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Make your own VGA cord of CAT5 cable!by mlandgraaf on April 2, 2008

Table of Contents

intro:   Make your own VGA cord of CAT5 cable! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

step 1:   Strip you filthy cable you! Strip! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

step 2:   Soldering is fun! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

step 3:   Decoration! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

step 4:   Check if it works! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

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http://www.instructables.com/id/Make-your-own-VGA-cord-of-CAT5-cable/

intro:  Make your own VGA cord of CAT5 cable!As most of you know, getting a descent length of VGA monitor cable is a costly thing. With this instructable I'll show you how to make a 15m long VGA cable, out of plainol' CAT5 network cable.

Image Notes1. it looks like a mess.. actually it really is!

step 1: Strip you filthy cable you! Strip!To make life a bit easier, strip of about an inch of the CAT5 outer insulation. And behold: 8 precious wires in pretty colors. Make sure you strip about 2/3 mm of the innerwire insulation. Try using an wire stripper. I use my teeth, because Macgyver does it too. Don't make it to long as it could shortcut when fiddling all the wires in the VGAconnector.

Image Notes1. Nice wires

Image Notes1. naked wires

step 2: Soldering is fun!Well the next thing to do is solder the wires to the VGA connectors you bought. The best connectors are male ones. But my local radioshack didn't have em, so he soldme the female ones with an male-male adapter. As long as it works i say! The connector have got the pin numbers on the solderside, and with the help of a scheme istole from http://www.geocities.com/dougburbidge/vgaovercat5.html i can solder the right wires to it. Note that im not using an RJ45 connector as shown on theillustration, thats not necessary in my application (very awsome home cinema set).Just solder the shown colors to the right pins. Good luck with the bridge for pins 5, 10 and 8, naah it's not really that hard =)

http://www.instructables.com/id/Make-your-own-VGA-cord-of-CAT5-cable/

Image Notes1. dont need this one....2. ripped off http://www.geocities.com/dougburbidge/vgaovercat5.html

Image Notes1. after you get the first one, it's easy!

Image Notes1. mmmm solder

Image Notes1. beware of bridge!

step 3: Decoration!I bought some VGA connector housings, it really tidies up the lot. After that i popped on the adapters, but if you bought the good connectors you don't have to, of course.Repeat steps 1-3 for the other side of the cable. You're awesome!

http://www.instructables.com/id/Make-your-own-VGA-cord-of-CAT5-cable/

Image Notes1. nicee!

Image Notes1. adaptor!

step 4: Check if it works!Connect the cable to the computer and to the beamer. Make sure your graphic card settings are correct and presto! VGA over a CAT 5 cable! I have no idea how longthis cable could be. i made one that was 15m long and it worked perfectly @ 1024x768, so hallaluja! Enjoy!

Image Notes1. screen works!

Image Notes1. Great son of god! Free beer! Oh yeah and the cable works!

http://www.instructables.com/id/Make-your-own-VGA-cord-of-CAT5-cable/

Image Notes1. yep it works!2. good ol' Amstel Beer!

Image Notes1. Does it's job like a charm!

Image Notes1. 15m of pleasure! Enjoy!

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Comments12 comments Add Comment

 Derinsleep says:  Aug 25, 2008. 5:12 AM  REPLYi think the title and the first sentence in step 1 was funny

 kimrich says:  May 25, 2008. 11:24 PM  REPLYGreat idea. Seems to have definite length limitations --- unless the path is clear of potential RF interference, maybe? I have to go 50 ft and it sounds like thishack prob won't hack it without ghosting. Does anyone have any amplification of this likely problem? I know diddily about signal issues. Maybe different cabletype? Or maximum observed cable length without ghosting? Does it work well with CRT monitors and not LCD monitors? Or better with LCD monitors? Assoon as you dig an inch beneath the surface you run smack into why electrical engineers are usually well paid - grin.

http://www.instructables.com/id/Make-your-own-VGA-cord-of-CAT5-cable/

 gizqmo says:  May 19, 2008. 6:27 PM  REPLYHi, I made one of those to connect an LCD TV which is 50ft away from a PC., the result was a Ghosting image (1024x768), then I tried a shorter cable with33ft long and though smaller the image was still ghosting, also once restarted the computer didn't know what kind of monitor was connected.I've three questions only. Is there a way to eliminate the ghosting? left it this way, could damage my TV? and, is it normal that this kind of cable is notallowing to detect the TV? (sorry for my horrible english). and thanks for your Instructable.

 flipdriver says:  Apr 17, 2008. 4:49 AM  REPLYgreat idea. gatta try this soon.It would be cool if you have soldered a ethernet port to the ends in stead of just using the cable. This way you can extend your cord as you like with just anyethernetcable you get your hands on...

 I HACK says:  Apr 5, 2008. 11:29 PM  REPLYGud job mate , simple but useful .

 killerjackalope says:  Apr 2, 2008. 5:12 PM  REPLYIt might actually be easier to use and cut a pre-existing Vga cable, in terms of soldering and stuff because you wouldn't have to be working in so close to thelittle connectors.

 mlandgraaf says:  Apr 3, 2008. 9:53 AM  REPLYYep i thought of that, but because the CAT5 is twisted pair, i reckon you couldnt just connect some wires together, 'cus you could get interference. Andthe soldering to the connector wasn't that hard, and it made a killer finish look.

 killerjackalope says:  Apr 3, 2008. 10:47 AM  REPLYFair enough then, still a great idea, I suppose the only better thing would just be having two converter plugs, meaning a one time job and it'sreversible in a second.

 GorillazMiko says:  Apr 2, 2008. 2:59 PM  REPLYNicely done! Great photos, detailed, nice job. :-)

 mlandgraaf says:  Apr 3, 2008. 9:55 AM  REPLYThanks :D

 mathieujohnson says:  Apr 2, 2008. 3:19 PM  REPLYwhat is the highest resolution you can get with that cable?

 mlandgraaf says:  Apr 3, 2008. 9:55 AM  REPLYI tested it at 1024x786. My beamer doesn't go higher. I think that if you keep your cable not too long you can get high resolutions