Reef Angel Forum

I have a dedicated "fish room" (garage) that shares a wall with my basement that my tank is against. I've been trying to keep the whole setup as clean as possible (wifes rules).

Here is what I currently have for the tank that will be under RA control and location:

Garage:

Skimmer
Return Pump
2x300 Watt Heaters
2xDosing Pumps
ATO Dosing Pump
Automatic Water Change pump

Basement (Display Tank):

x2 WP40
Actinic T5
Daylight T5

I am currently planning on having the following setup with respect to the RA:

Garage:

RA+ Head Unit
Temperature Probe in Sump
Salinity Expansion with Probe in Sump
pH probe in Sump
Water Level Expansion for ATO
Expanson Hub
Relay Expansion and Box

Cables Going through the wall:

RA+ Head Unit (Garage) -> SVGA -> Relay Block (Basement)
Relay Block (Basement) -> USB -> Expansion Module (Garage)
Temp Probe -> ? -> Display Tank

Basement:

Primary Relay Box (Wp40's plugged in to PWM ports)

To keep it clean, I'm planning on getting a SVGA with keystone to run the VGA cable through the wall, plus USB keystone jacks to run the connection back through to the expansion module to run everything in the garage.

The one thing I'm struggling with though is the temperature probe. I've been contemplating two options

1) Use another USB keystone jack and convert the 3-pin fan connector to a USB cable utilizing 3 of the cables inside
2) Use a CAT6 jack with the 3-pin fan connector spliced in

Option 2 is preferred because I have plenty of CAT6 cable and more keystone jacks than a know what to do with.

Any input on the best option or if there is a way to set everything up that I haven't thought of? I'd really like to avoid running the VGA cable through the wall, but since the PWM port only seems to work on the first relay box, I think that's my only option.

Thanks!

You can extend the dimming ports too
In one cat6 cable, you would be able to run both channels + and - (4 wires) and the temp probe (3 wires) .
Just splice them with simple but splices and they will be good enough.
I would just recommend you get the 10ft temp probe, since it has additional components inside the metal sheath to help with noise immunity and capacitance on the long cable run.

rimai wrote:You can extend the dimming ports too
In one cat6 cable, you would be able to run both channels + and - (4 wires) and the temp probe (3 wires) .
Just splice them with simple but splices and they will be good enough.
I would just recommend you get the 10ft temp probe, since it has additional components inside the metal sheath to help with noise immunity and capacitance on the long cable run.

I thought about that, but that was a lot more splicing and dicing than the approach I had been planning.

After reading this, I went and did some searching and found a "Cat 6 Junction Box" on amazon that I think will make this all a lot easier. It should be pretty easy to punch down the cables from the 3 pin and 2 pin cables. I'd be slighty concerned about trying to butt splice cat 6 directly. Those wires are so thin...

I buy these at Home depot or Lowes:
http://www.homedepot.com/b/Electrical/I ... max&NCNI-5
They are made for those thin wires.