I’m going to make my a pair of modules to let me send the signal over cat-5. I have no clue if it will work (degradation over range may be an issue) and have 1 pin left to work out the details on, but I’m curious if there is any interest in this from others. This would not have any drivers, it’s just an extension cable.
This would not be a module over Ethernet, just over cat-5. I will probably use RJ45 jacks because they are easy to get and because Ethernet cables are easy to get and use. For me it is because I had my new home built pre-wired with plenty of Ethernet drops.
Sockets A, C, D, H, K, O, T, U, X all would work with pin 8 or 9 being open. Sockets I, P would work with socket 4 or 5 open. Socket Z would depend on the manufacturer use. Some of the Y’s I have checked out don’t use all 7, they just needed more than 3. If a 3.3v regulator is on the remote end then that would free up one more pin going through the wire allowing up to 6 of the conductors to be used for signal/data with the remaining two being GND & 5v.
If anyone has already tried this and knows it won’t work at all, please let me know. I think I have 100ft between my Cerberus and the jack I plan to attach my first remote sensor.
There is a limit to how far the data will travel. In ideal conditions, the limit is 100 meters, but this will decrease per environment. Also, you will either need to drop data pins, or leave the module to be powered externally. If you drop data pins, ensure that each wire can handle a load of 800mA, just to cover the general usages.
@ James - that is 100 meters if you use a differential signal of Ethernet. This is not the case with modules. Some will work on 100 meters like a button but S socket will probably not.
@ James - as I said, I would drop the 9 pin and probably the 8 pin (the sockets that don’t use 9 also don’t use 8), but the 3.3v could also be dropped since you could use a regulator off the 5v line.
@ Gus - I did not list S as one of the sockets it would work with because it uses all the data pins. I know signal degradation may be an issue depending on length, and I know the length before degradation will be different between modules.
I figure I’ll just do some tests and see what happens, I was just polling to see if anyone else had any interest in having modules more than 50cm from the board.