We have a situation where we want a GigaBlox switch and cross connect it to a Tiny Ethernet Switch. Is there a custom cable available to do this or will need to just make a cross-over cable and connect 1-2-3-6 between the two devices.
Thx,
Jay
Hi Jay, welcome to the forum.
By “Tiny Ethernet Switch”, I’m assuming you mean SwitchBlox Nano?
If so, the question is “how do you connect a GigaBlox (which is a 8 pin, 10/100/1000M switch) to a SwitchBlox Nano (which is a 4 pin 10/100M switch)?”
To do that is easy. You can use a 4 pin Molex PicoBlade to Molex Picoblade cable. Connect one end of this cable into a port on SwitchBlox Nano. Then connect the other end into a 8 pin port on GigaBlox, aligned on the right-most side of the connector.
This works because on all of our Gigabit boards, we put the 4 pins needed for 10/100M ethernet on the right-most 4 pins of the connector. This means you can just use a 4 pin picoblade to picoblade cable to form a 100Mbps connection link between a GigaBlox and a SwitchBlox Nano. No messing around with making custom cables.
Where can you get a 4 pin PicoBlade to Picoblade cable?
Digi-key sells them pre-assembled here. They’re not twisted pair but you’re likely not using a long cable here, so it doesn’t really matter.
We also keep a huge stock of these cables though we haven’t gotten around to selling them on our website. If you have an upcoming order with us, just let us know and we can include some in your order. Alternatively reach out to info@botblox.org for a quote, we sell them for around $3 each.
Let me know if I answered your question.
Re-reading your question, I’m thinking you may be meaning a different ethernet switch when you say “Tiny Ethernet Switch”. Presumably this different ethernet switch uses RJ-45 sockets. If so, you can just use the included 8 pin picoblade to RJ-45 cables. If your Tiny Ethernet Switch is only 10/100M capable, then the link will autonegotiate to 100M even if you use an 8 pin cable.