Thread: IDE Cable Length Question.

Do a quick search in here and you should come up with heaps, its been a hot topic in the past. But just a few quick ideas that were thrown around, some better than others, use and cat5 or similar cable to extend each wire, get a serial convertor change the IDE to serial the back again at the other end, like I said some better than others, AND make sure that you do your research on the type of player you intend to sit in the dash, try for one that is "draw-less", again a quick search should field some good results on that one to.
hope that helped

I am planning on creating a cable soon. I believe it will work. Like Bob Marley said...Only Time Will Tell

I had the same desire - for my dvd drive.

I used SCSI, bought a scsi card & SCSI dvd drive. SCSI can run mutch further than IDE.
Im not sure of the exact max distance, but my stuff works fine w/ 15 feet of cable.

the other option would be firewire. I have never used it on a dvd drive, but all the tech specs say it would work.

get a firewire to ide board, and pop a firewire card in the pc. check out www.scsipro.com these guys sell both firewire and SCSI boards, converts, extenders etc....

The big thing to consider is where your running the cable. Avoid power runs at all costs. Like running RCA leads for amps, as soon as you cross power you will get 60hz interferance. You can get shielded and braided 40 pin ribbions for such a project but the expense could add up if your not careful.

Originally posted by Skippman:
<STRONG>Like running RCA leads for amps, as soon as you cross power you will get 60hz interferance.</STRONG>

Unless you have an inverter in the car, you will not get 60Hz interference by crossing wires that carry 12VDC. These wires are carrying DC current, which, because it is DC, does not cause interference.