RJ45 Pigtail

[JDM1oc]

Does anyone know where I could get the rj45 pigtails like the ones used on the SS controllers?  I could use them for a project at work. I know I could use keystone jacks, but I'm going for a bit more finished look. 

Thanks,

Josh

[chrisatpsu]

I would think after the coop completes, there should be a BOM in the wiki for it.

[hbomb341]

Hate to bring a post back from the DEAD but also hate to start a new post for same thing - but ran across these today.  Just a NOTE the wire scheme may (100% confident it is) be WAY different so verify it yourself.  But wanted to post some helpful info along.  But a good backup source if RJ runs out.

MonoPrice ItemID: 5088

You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login

Harrison

[RJ]

They are cross overs cables not stright and they are way too short.   If a users uses these and wires them as in the manual it will burn up the stuff as the power would be crossed up so be careful with the stuff.

I have pleny of them I had to have 5000 of them made to be able to get them for us. they also cost us $1.25 so it is a lot cheaper for a longer pigtail that is wired correct.

RJ

[hbomb341]

RJ - Tone doesn't carry well online (No Font for that) - so this isn't intended to be a dis in anyway.

They are cross overs cables not stright and they are way too short.   If a users uses these and wires them as in the manual it will burn up the stuff as the power would be crossed up so be careful with the stuff.

I think I pointed this out - With DIY in the name implies you need to use your brian and some elbow grease is required.

I have pleny of them I had to have 5000 of them made to be able to get them for us. they also cost us $1.25 so it is a lot cheaper for a longer pigtail that is wired correct.

Never said they were cheaper and you have been known in the past to get a run on items so a backup source isn't a bad thing.  Also back to the DIY thing maybe a short cables for someone in their application but want the same look.  If we were going for cheaper a longer cable and a coupler would be cheaper (Under $1).

This was 100% hmmm nice to know and not a hit on your or anything (or even a gotcha - not sure how you interpreted it).  I agree longer cable for cheaper and less thinking - no brainer to go with it.  You can always cut a long cable but is tough to length a short one.  I LOVE the way you go about and design things things an almost off the shelf DIY solution which is WELL thought out and EXTREMELY easy to assemble and use.  It is tough to even begin to guess how many people I have recommended it to and will admit a huge fan boy of it.

Harrison

[RJ]

Yes,

I do believe you read something in my post that i did not put there.

The post was to protect our users who most are not technical and thats why they are DLA. If they do not understand the difference and build 16 using these and damage items because i did not post then i have.failed. The length is an issue because you can not get to the ssc to program the firmware or set the program jumper easily.  My concerns are always about users being successful so it is alway important to be sure the issues are pointed out clearly when options are provided.

The reason i know these facts are because i ordered and used them on the prototype. When they did not work as well as I would like I had ones made for us. By spending the money to do so i got them made cheap for us and this is one of the reasons the coop cost  came down.

I assure you it was.not intend to be taken negatively by you.

Sent from my Charge by Tapatalk

RJ

[mmciver]

First off Happy Holidays everyone!  I hope everyone had successful displays that brought joy to at least somebody!  I know when I get tired of my display I see a child light up when they see it and it makes everything worth it!

Now for my question and why I am rambling on here!

2 years ago I purchased a Smart hub and some version 1 SSC's.  I purchased some rectangle pixels from Ray Wu and started soldering and assembling for tests.  My first tests were terrible and I was having a failure rate on pixels of over 50%.   

I was getting frustrated so I put them down for a while.

Last year I purchased 6 SSC version 2 kits with pigtails and put them away due to busy schedule.

This season I pulled out all of my SSC's and build them and added the version 3 mods.  When retested my pixels I only had a handful out of 100 fail.  Yippee!!!!

When assembling my last few SSC's I noticed that the pigtails were solid core and not stranded wire and I seem to be having some issues with them.  I then looked at the store to see if I could buy anymore and we are out.

Does anybody know where I can get some stranded wire pigtails, or should I go with the ones that I have that are solid core?


Has anyone had experience with the solid core pigtails and the SSC"s?

Curious and looking for guidance!

MIke.

