Can I use cat5 for balance leads?
- Thread starter patrickza
- Start date
wesnewell
100 GW
Cat 5 jacks have crossovers in them iirc. So be careful. Standard R45 plugs and jacks are straight. Make sure you get the proper plugs. They are made for satin cable, solid wire, and stranded wire.
cal3thousand
10 MW
SOME cat5 has crossover in it.
But those are not that common. The most common Cat5 (ethernet actually) cable is a "patch cable" which is your normal PC to switch/router/etc cable. Crossover cables were designed to connect 2 PCs together or 2 switches together.
If the cable works for connecting your PC to your router or switch, you are good to use it as a balance lead. Just make sure you don't exceed 500mA.
But those are not that common. The most common Cat5 (ethernet actually) cable is a "patch cable" which is your normal PC to switch/router/etc cable. Crossover cables were designed to connect 2 PCs together or 2 switches together.
If the cable works for connecting your PC to your router or switch, you are good to use it as a balance lead. Just make sure you don't exceed 500mA.
bigmoose
1 MW
Most Cat5 cable insulation has terrible temperature capability. I posted this last month:
"Jared, take a look to see if it is stranded or solid conductor. The solid will fatigue with vibration. Also the temperature capability of the CAT5/6 conductor wire is not stellar. You can test it with your soldering iron to get an idea how soon it starts to "flow" with temperature. I just pulled one spec on CAT5 cable and it was only rated to 75 deg C with PVC insulation for information."
http://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=596827#p596827
"Jared, take a look to see if it is stranded or solid conductor. The solid will fatigue with vibration. Also the temperature capability of the CAT5/6 conductor wire is not stellar. You can test it with your soldering iron to get an idea how soon it starts to "flow" with temperature. I just pulled one spec on CAT5 cable and it was only rated to 75 deg C with PVC insulation for information."
http://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=596827#p596827
I work in IT and have dealt with POE (Power over Ethernet) devices somewhat.
A standard CAT5 cable is capable of delivering 48V to wireless routers without issue. I would expect it would only be using 2 strands to do this.
So whatever a POE wireless router needs to run, you'd be safe under that. Probably under 500ma per strand is OK.
CAT6 has better insulation if your worried.
And if your really paranoid, I recall CAT7, 8, and 9 also exist.
Cheers
A standard CAT5 cable is capable of delivering 48V to wireless routers without issue. I would expect it would only be using 2 strands to do this.
So whatever a POE wireless router needs to run, you'd be safe under that. Probably under 500ma per strand is OK.
CAT6 has better insulation if your worried.
And if your really paranoid, I recall CAT7, 8, and 9 also exist.
Cheers
GMUseless
100 W
If you've got any old serial cables laying around...those usually are higher guage(22-24AWG) than CAT5(24-26AWG). And, they're usually stranded, with better insulation. Solid wire CAT5 is just waiting to break free and go looking for somewhere to short. Regardless...even CAT5 should be ok for a couple of amps.
oldhaq
100 W
Just a side-note on ethernet cables, the crossing over of the wires is done at the ends when connecting the plugs to the wires, each wire's insulation is color coded anyway so you can see the pin assignment through the clear plugs if close-up. And you cant always rely on being able to tell if the cable is crossover or straight by connecting between two devices to see if it forms a connection because many devices these days have auto-sensing/switching to match the type of cable attached.
Similar threads
