Simple question for the electronics guys. Can I use Cat 8 cable to wire tortoise to a terminal block less than 3 ft away?
Gary
Cat 8 is 24 AWG copper wire. That should be fine for Tortoise wiring that actually has a very low current load.
I wired allmy turnouts, both twin-coil and Tortoise, with old 4-conductor telephone wire for land line house wiring. I used to get it at Home Depot. It worked fine, but I wouldn't be surprised if that stuff is harder to find now.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
gdelmoro Simple question for the electronics guys. Can I use Cat 8 cable to wire tortoise to a terminal block less than 3 ft away?
Simple answer, yes.
I got about three-quarters of a full spool (1000 feet) of CAT 5 cable when my company upgraded to CAT 6. It is essentially 4 pairs of color-coded 24 gage wire. Wired all tortoises and fascia buttons back to the SE8C. Longest run about 15 feet. Easy. No issues whatsoever.
Robert
LINK to SNSR Blog
Yes, if you get it for free or almost free. Cat 3 or Cat 5 is cheaper and every bit as suitable for wiring Tortoises, if you are buying the wire new.
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.
Thank you.
Thought CAT 8 was 26 AWG
Cat7 and Cat8 are shielded, that's the main difference from lower numbers. Really overkill for Tortoises and othe rmodel railroad applications - but if you got a bunch for free.... If you have to pay for it, get the cheapest one - they're all suitable for wiring Tortoises, the extra data capacity is meaningless in this application.
Just an idea, from a quick Google search - Home Depot has 1000 foot spools of Cat 3 for $87. Another site had a 500 foot spool of Cat 8 for the low low price of $996. So again, unless someone gave you a whole bunch of Cat8 - do not waste your money. Granted the cheap Cat3 is 6 conductor not 8.
Thank you