I’m ready to go ‘live’ with my Super Chief system and have 6 UP-5 panels to install around my layout, but I can’t find the type of 6-wire modular cables that I need. The wires in the 24" piece that came with my UR-91 look like this with the plugs side-by-side, facing upward:
Radio Shack only sells the type where the wires are reversed on the plugs, like this:
Can somebody tell me who sells the regular (straight-thru) type in 15-20 foot lengths with the plugs attached?
Digitrax? [:-^]
You can probably get the local telephone repair guy to make some up. They have the cable, and the connectors, it just needs to be assembled correctly for the loconet.
Rotor
For less than it would cost to have some custom-made, you can go to a big-box home supply store and buy the 6-conductor flat cable, a box of RJ plugs, and a decent crimper.
My advice is, Don’t try to be cheap with the crimper! A decent one (not industrial quality, but decent) will be somewhat more expensive than the cheap plastic ones, but it’s money well spent.
HTH,
Steve
Definitely get a decent crimping tool. Good tools do make a difference!
Rotor
LOL! Rotor, I agree, Digitrax SHOULD sell the stuff they require for their products. I tried to buy some cables at MB Klein (where I bought the UP5’s) but they don’t carry it.
The crimper they are selling at Radio Shack is made of metal and cost ~ $40; does that seem about right for a ‘decent’ tool?
I have the Chief. I use the cables from Lowes. They work just fine.
If you don’t want to mess with crimping Litchfield Station carries these cables made up.
http://www.litchfieldstation.com/xcart/home.php?cat=177
They are not too bad prices either.
I think the reason Digitrax doesn’t sell them is because they realize that there’s a lot to be said for having exactly the right length cable, and since every installation is different, that means having to stock (or make on request) many, many different lengths. It’s just too expensive of a proposition to be worthwhile.
Anyway, I see you also posted your question on the Digitrax list. The consensus there seems to be the same - Yes, you can buy them pre-made, but in the long run you’re better off buying the supplies and the crimper and making your own.
Steve
Wow Simon, you weren’t kidding - those prices are really cheap - especially if the plugs are already installed!
Yeah, that’s what I’ve decided I’m gonna do. Having the ability to replace plugs with their plastic latch broken-off is the argument that finally convinced me. Now, if I could only find a supplier within driving distance who stocks flat 6P6C cable on bulk rolls… I’ll have to check out Lowes (thanx for the tip P-V)
Ken, I have had my Loconet in place for years. I have never had need to unplug the cables once they were daisy chained together between the devices (command station, booster, UP5 panels etc) the likelihood of ever breaking the plastic tabs with so little need to unplug them is very limited.
I happen to have gone the crimper route myself and to date have not replaced the connector on a single cable. For my size layout it would have been cheaper to buy the cables pre-made from Litchfield. Litchfield is a great dealer by-the-way, I have purchased a lot from them over the years.
$40 is about what I thought the “decent” crimper would run.
I thought Digitrax used to sell the cables, I guess I should have looked at the web site. [:-^]
Rotor
I see in your profile you’re an IT guy - I’m assuming software geek. Talk to some of your hardware buddies and see if they can’t come up with some cables for you. What you need is nothing more than a straight-through cat 5 ethernet type cable, not a null-modem type which as you’ve seen swaps a few wires around.
A simple CAT5-cable? Wow…
Cat5 is 8 conductor with an RJ-45 connector.
Digitrax uses 6 conductor with an RJ-11 connector.
6 conductor telephone cable works fine.
I apologize - my bad. Got to get new glasses. I’ve been popping between a couple of different forums (trains and music) and got my wires crossed.
As long as you are only wiring UP-5 panles, the reversed cables will work fine. The polarity becomes critical when you are wiring boosters. The red and green wires are common to each other, and the black and yellow wires are common to each other. The blue and white wires are the rail sync signal(the signal that the boosters ‘boost’ to make the track output). The UP-5’s use the rail sync lines to power the throttles, but the polarity of the lines doesn’t matter to the UP-5’s.
Robert’s right.
Digitrax formerly said that telco style was OKback in the mid 90’s. Since then, some signalling boards and additional boosters depend on the cables being staright through. Things like PM42, UP5, UR90&91, DS64, etc. will function either way. One thing to do if you go the premade, Radio Shack telco style cables is to mark them for future reference. I use brown tape at each end on my reversing cables. That way if I’m adding something to the loconet, I can tell at a glance what type of cable is in use. Two wrongs can make a right as well. Two telco style cables daisy chained through a UP5 will be “straight” at each end.
Martin Myers
I’ve gotten mine at Home Depot. I get a 12 or 25 foot and cut one end off. Cut it to length and then crimp new ends. Use what I cutoff, with new crimped ends, for shorter patch cables. I’ve also used bulk Cat5 cable (just using the first three pairs) and crimped new ends.
i’ve found several electronics parts suppliers with the cable and modular plugs online. the wire runs at about 8 cents a foot so 100 ft would be $8. they also have the 6 pin modular plugs. all this is mutch cheaper that buying at radio shack and they get delivered to your door. i did buy the crimper at radio shack several years ago for $10. it’s plastic and it crimps 4 and 6 wire and it works as long as you don’t apply too much pressure. i’ve made over 100 crimps with it. they sell another crimper for $35 which is metal but you can buy a lot of wire and plugs with the difference. check out www.allelectronics.com which i think has the easiest site to navigate and some of the better prices.
The lowest cost pre-made cables that I’ve found are at Wal-Mart in lengths from 8-24ft. They used to be marketed under the Southwest Bell name but I’m not sure what name would be on them now. The package says that it is a modem/fax cable but the pairs are not reversed. They even come in three different colors, white, buff and black. Average cost was around $5.00 per cable. They work great for my 4 UP5 panels.
Scott Sonntag