Cat 5 Cable

Cat 5 Cable To Usb

Have you ever wanted to put your USB device farther than a few feet away?  If so, you know the restrictions of a typical USB wire.  Due to the specifications of USBs, a regular cable can be no longer than 16.4 feet faster devices.  Slower USB devices have a maximum distance of just under 10 feet.

The reason there is a limitation on the maximum distance of USB cables is that the electrical design of USB technology simply won’t allow a longer wire.  Back when USB technology was still on the drawing board, its makers decided to configure the transmission of electromagnetic fields on USB data lines so that the limitation would exist.  Since they found that limiting the wire’s length provided several advantages, they concluded that since most USB devices are designed to be used for a desktop computer, the limitations would pose few problems.

This is a real annoyance to some people.  Well, here’s some good news.  Annoyance, be gone!

You can purchase a special wire that connects a CAT 5 cable to USB male and female ends.  With this cable, you can now extend your USB device to a whopping 164 feet away...no more restrictions!

The setup uses a local unit (host computer side) with a USB Type A Male and a remote unit with built-in USB Type A Female on the device side.  A Category 5 Ethernet cable connects the two units together.  (Alternately, you can use a Category 5b or 6 wire).

Here are some of the advantages to using a CAT 5 cable to USB units connection:

• It can lengthen a USB port by up to 164 feet (or even 328 feet with some low-speed devices)
• Uses standard, low-cost Category 5/5e/6 cable
• Very easy to install and use
• All major operating systems that use USB technology are compatible with the special cable
• Plug-and-play compatible
• No outside source of power needed (uses bus-powered supply for local and remote units)

If you’re interesting in getting your hands on one of these cables, they are available online.  One web site offers them with a chic see-through plastic housing.  SpecialTech carries all sorts of unique devices and accessories, including this one.  The units cost just under $100 and would be shipped from the UK, the company’s location.  The website is http://www.specialtech.co.uk/spshop/customer/product.php?productid=344&cat=0&page=.  The device can also be found on eBay.

One final caveat: if you use a cable of 164 feet, you can not use any extra extension cables or hubs—it must connect directly to the device and the computer.  This is for the same reason that they don’t make regular USB wires longer: the limitations on the electrical design.