Batboard

just looking to confirm what i have done.

i installed a motorola CDM 1550 with a rmeote mount kit. the wire wasnt long enough to go from my trunk to my dash so i used a cat 5 eathernet cord and it worked fine. alter doing this i rembered that it was a motorola and i should prob only use real moto products on it. so its sitting in my car with the head not connected to the radio. does anyone know if it will be fine to use a cat 5 cable with the cdm remote mount? thanks guys!

ben

I've used both Cat5 and flat ribbon style cable with the CDM remote mount kits. Have not had a problem yet.

you will be fine.

Hmmm.

Motorola says that the reason that you cannot do a firmware upgrade with a remote head installed is that there aren't enough conductors in the 10-conductor interconnect cable.

And it works with 8-conductor cat-5? What's not making sense here?

If i recall correctly Motorola makes those cables in 3 lengths for the CDM series and they're fairly inexpensive, an under $20. item ($13?)

Just looked them up. Available in 3m 5m or 7m ranging 8.25 to 13.00 so if there's ANY doubt the solution is very cheap.

I use 8 conductor flat cable and crimp a couple of connectors on, that way I can make it any length I want (within reason) and I've got it on hand whenever I need it.
For bench techs I'd suggest making a small (2ft) jumper up for testing purposes.
You just have to remember to put the connectors on the right way.. both should be wired the same, so that if you take the two connectors and hold them side by side the colors are the same.

As far as I know the only difference with the Moto cables is the jacket is maybe a little tougher.

the 10conductor / 8 conductor issue might be the same as the 16/20 pin accessory connector compatibility on the back of the Radius / CDM series - the extra pins on the outside of the connector might be for firmware upgrades and not used during normal operations?

Does it program okay?

Did you ever try this on the QuickMount?