Using Cat 5e for DMX

Porsche

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Hi guys, is it ok to use Cat 5E cable to make up DMX cords with XLR plugs??
Or should I be using a 3 core wire.
I bought some XLR plugs from Ray and was just going to hook them up using Cat 5E?
Cheers
 

AAH

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It's fine to use. Just make sure that you use a twisted pair as the dmx+ and dmx- wires.
 

Porsche

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So your saying, lets twist together say orange and orange/white on pin 1 and then say Brown and brown/white on pin 2 and green and green/white on pin 3??
 

Christmas on Clarafield

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I think what he means is use a single pair with one as the DMX+ and the other one of the pair as the DMX- i.e. Orange/white as DMX+ and orange as DMX negative.
 

fasteddy

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Thats all ive done and never had any issues. Just make your own adaptor cable with an XLR on one end and the rj45 on the other

using CAT5E is actually part of the spec for DMX and has been approved for use.
 

David_AVD

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DMX over CAT5 works well. You could use brown and brown/white on pin 1 (DMX common), orange on pin 2 (DMX -) and orange/white on pin 3 (DMX +).

Which actual pairs you use isn't electrically important, but the ones I chose above are per the RJ45 (T568B) standard for DMX over CAT5.
 

bdeditch

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David_AVD said:
DMX over CAT5 works well. You could use brown and brown/white on pin 1 (DMX common), orange on pin 2 (DMX -) and orange/white on pin 3 (DMX +).

Which actual pairs you use isn't electrically important, but the ones I chose above are per the RJ45 (T568B) standard for DMX over CAT5.


I agree I used it all last season and had no problems with it.
 
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