Im sitting here watching Digitrax's Loconet Cables vanish all over the internet. Here is Atlas getting into the cabling business, the good ebay sellers got out and no one wants to sell pre-made DCC Loconet Cabling anymore, what gives?
That was three months ago. The situation has only appeared to get worse.
Then I got angry. And figured Loconet is nothing more than a heap of bull fancy term called 6 wire Telephone wire (Whoops, time to buy keyboard, spelling problems these days. *** it!!!!
I bought a 7 foot section of telephone wire at wally world tonight for a buck or two, tossed it into the cart thinking I dont care about this stupid DCC cable problem anymore and was getting ready to make plans to make use of my college learning (... a little bit to be dangerous...) and make my own *** cables myself with a stack of R12 cable Jacks.
Lo and behold, the telephone 6 wire jack fit prefectly into the UP 5's panel face socket.
Do I dare bring the system alive and TRY running on this plain old fashioned 6 frigging wire telephone cabling?!
6 wire telephone cables from Wallmart will work BUT there could be some drawbacks later on.
Telco cables are wired pin 1 to pin 6. Digitrax recommends data style cables which are the same wire and plugs wired pin 1 to pin 1. In most cases, the telco will work just fine but there are a couple of cases e.g. multiple boosters where the reversed wires will cause trouble.
The biggest trouble with mixing cable types is down the line. It will work OK this year but next year a change or addition is made to the system and those reversed (telco) cables are forgotten. This causes hours of troubleshooting and usually multiple posts to forums and groups before the little light goes off and OOPS, problem solved.
If you go with the wallyworld cables, do as many of us already have done. Pick up a decent crimper and a package of 6p6c jacks. Cut the jack off of one end of the cable and crimp a new jack on data style. It's best to start out using the standard then trying to find a needle in a haystack later. What the heck, you could even make some custom extension lines for the home phone too.
BTW, Radio Shack also sells a 25 foot 6 wire extension cable that is telco style.
Martin Myers
I'm not really sure what you're asking or ranting about, but it seems to be, "Can I use six-conductor telephone cable and RJ plugs to make my own LocoNet cables?"
The answer is, Of course you can. Just be sure to wire them properly: Locking pin up on end of the (flat) cable, and down on the other end.
Why do you think nobody (well, hardly anybody) sells pre-made LocoNet cables? It's simply because they're so inexpensive and easy to make that there's virtually no profitable market for them.
Steve
I dont think it is QUITE that simple, but close. I might stand corrected but presuming what you bought is a standard 6 connductor CAT5 cable, i think if you were to cut the connector off of one end and flip it over you would be looking at how the cable is supposed to look. So the next step is bribe your local computer geek. He probably has all the right stuff (crimper, srtippers, connectors) to make them how you want them, and to your custom lengths. Just remember, on one end the connector is prong up, other end, prong down, Otherwise try it yourself,!
Doug
The phone cords will work - so long as all you plug in are throttles and devices that don't care about the railsync signal. Use one of those phone cords to connect a secodn booster and you'll find the track output flip-flopped. It's best to use the proper cables rather than phone cords as eventually you'll forget you used the phoen cords and wonder why in the heck things aren't workign properly.
Makign cables from flat wire is about the easiest thing in the world to do - provided you get the PROPER crimp tool and not one of those cheap plastic ones. A good metal one has stops built in to cut the end of the wire square and then strip exactly the proper amount of the outer jacket off.
I've purchased cables at Walmart - I usually get a 20+ footer then cut it in half and crimp 2 new ends on in the proper direction and get two cables out of it. However I now have a box full of 6 wire phone cords I grabbed from work when we ditched our old phone system, so outside of a basement-fillign layout I am set for Loconet cables. Just have to snip one end off and install a new one facing the proper way.
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.
Thanks all for the replies.
Crossover = Bad. Straight through Pin 1 to pin 1 = good?
Now I need to start flipping flat cable end jacks following the Digitrax's PDF on Loconet Standard.
Boy this is going to be something. I think I measure my first cable cut to precisely my weight/drop ratio in case I need to remove myself from the darwin pool /sarcasm.
I have one command station, one PR3, four UP5s, and eight DS64s. I use nothing but unmodified 6 conductor telephone cables from Lowes and Radio Shack. I have never had a problem. If you use boosters, you will have to use data cables between the two command station/ boosters, but I am not aware of any other devices that care.
On responder mentioned Cat 5 cable. Cat 5 cable has 8 conductors and uses different plugs. Cat 5 will not work unless you change the connectors and ignore two wires, and the color codes are different.
Dave
Lackawanna Route of the Phoebe Snow
Phoebe Vet I have one command station, one PR3, four UP5s, and eight DS64s. I use nothing but unmodified 6 conductor telephone cables from Lowes and Radio Shack. I have never had a problem. If you use boosters, you will have to use data cables between the two command station/ boosters, but I am not aware of any other devices that care. On responder mentioned Cat 5 cable. Cat 5 cable has 8 conductors and uses different plugs. Cat 5 will not work unless you change the connectors and ignore two wires, and the color codes are different.
BDL168's with Transponding receivers installed also care, because the transponding signal is timed from the railsync. At preset I think that's th only thing other than a booster which actually uses the signal in railsync and doesn't just rectify it to power the device (like a throttle does).
Like Randy mentioned, only the boosters and the BDL168's at this time need 'rail-sync' - that could change in the future. And you know if you have a 'mix' of cables, you will get one of the phone cables in the wrong place sooner or later.
BTW - Both Litchfield Station and Tony's Trains will make custom cable lengths for quite reasonable prices - forget about those eBays Stores....
Jim
Modeling BNSF and Milwaukee Road in SW Wisconsin
Mike at Charleston Digital Trains will also make custom length cables.
'there's something happening here, what it is ain't exactly clear' Modeling the Hard Knox Valley Railroad in HO scale http://photos.hardknoxvalley.com/