Interspace Industries TheatreCue 16 Way V4 System - 16 Outstations - Manual (Page 29)

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29.
Outstation Cables (Continued)
Cat 5/6 cables
The star configuration is often wired using CAT5/6 cable as
this follows the convention used for computer networks.
There is no technical reason to do this. The Cue Light
system is also not bound by the 100m (330 ft) limit imposed
on computer networks. It also does not use (or need) a hub
at the star point. Cables at the star point are simply wired in
parallel. This is often done at a patch panel.
By limiting the maximum length of all legs of a star wired
using CAT5/6 to 200m (650 ft), a Master Station and up to
19 Outstations can be placed anywhere on the star. The
Master Station does not need to be at the star (common)
point.
The 200m figure is derived from the cable table on the
previous page where it can be seen that 19 Outstations can
be connected at the end of 400m (1,300 ft) of CAT5/6.
The distance between any 2 extremities on a star with a
200m per leg limit is 400m.
CAT5/6 cable can be used but the screened variety is
preferred to reduce noise pickup from adjacent cables. If the
CAT5/6 cable has a screen, tie it to XLR pin 1 at both ends.
It is suggested that any CAT5/6 cables used for the Cue
Light wiring be terminated in 3 pin XLR connectors so that
they cannot be accidentally cross patched with PC network
cabling as power from the Cue Light system may damage
computer network components.
Suggested Cue Light XLR to CAT5/6 wiring
2
1
3
XLR Connector CAT5/6 cable
A termination suggestion to allow the Cue Lights to use an
available CAT5/6 cable. It is not a converter to enable the
Cue Light system to be connected to the Internet or a PC
network.
And you can’t use this to network two PCs via a microphone
cable either!
Screen (if present)