It is obviously cheaper to make my own cables and custom legnths are possible so making my own is a no brainer. Videos talk about 6wire cable and connectors and 8 wire cables and connectors. I will be using an nce dcc system so here are the questions.
Are all components 6 wire or are some 8 wire?
Who is a good source for cable and connectors?
Who is a good source for a crimper?
Thank you
Which cables?
6 conductor wire cable is commonly referred to as 3 pair Telephone wire, 8 conductor is 4 pair.
The connectors are 6 conductor RJ12 and 8 conductor RJ45.
Home Depot here in Bakersfield stocks both connectors well as crimpers.
Mel
My Model Railroad
http://melvineperry.blogspot.com/
Bakersfield, California
Turned 84 in July, aging is definitely not for wimps.
NCE uses RJ-12 6P connectors and 6-conductor wire cable for their UTP panels. I’m not aware they use 8P connectors.
I purchased my RJ connectors, cables, and (Eclipse) crimper from Litchfield Station. The connectors you can purchase in any quantity and the cables by the foot. The cost (& shipping) is very reasonable, too. The crimper will handle 4P, 6P, and 8P connectors.
When you correctly crimp the connectors to the wires, the wire coloring will be exactly the same when you compare the tops of the connectors to one another moving left-to-right (or right-to-left). So, make sure you have the cable correctly oriented before you squeeze the handle.
Tom
Hello All,
Check out Show Me Cables.
The NCE DCC system manual shows the pin configuration and recommended connectors.
If you don’t have the manual for your NCE system, contact them and they will provide you with the necessary schematics.
Hope this helps.
Just a word of caution from NCE:
https://ncedcc.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/201799499-NCE-DCC-Cables-Explained
“The Flat 6 wire cable used for the Power Cab is custom made to our specifications and only available thru NCE. Do not attempt to use any other cable. Any 4 or 6 wire cable you purchase from other vendors will not have the same size wires and will void your Power Cab factory warranty. For other applications the maximum length is 40 feet.”
Dave
i believe this comments regards the issue that most telecom cables are designed for communication not power, which 1 pair of the 6 conductor NCE cable carries between the PowerCab and layout.
Given that they are primarily a DCC vendor, I can verify that the RJ12 cable I purchased and received from Litchfield Station works as advertised.
Tom
As a gentle suggestion, match BOTH ends of the known-good cable to the respective ends of the new ones. Some applications ‘cross pairs’ in the wiring and you might have to strategically match positions in each of the connectors.
Fortunately you can usually see the colors of the wire ends in the connectors.
This was lots of fun in the old days of Ethernet (4 twisted pairs) when some patch cables were wired differently. Modem designers made the outstanding decision to accommodate this ‘plug and play’ so that either kind would just work if you plugged it in. I don’t know if model-train makers feel the need (or have the development money) to do such a thing…
According to Larry Puckett, they are going to 8 wire connectors. The Powercab, if is is the command station, uses 6. If you have a smart booster, it uses 4 wires.
There is a CAT-5 UTP panel, whose purpose is to power long runs.
Well I can’t link to the Youtube video. https://youtu.be/H07Wym7LYE4
I can never remember is NCE cables are cross pair or not. [D)]
Cross pair, if I have it right, means what color wires are in the connector, from left to right, are in the same order on the other connector of the wire.
I can recall Randy Rinker (MHRIP) responding that for throttles like the Digitrax 4XX series, a phone cable is fine. For loconet and similar packet transmission, use the cable where all wires run parallel to arrayed pins, and not like in the phone cable where two of them cross.
Amazon is a great source. I got a crimper kit which included the 6 / 8 wire crimper, a cable tester, 6 and 8 wire ends and shields, cable stripper, a punch down impact tool, and a case all for about $20. Used it to put an ethernet in my house. I would suggest getting the pass through connectors as it’s is a lot esier to get the correct color into the correct hole.