Is it possible to locate my 2413u PLM 50 feet from the polisy.  The system is working with the PLM and polisy connected with a 6 foot or so cable.  

As a test I tried a 25 foot usb cable and that did not work.  

Option one is to get an active USB extension.  Does the polisy provide power or should I buy one with an external power connection?  Does the PLM use a standard usb protocol? 

Option 2 is get a transmitter receiver pair usb to ethernet and run the connection with cat 5e or better.  Same questions about power and usb standards.

Option 3 is to switch to a 2413s and run serial cable.  50 feet is the rs232 max distance.  But then is the 2413s not really a serial device.

Any ideas, different options, or experience? 

 

Your best bet is serial. USB is not designed for that kind of distance. Having said that, 50' is a long serial run but I've read stories here and the homeseer forum of that working for a PLM

The 2413S has a special pin out on network style connector. Only three wires are used. Common, Send and Receive are connected.

The signals are true RS232 with a Serial Port interface chip. At the least you would have to create a special cable.

I had about that length over shielded cat 5 or 6 for a time. Seemed fine. I don’t recall which 2 of the 3 wires were in a twisted pair but I’m sure google will tell you.

Also a balun could be used which moves signal from unbalanced to balanced for the trip over wire.

FWIW, I've had a PLM with serial connection work on a 30 ft run of CAT6 just fine.  

When I had the USB PLM, I tried the 50ft USB and couldn't get it to work.  Also, I tried an active USB extension over CAT6 for 50ft and couldn't get that to work either.  Serial was just the way to go for me.

Similar here.. I convert serial to ethernet, run the ethernet from 2nd floor to basement, so its approximately a 50ft run.

Plug ethernet into PLM..

No problems. Used a standard ethernet.

Looks like serial is the way to go.  Unfortunately my serial PLM's are at the other house.  Next week I'll test it.  Still interested in any other ideas.  

Thanks all.

You may have to have the special UDI USB adapter on the Polisy end. As I am not too sure if it can do serial. I know the eisy can not do serial. There are other signals on the RJ45 style connector that you do not want to connect to anything. Like TTL signals.