Subscriber Discussion

Wiegand On Cat 6?

UI
Undisclosed Integrator #1
Feb 09, 2017

Hi

 

We have a situation where there is a Cat 6 cabling in place. We need to send Wiegand to a Door controller from an Hid Miniprox reader. We understand the issues about solid wire termination and will use an RJ-45 outlet/breakout box for this purpose :) ...

Can we use Cat 6 to send that low data rate to the door controller? Run is about 150 ft. Has anybody done it? What were the results in real world and in reliable day tot day operation. We have run the simulation with a 200 feet cable roll and it seems to work.. Real world experience would be most helpful however.

We thank you in advance

UM
Undisclosed Manufacturer #2
Feb 09, 2017

Wiegand should not be on a twisted pair. If you are using CAT6, do NOT use a twisted pair for your D0/D1. Instead, use a pair of parallel wires such as orange and green or orange and blue (do not use the twisted blue/blue white pair or orange/orange white).

You also need to be wary of power to ensure that your reader has enough voltage at the end of the line to power the reader. Measure this to be sure your reader has the correct voltage (typically reader current is low: in the 100-150 mA range so that should not be a problem but be wary of the voltage. A 12 VDC reader will typically not work at 9VDC...)

Third, you will need to make sure that the wire does not go near any sources of electro-magnetic interference (EMF). Wiegand should use shielded cable and a CAT6 is not shielded. This should not be a major problem as long as the wire does not go too close any motors, transformers, batteries, ballasts, etc... The typical behavior of a reader with unshielded wire is intermittent "non-reads" (a card is presented once and does not read but when presented a second time it reads).

We have MANY customers who have used CAT5/6 like this and if you observe the above you should be ok. But understand that this type of wiring is NOT the correct specified wire for wiegand (which should be a stranded, shielded, untwisted wire of the largest gauge possible-- which is the exact opposite of a CAT6 wire!)

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Brian Rhodes
Feb 09, 2017
IPVMU Certified

+1 informative. Thanks for the post.

UI
Undisclosed Integrator #1
Feb 13, 2017

Thank you so very muh will check it out and report...

U
Undisclosed #3
Feb 13, 2017

I'm not disagreeing with you, but I'm confused on your strong assertion that Weigand not be run over twisted pair. 

Multiple cable manufacturers use 22-gauge, 3-pair cabling for card readers. Yes, it's shielded, but your statement makes no differentiation between shielded and non-shielded. 

In terms of real-world application, I have used -- against my will -- Cat5E cabling for a card reader twice before with zero adverse effects either time. Both are still operating today, over extraordinarily long distances in very poor scenarios overall.

I'm just curious how some manufacturers would offer cabling as a standard that is supposedly so opposite of what should be happening. And, this is the first I'm hearing of this being such a big deal.

For reference, see Carol Cable part number 4EP1LS, data sheet here.

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