Are there and differences in the RJ-45 Ethernet cables produced by various marine electronic companies like Raymarine or Garmin? Are they all basic high quality, shielded ethernet cables?
Thanks
Graham
s/v Artemo
Cartagena
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I think the actual cabling is just high quality Ethernet cable. However, some also have water tight connectors that encase the RJ-45.
Right, and unfortunately they all use different styles of waterproof RJ-45 connectors on their MFDs and black boxes.
I did notice that FLIR says it's using double shielded Ethernet cable.
The two previous replys by Russ and Ben are correct. Standard off the shelf ethernet cables will work. It's usually just a matter of cable and connector quality for the marine envirnment.
Well, that isn't quite what I said. Every manufacturer seems to have a different waterproof outer Ethernet connector meant to be used with their MFDs and sometimes their radars. Yes, you can often get away with just using the inner RJ45 plug, but then you've compromised the waterproofing. Also, Lowrance and Simrad use a completely proprietary Ethernet connector.
Marine Ethernet cable is NOT the same as shoreside Ethernet cable. To meet ABS and CFR requirements, marine Ethernet cable (indeed all marine cable crossing bulkheads) must be Low Smoke Zero Halogen (LSZH) cable. It is similar to plenum-rated Ethernet cable but must have the LSZH characteristics to avoid harmful fumes in case of fire: even standard plenum-rated cable does not usually carry the LSZH rating.. Using standard off-the-shelf Ethernet cable is not safe or allowed in an inspected, rules-compliant marine application. And marine applications, just like shoreside aplications, should use shielded cable if exposed to any possible electrical interference (pretty much any location on a boat/ship).
Thanks KW. Just for reference, could you cite the applicable regs?