CAT5 to wire buttons?

[Silverwind]

Anyone here use cat5 to wire microswitches? (joysticks/buttons)

it is 24awg.. I am thinking on using it.. partially because I already have 100 feet of it.. and it's a little easier to manage because the wires are in bundles of 8..

anyhow... will this work fine for buttons.. or do I need lower guage cable?

[BobA]

Works ok electrically but can be a bit hard to crimp if you are using pushon connectors for your microswitches.  Double or triple the bare wire and twist it a bit to give the crimp something to hold onto.

BobA

[hyiu]

I used cat5 wires all over my cab... from SW hack soldering to microswitches... and even the coin door lights....

[Silverwind]

I used cat5 wires all over my cab... from SW hack soldering to microswitches... and even the coin door lights....

did you double/triple up the bare wire as was suggested by BobA? Or did it crimp fine for you w/o it?

I just have lots of it.. and seems like it would be better organized.. so figure why not use cat5

[Thenasty]

I use Cat5 on mine. I did not do any crippling for i just connected it directly to IPAC and solder it the other end in my leaf switches/microswtiches buttons/joysticks.

[hyiu]

I did use those quick disconnect things... on the end... yes.. if its a single wire, I would leave it longer, then "fold" it before stuffing it into those quick connects and "clamp" it tight to those things....

but for like grounds, (since I'm chaining them together), it always comes in pairs, and they're fine.... just twist it together, stuff it in and clamp it tight...

[thelevin8r]

I'm really getting off topic here, but since we are talking cat5...
CAT5e/6 cable makes excellent high end speaker cables too. I built them just to see, and now I swear my them.

http://www.venhaus1.com/diycatfivecables.html
http://www.tnt-audio.com/clinica/diycables.html

TheLevin8R