[Steve Gase]

I have moved away from th45 pigtails to waterproof 4core connectors to avoid water issues.

Before that, I used crossover  adaptors from monoprice. Externally they look the same, but they use different wire colors...  Test the wires and adjust your soldering instructions, and you'll get identical results.

[Steve Gase]

Responding to questions in a PM...  others may be interested...




On the SSC I use 3-core female to connect to the string... and 4-core male to connect to the cable that reaches to the smart hub.  There is zero chance I will mix up the connectors because they won't match up. [/size]

The cable is cat5 in which I cut off the rj45 connector on one end.  By using a cat5 cable, I still get the benefits of twisted pair to enable long distances.  I still have one end of the cable using the rj45 connector to allow it to plug directly into the hub -- within a protected water-tight enclosure.


I had maybe half of my (50) rj45 connectors go bad my first year because I didn't take good water-protection precautions.  This year, I had 0 problems with water -- despite a LOT more rain. 


Another thing I did to ensure success...  I had both cables (3core and 4core pigtails) entering a single cap on the PVC tube, the other end had no holes.  With each tube/controller I used a large zip tie to orient the 2 holes in that one cap to face downward -- that way water would not enter the PVC tube.  I tied the zip tie to a fence post -- or to the wire that reached upwards to my coroflakes.  On my arches, I put a small stake into the ground and tied the PVC tube upright to the stake.

[tbone321]

This is a good idea and prevents you from connecting the wrong devices together.  I still have a smart hub to build and will not be installing the RJ45's for the controller outputs.  I will also be using the 4 pin waterproof connectors with the female side soldered directly to the board.  I will also be looking to eliminate the cat5 here as well and am looking at various 16 gauge 4 conductor cables.  I was trying to find some twisted pair cables and thought that I found some but now they seem to have dissapered.  I will order a 100 feet or so of the best candidates and see how they perform signal wise under various condiions.

[DanHouston]

This is a good idea and prevents you from connecting the wrong devices together.  I still have a smart hub to build and will not be installing the RJ45's for the controller outputs.  I will also be using the 4 pin waterproof connectors with the female side soldered directly to the board.  I will also be looking to eliminate the cat5 here as well and am looking at various 16 gauge 4 conductor cables.  I was trying to find some twisted pair cables and thought that I found some but now they seem to have dissapered.  I will order a 100 feet or so of the best candidates and see how they perform signal wise under various condiions.

Will you be soldering to just 4 of the pads for each RJ-45 port or splitting the 4 to eight wires on the board to get to all 8 pads (where the RJ-45 port would have been)?

[twooly]

I'm curious now, why the 4 core on the actual hub? 

[Steve Gase]

I'm curious now, why the 4 core on the actual hub?

who is suggesting that?  ...I suggest you use rj45 connectors on cat5 wire to connect to the hub...  at the SSC, replace the rj45 connector with 4-core waterproof connectors.  you need the twisted pair.   and since the hub should be protected from the elements, it is fine to continue with rj45 connectors.

[tbone321]

This is a good idea and prevents you from connecting the wrong devices together.  I still have a smart hub to build and will not be installing the RJ45's for the controller outputs.  I will also be using the 4 pin waterproof connectors with the female side soldered directly to the board.  I will also be looking to eliminate the cat5 here as well and am looking at various 16 gauge 4 conductor cables.  I was trying to find some twisted pair cables and thought that I found some but now they seem to have dissapered.  I will order a 100 feet or so of the best candidates and see how they perform signal wise under various condiions.

Will you be soldering to just 4 of the pads for each RJ-45 port or splitting the 4 to eight wires on the board to get to all 8 pads (where the RJ-45 port would have been)?

If you look at the board, you will see that the power and ground connections are grouped together on the same trace so you only need to tag one of each to get the same result so I will only be soldering to 4 pads. 

[twooly]

I'm curious now, why the 4 core on the actual hub?

who is suggesting that?  .

tbone did, thats why I was curious.  I get it on the ssc side but the hub side not 100% why, I have a few ideas but I'm just curious what they are thinking.  Maybe easier mounting into a different type of case or hate taking the cat5 out if them need to.