Do you think splicing 100' of wire onto a GTO exit wand would work?

[Meat Plow]

Hey please stop cross posting this bullshit to SER.

Thanks.

[mm]

The trouble is, we don't know which group the OP is reading. We don't know which group gets the "post" and which gets the cross post.

I used to say which group I was posting from when I crosspostd, but no one else seems to think of that.

[Meat Plow]

Ok at this point the topic has been run into the ground and all I see is bickering back and forth.

[PeterD]

Piss off meathead.

[PeterD]

I'd be looking for some shielded CAT5 (STP) stranded wire, which shouldwork OK. I've got the cable the OP wants, but I suspect he's a long ways from me!

[Dean Hoffman]

The wire sounds like two pair direct burial phone line. We use it on irrigation systems. Have you tried the local telephone company?

[mm]

The trouble is, we don't know which group the OP is reading. We don't know which group gets the "post" and which gets the cross post.

I used to say which group I was posting from when I crosspostd, but no one else seems to think of that.

[Michael A. Terrell]

Direct burial telephone wire is solid, not stranded. It is usually thinner, like 22 gauge as well.

[Elmo]

Interesting. I don't know if the local phone company sells to people, but I can ask.

[Elmo]

I have a propane torch, a smaller butane torch with soldering tips, and the Weller soldering station. I'm not all that good (I always seem to melt the solder instead of heating the wires) but I'd consider myself ok with solder.

I could also look for an electrical connection type box (like the ones used with the water sprinklers) and that way it would be obvious to all, even any new owners.

I think I'll solder in a compatible wire after finding that scotch 23 in a local hardware store. My home depot didn't have it.

Yes There are overhead power lines. Why do you ask?

[Elmo]

I wonder if it matters. What is the fundamental difference between how a solid wire acts versus multi-stranded wire in this type of low voltage (8-32v) and very low current (1.5ma) application?

[Elmo]

My fault. I'll just stick with alt.home.repair!

That's a good idea. I'll use it next time.

[Elmo]

No. Each wire has plastic around it and the shield is this beautifully braided tinned wire which is much thinner than the other four conductors but it's an entire net of wires nicely braided together.

I think it can easily be soldered. It's not foil. It's braided wire.

They give you stickers saying kids on a bicycle can open the gate so I'd be pretty sure in a "normal" situation, a metal wheelbarrow, moving fast enough, could also trigger the opening.

There is a sensitivity adjustment pot that comes with the exit wand that you mount onto the gate control board, so, yes, there is a sensitivity adjustment.

[Elmo]

Very interesting suggestion!

I didn't know what STP was but it's apparently "Shielded Twisted Pair".

Searching, I can easily find 100 foot lengths of "Cat 5 STP", e.g.,

I like the idea of wiring a female RJ45 connector and just plugging a standard CAT5 STP wire into the RJ45 for convenience (no soldering required).

Apparently CAT5 uses either foil shields or braid and maybe both as alluded to in this url (

).

Note: Removed crosspost.

[Elmo]

It was my fault. Not theirs. They recommended 50 feet but I should have questioned that. In reality, I didn't realize until it was too late that 50 feet is just too close to the gate. At least future users who see this post will know better than I.

PS: Removed sci.electronics.repair crosspost

[mm]

Well I personally think cross posting is a good thing a) when one doesn't know which group is the better or best one.

b) when people on one group could benefit by learning from the other group.

c) lots of other good reasons.

For just one example, a Firefox question to a small netscape/firefox group and a big OS group. Everyone who uses firefox would benefit if the firefox guy knows the answer, but there are a lot more people in the OS group.

Another example is this thread here. I don't know why meatplow objected. I think he reads this group anyhow and not the other one.

One of the big disadvantages of web forums is that there is no way to ask a "multi-disciplinary" question in more than one forum at the same time, or so each will read the others' replies.

[mm]

They sold to our organization once. Those half-round plastic tubes (half-tubes) 8 feet long that they use. But we had a more comprehensive arrangement with them before hand. And we had to buy a box at a time, maybe 100 per box.

Four conductor shielded wire shoudlnt' be easy to get.

In addition, what I said in another post, if you have a half inch with no shielding, I doubt it matters. Or you can take 2 or 3 inches from your 100 foot piece, and remove the shielding from that and wrap it around the splice area. Soldering it at both ends would be optimal. But it's not like there will be big metal things running over the splice area inducing the gate to open. Even bicycles are less likely to ride on the lawn than on the driveway.

[Dan Lanciani]

| Do you think I can find a 4-conductor shielded 16 AWG cable splice kit at | ACE, OSH, or Home Depot? (I'll try later today.)

I doubt it.

Here is the kit I used to splice the cable to a similar vehicle detection wand about 15 years ago. It has worked fine since:

Note that this was just the first Google hit and you may be able to find it as a Winland product for less. Moreover, Winland probably doesn't actually make it so you might find a generic for even less again.

Dan Lanciani ddl@danlan.*com

[mm]

I like an electric soldering iron for soldering wires. It's not like soldering metal gutters. :)

After 40 years I often melt the solder directly, but if you make sure it's hot before taking away the soldering iron, it's fine.

I wouldn't bother.

Some other websites had 50 or 100 roll minimums!

The docs mentioned power lines. but if they are overhead they are probably too far away to matter.

[William Sommerwerck]

This has gone on long enough.

As is true of most companies, the company selling this product is unable to give factual, useful information to the customer. (What else is new?) There is no reason why the people in this group -- or any other group -- should be obliged to make up for its failure to do so.

It seems to me that the manufacturer should have supplied information about selecting the appropriate length of cable, according to the vehicle, the vehicle owner's needs, etc. It apparently did not. If the customer makes a mistake, then the company should DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT, as I've suggested.

If the company won't, then the owner has no recourse but to purchase a new cable or sensor-wand system.

I don't see why this group should be expected to analyze an unfamiliar product and provide useful troubeshooting/modification/repair information, when the manufacturer won't. This problem cannot be new to the company. It ought to have some mechanism in place for resovling such issues. Apparently, it is too stupid to.