atcomsystems.ca/forum Forums Wiring - Telecom Carriers - Trunks & Services Cabling Telephones Systems Wiring 8P8C to 4P4C ???

One other thing, if I am reading your post correctly, it sounds like you have two wires jammed into one slot on the modular plug? If so, this is a real no-no. Field installed modular plugs are a crap shoot on a good day, and they were never designed for this. If I am misunderstanding this, please forgive me.

Maybe you can have the existing cable x-rayed, and find out what they actually did inside? Who knows what evils lurk beneath that cable jacket - I have seen some crazy-a** stuff over the years, especially where [pseudo] "hardware locks" are concerned.

Jim
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Speaking from a secure undisclosed location.

His cable probably zener diodes within the sheathing. He bought proprietary equipment and now he wants something on the cheap! Guess it's to late to use "a rat chewed my cable" ruse!

justbill, thank you for changing the thread title.

Jim, I added a diagram to the bottom of this post to stop any confusion (I hope).

jwooten, that's the only thing I could think of but if there is a diode hidden in behind the sheathing that is a damn good job of hiding it. The sheathing was barely big enough to hold 4 wires and it goes straight into a bare plug. *shrug*

Here is a diagram I just threw together to quell any confusion...



Pins 1 and 2 on the 8P8C share continuity with pin for of the 4P4C but only the blue wire is in the 4P4C. The purple circle represents that I spliced in the red wire from pin one into the blue wire from pin 2.

I am just surprised that the manufacturer won't sell you a replacement cable...

It's a he said - she said situation. He said that he never had the cable, the company said they never ship without the cable and therefore won't send him the cable by itself. The crazy thing is, this guy would pay $100 for the cable if they wanted to charge him that much for it, but they just don't want to budge.

It is very common in serial communication ports to combine the frame ground (FG) and the signal ground (SG). That doesn't surprise me at all that this was done in this instance. I don't like this practice, but I digress.

It is also very possible to twist and tin these combined ground conductors together and form them into something that will work in a crimped modular plug. Comdial did this with the equivalent of speaker wire from their 'wall wart' power supplies for 'Solo II' phones. It can be done.

As to why your reconstruction of this cable working; I just can't say a thing. It sounds as if you have covered all of the bases. I'd focus upon improper crimps where conductors were either missed or they jumped over upon insertion.

I'm all over this one. Now give me one more hint and tell me what the individual colors are on the wire jacket. I mean, did you just choose some nice distinct Powerpoint colors or did the manufacturer use specific colors like black and yellow? That information could be really important.

When I look on the infomercial super-roadway for "cashlane" point-of-sale, I come up with this thread, and nothing else relevant.

Does this company even exist? Am I spelling it correctly? Was Jeff's first reaction correct - i.e., is this related to yesterday's date?

adapaw, please don't be offended - it's just that I find it hard to believe that a company that makes computerized POS systems would have absolutely no web presence whatsoever.

Again, is the spelling correct, or did they get bought out and the name changed?

I am truly vexed. More than usual.

Jim
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Speaking from a secure undisclosed location.

A couple of things:

1. I hope you are charging your client at least $100 to work on this problem. I get these cheapos with their odball problems all the time. If they had paid a fair price for stuff in the fist place, they would not have these oddball problems that they now want someone to fix fo free. Bottom line is that your professional time is worth money, and I hope you are not just giving it away (aka slavery and/or the poor house). If the client is not willing to pay a fair price then you should "ring it up" as no sale.

2. If this guy wasn't a cheapster, he would have his POS terminals furnished and installed by a local dealer and would not have this problem.

3. If he was buying from an authorized dealer, he would be able to get replacement parts. The guy who sold him this POS terminal probably won't furnish a replacement cable because he doesn't have any because he is not a regular dealer of this equipment.

4. Contact the manufacturer, who may or may not help you either with a pinout or a replacement cable.

5. I would follow up the suggestion that you test each conductor for diodes. Most inexpensive VOM meters contain a diode tester. If yours does not, then beg, borrow or steal a diode from Radio Shack or somewhere and put it in series with your continuity tester. I would also check for resistance. I would check for capacitance if I knew how. Anyone?

6. Your best advice is to just tell the guy you can't help him. There is no money to be made with this type. He is probably lying that the cable was left out when he bought the thing. Otherwise he would have returned it faster than a hot potatoe.

7. What is this cable supposed to be connecting? Standard Ethernet uses pins 1,2,3,6.

Guys, I think they got us, and got us good.

I suspect that "they" are the owners/admins...

Take a look at adapaws post count - it increase by one every time he posts in this thread. That ain't normal.

Jim
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Speaking from a secure undisclosed location.