Weatherproof RJ45

[CaptKirk]

Gary-

That is a nice find.  It looks very similar to these other ones we found.  How does it work for you?  Is the connector secure?  Does it look "funny" sticking out of the case?  How did you mount-  off the sides where RJ shows, or someplace else?  Can you put up a photo?

THX!!  Kirk

[Gary]

Gary-

That is a nice find.  It looks very similar to these other ones we found.  How does it work for you?  Is the connector secure?  Does it look "funny" sticking out of the case?  How did you mount-  off the sides where RJ shows, or someplace else?  Can you put up a photo?

THX!!  Kirk

Some things to keep in mind about these connectors I used:

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I did get some moisture condensation on the glass inside one of my Aethers. I don't know if it was from where a RJ45 jack is, the rubber seal around the glass (since I got a ), or another opening I made in the case to attach a loop to lock down my Aethers to prevent them from "walking away". I admittedly could have done a better job of sealing everything, but I was in a hurry to get my 5 Aethers ready for the neighborhood's premiere night on December 1.

When I was taking my light display down, I did notice some moisture where there the male and female RJ45s click together. I thought it would have remained dry. Don't know if it's because I wasn't agressive enough with tightening it since it's plastic and for the first one I did, I started cross-threading it and was scared of wrecking it. I didn't use any silicone, since the assembly came with rubber seals. Maybe I should have.

The hole openings to pass the cables through are a bit on the small size... a RJ45's cable boot connector won't pass through. It's even a little bit tight for the plain RJ-45 connector; pulling the cables out caused the tab on the RJ45 connector snag inside the parts that waterproofed the connector... for the first Aethers I made cables for, I cut about 1/8" of an inch off the end, and for the subsequent ones, I used a pair of needle nose pliers to bend the plastic tab down to make it skinnier and prevented the snags.

As for your other questions, the connector is secure. I just did them a firm finger tight... I didn't use any wrenches in the plastic nut inside the case to hold the plug in place.

It looks a little funny having 2" ears on the side of each case, but compared to all the other tacky stuff around the yard, it's fine. I didn't use the pass-through for all of my Aethers, and since I'm not sure if the jack would keep water out of the inside of the case without a cable in place, I put a small length of CAT5 cable into the unused plug assembly with the end taped off.

I mounted the plugs on the sides where RJ recommended, but the center of the holes I drilled were 2 7/8" from the lip of the case opening, rather than the 3" that RJ recommended in the assembly video... reason being that I didn't want the rubber seal too close to the rounded area of the case... I wanted it to remain on the flat area. Note that I used a 1" hole saw.

I should also mention that the black rubber plug in the picure can be removed... it has a slit in it.

P.S. The reason for the ugly case color paint job was to camouflage the lights a bit, and make them less attractive to dumb thieves who wouldn't know what they're actually stealing.

[CaptKirk]

Thanks for the advice and pictures.  I neaver would have thought to bend the tab like that- should work.   That looks very acceptable to have the "ears" like you said.   I like the cable lock idea- I may need to steal that idea from you.

As for the paint job, it is definitely creative- almost like a mythical flying x-mas creature had a little "accident" on it...    Kirk

[CW]

I bought the conectors from Sparcotech mentioned in Randy's post for my Aethers and I think they worked great.
One negative about them is they have a really sticky thick double sided tape that they reccomend you wrap on the exterior cat 5 cable to thicken it up for the connector to clamp onto.  You tighten the nut on the exterior cable which has a flexible grommet but it has to be big enough for the RJ45 to fit thru.  So they reccomend 1 and 1/2 turns of the sticky stuff which works OK but if you put the entire piece like I did cause I was in a hurry, well it is a mess taking apart.  It is like gooey glue and sticks to anything it touches. I think this year I will use some soft tubing and split it down the length to slip over the cat 5. 
No water leaks or moisture in the Aethers and we had a lot of rain this Christmas season in the Seattle area.
I did not like the web site for the same reason as mentioned earlier so I called and ordered.  Had to call a second time for a confirmation on cost and ship date.  They arrived in reasonable time and cost so I was happy.

Craig

[CaptKirk]

The ones I ordered showed up Friday!  They look nice but do have the sticky tape- I like the idea of a split rubber ring- any ideas what to use???

[Gary]

Maybe we should ask Consumer Reports to evaluate all the options.   

[CW]

I am going to look for a soft vinyl tubing like I.V. or surgical tubing.

[Gary]

How is tubing supposed to work? It doesn't sound like a modular solution where you would be able to remove the cables easily.

[gophergrove]

It seems this connector requires the cat5 cable to be wrapped (bulked up) to make a better seal.  The tape provided is messy so using a small piece of tube split lengthwise would allow placement on a cat5 cable and provide the necessary seal.

I'm not sure why the connector itself doesn't have a rubber seal the proper size but I don't have one to look at...