conductor using Klein strippers on 24ga
4. twist strands and tin each conductor.
5. poke the wires into the PCB strain relief holes
6. solder each conductor
For me, the easiest way is to poke and then solder the two center wires (whi/grn and blu) then work outwards. (I do {essentially} the same thing when punching down CAT5 to the female connectors but with those I start with whi/blu blu.) ‘Course, I really have to pay attention since I’m not following the natural 1 to 8 or 8 to 1 order.
*To make you really crazy, I actually make the two center wires a tad shorter, the next towards the ends a little less shorter, and finally, the outer two (org/whi and brn) left the original “stripped jacket†full length. Horseshoes and hand grenades.
After I poke the insulated wires through the “strain-relief†holes on the PCB, I use tiny needle-nose pliers to right-angle the conductor so it’ll pop right into the solder holes. Pre-tinning makes the conductors easier to form into shape, plus you don’t have to worry about the stray strand mating with an adjoining hole. After the first two, I solder one alternating conductor at a time finishing with whi/org and finally brn.
Note: I’m running both the 3-wire AND the RJ45-female out the same PVC end cap, two holes (7/32†and 1/4" holes) because of my own requirements and SSC positioning.
It helps if you have the Cardinals at Reds (or your local MLB baseball) game on the television. Com’on Redbirds! (grin)
![Smiley :)](http://diylightanimation.com/Smileys/default/smiley.gif)
joe
I am not having much luck with getting the Cat5 cables soldered to the SS controllers.
I tried the solder through the insulation idea, and it is kind of messy and I am not to sure it is actually making good contact.
I am also starting to melt my insulation further up the wire, probably because I am keeping the iron on there longer to make sure it has good contact and burning away the insulation.
I know someone else mentioned they were stripping and tinning the ends of the Cat5, but this is a pain to get lined up correctly and adds considerably to the process.
Anyone have any suggestions on how to make this go more smoothly.
Thanks,
Brian