RS485 Cable...

[rashdown_online]

Hello all.

I'm wanting to daisy chain 6 energy meters in my CU, along with a Fox H1, and then terminating at a RS485-USB (with a 120Ohm resister at the last connection point).

My question is, what cable SHOULD I use? Most places I look defer to a Belden 3105A (2 core shielded) cable.

But I'm not wanting to spend a small fortune on a roll of this cable when I need about 3m max. And a search on eBay sells them in packs of 2x 1m lengths for about £40 (delivered).

Is there an affordable alternative 2core+ground or are people using 1 pair of a shielded CATx cable?

Thanks in advance

[Dave Foster]

It doesn’t need to have the screen over that short a distance, just a simple small multi-strand 2 core cable such as twisted pair or 2 core alarm cable or you could strip out an old cat 5 cable.