Yes, phone cords are the ones that are flipped.
For throttles and the radio panels and stationary decoders, it doesn;t matter. But for additional boosters, if the wire is flipped (using a telephone cable), the downstream booster will be out of phase with the command station, which will cause a short when a loco crosses the gaps between the two power districts. The BDL-168 block detector also uses the Railsync data in the Loconet cable for timing and it needs to be in the proper phase as the track power, so a flipped cable will cause problems there as well.
Bottom line - just use the correct, data style cables so you don;t have weird problems down the road.
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.
Just to clarify:
Telephone cable is wired pin one on one end to pin 6 on the other.
Data cable is wired pin one on one end to pin one on the other.
Otherwise they are the same. On most, BUT NOT ALL, Digitrax accessories, either type will work, but it is so easy to convert telephone to data that there is really no reason to not do it right from the beginning. It can save much troubleshooting aggravation down the road.
Dave
Lackawanna Route of the Phoebe Snow
Loconet uses a standard 6 wire telephone cable. (RJ12 standard) But the end connectors are flipped opposite of each other. (One side is up while the other down)
go to home depot/lowes/local hardware store and pick up a kit.
Don - Specializing in layout DC->DCC conversions
Modeling C&O transition era and steel industries There's Nothing Like Big Steam!
Thx for the info guys! I appreciate it.
Curtis
If you bought your Digitrax system new, it came with a Loconet cable tester.
As others have mentioned, if you need a lot of loconet cables you may want to consider making them yourself.
Coincidentally, I made my first loconet cables this morning. It was extremely easy.
I had ordered the flat 6 conductor wire and connectors from monoprice.com: http://www.monoprice.com/product?c_id=102&cp_id=10222&cs_id=1022205&p_id=953&seq=1&format=2
http://www.monoprice.com/product?c_id=105&cp_id=10513&cs_id=1051305&p_id=7270&seq=1&format=2
And a I bought the Klein rj11/rj12/rj45 crimper from Home Despot.
Now it's very easy (and cheap!) to build whatever length cables I need.
Modeling an HO gauge freelance version of the Union Pacific Oregon Short Line and the Utah Railway around 1957 in a world where Pirates from the Great Salt Lake founded Ogden, UT.
- Photo album of layout construction -
If you buy a crimp tool and 6 conductor connectors, which are very cheap at All Electonics, you can buy any flat, six conductor telephone cables, cut one end off and turn it over.
http://www.allelectronics.com/make-a-store/item/cmp-6/6-pin-crimp-on-modular-plug-rj-12/1.html
http://www.allelectronics.com/make-a-store/item/mpcpt-6/modular-plug-crimp-tool/1.html
http://www.allelectronics.com/make-a-store/item/mt-267/7-mod-mod-cable-for-data/1.html
Randy Rinker provided a link here for some reasonable Loconet cables:
Scroll down when you get there
http://cs.trains.com/mrr/f/744/p/253136/2827056.aspx
Good Luck, Ed
Does anyone have a good source for loconet cables? What would you recommend using for LocoNet Cables.
Thx.