Cat6 cable for PanelDue
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I needed a longer cable for my PanelDue and I thought I would try using cat6 cable and keystone connectors.
The duet3d wiki states the resistance per conductor should not exceed 0.1 ohm. I have seen dc loop resistance figures from 10-20 ohm for 100m. For “non loop” 1m that would be 0.05-0.1 ohm.
I connected ground (black) to each of the four pairs and the red, blue and green to the other conductor in the pairs (one conductor left unused). Don’t know if this is the best way to do it? I guess I could have use one pair for each colour and should get half the resistance…? Anyway, I tested with a 3m cable which will probably put me over 0.1 ohm but everything appears to work.Might be something others can consider if they have a big printer and need longer cable.
Now I need to design a better case for it. -
It's the ground wire that is most critical, so that's a good way of doing it. I suggest you use the spare conductor as another power conductor. The resistance of the two data wires is much less critical.
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Thank you David! I should have asked before I hooked it up
If theres a problem with my current setup I'll redo the power and use the last conductor… -
I also needed around 2m of cable length.
I used 2 thicker wires for the ground and 5V supply
Data : AWG26
Power and ground : AWG22
Protected by a braided cable sleeve.
No issues at all.You could use 2 twisted pairs for data each 1 data, 1 ground
1 pair for ground and 5V and 1 pair for 5V.
If you use shielded cable : shield to ground too.
Pairs have same colour marking. -
You could use 2 twisted pairs for data each 1 data, 1 ground
1 pair for ground and 5V and 1 pair for 5V.
If you use shielded cable : shield to ground too.
Pairs have same colour marking.I would have 5V/GND twisted x 2 instead of having two GND twisted and two 5V twisted. The whole point with TP is that they do not pick up as much noise. Still this is probably not an issue anyhow but why not use a cable for what its worth.
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I would have 5V/GND twisted x 2 instead of having two GND twisted and two 5V twisted. The whole point with TP is that they do not pick up as much noise. Still this is probably not an issue anyhow but why not use a cable for what its worth.
It would be even better to make data twisted pairs as DIN/GND and DOUT/5V to distribute power supply among wires evenly.
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I redid the wiring as David suggested and finally took the time to design a case for the PanelDuo.
I did a mount that lets you put it anywhere on a horizontal 40x40 alu extrusion. The three meter cat6 cables gives great range.
I printed it in PLA 0.6 nozzle and 0.3 layer hieght.I'm pretty happy with the result.
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Amazing work. I ended up putting a JST SM connector pair on my panelDue so I could detach it for firmware updates… it never occurred to me to use cat6... that would have been much more elegant.