Cat6 cable -> IDE Cable

dan0myte · 08-30-2001, 06:56 PM

Hey guys. I've been trying to do the networking cable mod that's always talked about, but with no avail. I had a DVD drive mounted in the dash, while the PC is in the trunk, 6 feet away. I know IDE cables will start to miss info at that length so I decided to go with the much talked about "Cat5 IDE Cable", where you take the ends off of a normal IDE cable, then put the wires of the networking cable into the clips.

I had access to Cat6 cable pretty cheap, so I just used that. Now what's happening is I can't get the wires of the cable to fit into the teeth of the IDE connectors. It's just way too big for it! The two gripping teeth at each connection are just stretched to the limit and the tiny networking cable still won't go into it. I even stripped the ends of the cat6 cable to help out with clearance, but it's still too big for the connector. How did you guys get this to work???

lstrunk · 08-30-2001, 08:18 PM

hmmm, I don't know, but its called Cat-5, there is no such thing as Cat-6

dan0myte · 08-30-2001, 08:42 PM

Nah man, Cat5 is old tech. They had Cat5e come out about a year ago and Cat6 is the latest stuff.
http://www.panintl.com/CB-17-1.htm
The Cat6 is the 350MhZ, gigbit/sec stuff. Thought if Cat5 works for this application, Cat6 can only be better.

[ 08-30-2001: Message edited by: dan0myte ]

Meatballman · 08-31-2001, 02:24 AM

He's right...I think cat6 is supposed to give you like an extra 150 ft before signal loss.

dan, I don't think I heard of anyone who put the connector directly on the cat5(or 6) cable. I think most people had cut a couple inches off the end of an IDE cable, and then separated the wires and soldered from wire to wire. I've never done this mod though, so that is just what I gathered from the board. I know...sounds a bit tedious. You may want to consider firewire.

[ 08-31-2001: Message edited by: Meatballman ]

SkinnyBoy · 08-31-2001, 02:31 AM

Nah, quite a few people are connecting it directly...

dan0myte · 08-31-2001, 04:23 AM

Ah, never even considered just cutting the stock IDE cable. Thanks.

gerard · 08-31-2001, 04:35 AM

i did take 6 feet of normal bandcable and 2 ide connectors.
crimped them on and it worked like a charm.

pinkysqueaks · 08-31-2001, 09:10 AM

it shouldn't be too hard to crimp normal cat5 into an ide connector, i have done it multiple times. maybe cat6 is a different guage. soldering the cat5 to a ribbon cable will work, but not in an electrically noisy environment (your car). good luck.

Aaron Cake · 08-31-2001, 09:29 AM

Your success in crimping can depend on the thickness of the Cat-5/6. Odds are that it is thicker than the IDE ribbon cable. You might want to etch a small PC board that allows you to solder the cut IDE (or even better, have a 40 pin header so you can plug the IDE cable in without cutting) to one end, and solder the Cat-5/6 to the other end. Then have the same thing at the other end of the cable.

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