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 plain ol' CAT5 network cable.

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 inner wire 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 VGA connector.

Comments

[twhetstone]

Do you have a diagram of which wires act as video and v-sync and h-sync and grounds?

[bhurst2]

where did you get the male 15 pin connector? I have looked everywhere. I took apart a monitor cable I already had but the pins where all surrounded by glue. There was no way it was going to work.

[E_MAN]

Nice Instructable! I just have one question, is the any way to add a PS/2 extension to this too. I assume it would be easiest to connect all the GNDs that you split apart, and the GND of the PS/2, but you will still be one connection short. Any ideas?

[mlandgraaf]

Yep, run two lengths of cat5 cable ;)
Seriously, the vga signal needs all 4 pairs of wire so doing it over the same cable would be a no-go.

Maybe if you use the same trick to extend USB over cat5, ass a USB hub and an USB to VGA converter it would work. Don't know if the usb would handle the extra length though.

[whiskymonster]

nah, usb wont handle anything over 8 meters.
something to do with timing.
but usb repeaters are quite cheap.
check eBay

[daleruisky]

Great Instructable!! Helped a ton. I made a 35ft. cable for a projector mounted on the ceiling. No problem with the image quality whatsoever. Thanks again!

[LEducated]

Yes! I made It. Thanks to you IDOL. A Project in my son's school is completed using your instructable. I installed a Ceiling mounted LCD Projector with a 10 meters long cable.and its works.I like the soldering part LOL.I let my students create their own.thanks.MABUHAY!

[Yerboogieman]

I bought the connectors today, and forgot the housings. I might try to build my own or break down and buy some.

[NatDaGamer]

Great Instructable man! Helped a lot, and save me a few pennies as well. Needed a long enough lead to hook up my projector, and now I have one! In regards to bridging the connections, I found using some bare wire in each terminal 5, 8 and 10 all joined together and then soldering the blue dotted cable the easiest way to bridge the connections. :)

[mlandgraaf]

hi man, good to hear it helped you out!

[churchsoundguy]

I made a 100+ foot one of these for connecting our church computer to our beamer...and so far every computer I have used, laptop or desktop has worked perfectly. Would recommend to anyone.

[mlandgraaf]

good to hear it helped you out!

[blob84]

What solder have you used?
It is very hard to do, the twisted pair will break easily.

[mlandgraaf]

Just use normal lead-free solder, very thin. If the solder doesnt flow good, use some flux...

[tecnoweb]

Hi,
I've followed the schema and used the correct CAT 5 Patch cable. Unfortunally the vertical frequence is not transmitted and no images is displayed? How can i fix the problem? Thanks

[mlandgraaf]

Hmm,. Maybe you shorted out a connection? It should work as normal!
Try another cable otherwise

[tecnoweb]

Yes, I've tried with another cable but the result is always the same? What kind of monitor have you used?

[mlandgraaf]

Just a normal 19" lcd monitor to test, and a 1024x768 beamer also!
how do you know the v-sync signal is not sending?

[tecnoweb]

I'know because the CRT monitor that I've used (with a LCD - no signal) visualize the message v-sync: 0.

[Zigster007]

 I just did this, I bought the D-Sub Connector and Connector Hood from RadioShack. They already have solder terminals on them. So far i have tried a 50ft cat5e and it works perfectly, i also tried a 300ft cat5e and it did not work. So obviously somewhere in between is the limiter. But for any normal household 50ft should be enough distance to go from one side of the house to the other. 

[drmrfrk03]

From everything Ive read, you can only run cat5e up to 295 feet (90m). That's the standard when using the wire with a switch/router/repeater at one end. I have no idea how much power output comes from the video out connectors on a videocard but I doubt it would match that of the switch/router/repeater. Anyone have luck with a cable between 50ft and 295 ft?


Amazon has a hdmi to cat 5 convertor that supports full 1080p that claims to work at 100ft.  It's "Passive" as it only uses the build in power output of your videocard.


 

[Zigster007]

Once i installed it i notice that the maximum resolution you can get on this is 1600x1200. To fix this i followed a tutorial on www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/7947-force-dvi-hdmi-resolutions-refresh-rates.html which gives a walk through on how to force resolutions. But now i have a weird refresh rate that makes it hard to watch anything on the television. Will update when i figure it out.

[pdub77]

Hey, Just did this today and it's awesome! Thanks so much for the info. I don't know if anyone else has pointed this out, but you can use a DB9 to RJ45 Modular Adaptor and modify it to work the same way.  This way you can use whatever ethernet cable you have laying around and change lengths whenever you want.  You will have to buy an HD15 Male Crimp Housing to use instead of the Serial Housing that comes with it as well as cut off the DH Crimp Pins (serial cable size) and mod it with DHD Crimp Pins (VGA size).  All in all, though, it doesn't take much time and it looks like you bought it at the store.  Thanks again!

[junbata]

Halo ! I am new here.. I have a question? May be you can help me. I want to control may LCD monitor through cutting of one of the pin of D-sub cable and not the Power source. (To Avoid damaged).
May purpose to this is to Always run the CPU and only Blank the screen if nobody used or force to blank screen to stop the user.

NOTE : I will used relay to ON/OFF this LCD by separate control. Through opening of contact of 1 of the 15 pins.
my problem is I dont know which pins is i will going to control OFF/ON.

Hoping for your future answer..
Thanks !

GOD BLESS..

[zealroy]

Use pin 13 or 14 or both f you want using dpdt relays...

[CrudeBuster]

The scheme lacks the DDC wires, the video board won't be able to detect which monitor type is attached. But its a good idea nevertheless, I was about to do it but I needed the DDC signals, or else Windows don't let me use some resolutions, and some hacking through settings would be necessary.

Too much ado for a simple extender, for me, but it's useful for a lot of people, kudos to you.

[mdavez]

To elaborate a little bit on this issue. zigster100 pointed out it is possible to follow the instructions at www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/7947-force-dvi-hdmi-resolutions-refresh-rates.html to force the correct resolution. Basically in the old XP days it was possible to specify any resolution for a screen, but with Vista/7 you can only use the resolutions permitted by your screen (presumably in order to prevent damage to your screen). And because this cable is missing a few wires windows will detect the screen as Standard Screen and only allow 1024x768 which is no good for modern wide screen TVs/Monitors.

However, if you are able to connect a computer to that screen temporarily with a normal VGA cable (or hdmi, dvi), it is possible to "read" this info from the monitor, save it and then force it on your computer so that you will get the correct resolution and other settings when you connect your screen with a UTP hacked cable. Please see the full instructions at the above link as well as all the warnings there! Trust me it is not difficult, please see below:

Warning:

Prerequisites

Read and understand what you are doing. Visit the link above for more info
Don't blame me when you ruin your $3000 HDTV. Smoke CAN happen.
Don't edit the settings you extract unless you know what you are doing!!!

Procedure

0) Connect the monitor with a proper VGA cable, or any other cable that your tv/monitor accepts, e.g. hdmi, dvi,
1) Download Phoenix.zip and extract it to a working folder.
2) Run it and click the registry toolbar button.
3) You don't need to edit the settings, unless you are feeling very brave and want to try to force non-standard resolutions or refresh rates - please see the main link at the top for more info
4) Save the EDID to a .DAT file in the working folder.
5) Connect the monitor with your hacked VGA/UTP cable
6) Download moninfo.exe and install it.
7) Open the saved .DAT with MonInfo and make sure it doesn't complain about it - if it does, please see the link at the top
8) If MonInfo reads in an displays the settings the way you configured them in Phoenix then...
9) Select Create INF... from the file menu and save it to the working folder.
10) You can edit the INF if you are feeling brave (see disclaimers!)
11) Open Start, type devmgmt.msc and press Enter.
12) Select the monitor you want to change, right click and select Update Software
13) Use the tried and true "Have Disk" method to select the INF and install it (don't forget to confirm that you are happy to install an unsigned driver).
14) Reboot and enjoy the proper resolution!

Most of the info is c/p from the source link, all credit goes to the author of that tutorial!

On a different note, all VGA cables I've seen in my life feature ferrite cores for interference protection. I don't know whether it needs to be installed, or whether the twisted pairs in the UTP cable should do the job?! Any ideas?

[chuckconder]

 Use a simple VGA DA....MSV12

qvs.com  search MSV12

[CrudeBuster]

But this kills the prospect of using a ethernet cable as extender.

[mike_k11]

Hi, i want to make the extender,,but what configuration use to the cat5 if i want to add a box with vga connector and rj45 jack ?
can i use the tipical
orage-white orange green-white blue blue-white green brown-white brown

???

thanx

[mlandgraaf]

Well i dont know if the twisting of the cable helps the signal go further, but you can always use a standard wallplug rj-45 where you can punch in the cables. You can switch the cables in here if it does make a difference, and you can make a nice box of it when adding a vga connector.

[NitroBlastSIB]

First of all: Good job, nice work...
Second: I've to ask this, did you record some noise at final picture or lack of quality?

[mlandgraaf]

No not really! but i've only tried it on 1024x768 and not higher. i think when going on higher resolutions you will encounter some noise of bad quality..

[serooo]

it's perfect worked for me, but i've a problem with electricity when i turn the light on or off the signal from laptob to tv is cut and come back again. even there is no electricity near the cat 6 cable and when i connect original vga cable it work perfect. so i dont no the relation between the cable and the electricity pls advice thanks.

[natchiketa]

If it's just a momentary 'blip', then it's probably just a result of the fact that your Cat5 cable doesn't have as much shielding as the original cable. Plus, it's also probably a lot longer than the VGA cable, so even more opportunity for interference.

[cklein-2]

does this play video to the tv

[natchiketa]

It should if your TV has VGA input.

[Sowee]

Mine is working quite well. I'll post a photo later. Thanks for this instructable.

[bijikenyot]

mee too..i have connected it to my lcd screen..the length of wire about 50m thats nice..in my big screen. i have tested it about 1 hour and no found "kabooom" or "smoke" from my LCD unit.. in my lcd unit i got VGA to monitor, and after i connect it to my crt monitor, the contrast on montor looks weird.......maybe some purple and ghost fonts, but i still can read them cleary.... anyway , for small ideas you got AWESOME predicate from us.... i will post an image latter....

[bijikenyot]

it's good...nothing bad at all