Make your own pump cables CBL-PC and CBL-NET

YES! – you can and this page contains the instructions on how to do it. To most people reading this page I’d like to say – don’t make your own cables. Read the section below – Why not just buy them?

This page contains instructions and diagrams to show you how to make:

• CBL-PC-PUMP connects your computer to your first pump and
• CBL-NET which connects between pumps. You will need 1 less than the number of pumps you plan to connect.

The total cost of a set of cables for one pump is approximately $US25 for one pump and for multiple pumps it’s $US25 plus $US2 for each extra pump.

If you order them today – you will have them in a few days as a general rule.

They will work. You will be finished in minutes.

So why not just buy them?

I don’t make a cent from selling cables but I do see days and weeks wasted waiting for home made cables to work.

Cable Identification Page See what the cables look like and identify them.

The official cables  look like this:

USB-RS232 adapter	USB Converter
Cable to connect from the COM port or USB-RS232 adapter to the first pump. This assembly consists of a RJ11 female (socket)-Db9 adapter and an RJ11 to RJ11 cable. CBL-PC.
Cable to connect from pump to pump. CBL-NET.

To make one set of these – an adapter and a cable, you will need

• 2 off RJ11 crimp connectors – 4 connector, they come in 4 and 6 connector styles. You need the 6 position style but with only 4 connectors fitted. A 6P4C. Look closely at the pump connector picture and you can see 6 position but only the middle 4 have gold connectors.
• You will need the special crimping tool- they are cheap. There is a photo on this page of this tool in action crimping a connector. The connector is not particularly visible as it is inside the tool.
• a length of 4 conductor telephone cable.
• A DB9 female to RJ11 female adapter kit – they are a few dollars. I get mine from ebay. This device is a rectangular plastic shell with a mounting for the DB9 plug, a few wires and the RJ11 socket. You have to insert the wires into the shell. There’s a picture below showing the correct colors and holes being used.  You don’t have to have the adapter kit – you can solder to straight to a female solder type DB9F if you wish.

NOTE Think about buying a spare or two of each component  – by the time you purchase this gear and wait for it to arrive …. Please consider the cost of a cable and adapter from your pump distributor – then it’s just plug and play – your not saving any? money really by making your own.

Here’s the wiring diagram for the adapter.

There are Two Styles of DB9F

Note the adapter kit may come with wires and pins. The pins are inserted into the plastic block. Or it may come with a solder type of DB9F where the pins are already inserted into the plastic block and you need to solder the wires yourself. They both work the same.

Wiring it – CBL-PC

pump network connectors To Computer highlighted

We have two components to make:

1. The adapter shell assembly– which includes wiring the DB9F to the shell’s RJ11 socket
2. The “telephone cable” Which connects the adapter to your first pumps To Computer socket

Assembling the Adapter Shell

The DB9F connector on the left is a female, and is illustrated from the Socket side – the side that receives the USB-RS232 connector.
This photo shows the rear of that female Db9 plug with the wires inserted. These wires are the internal cables for the shell. The end you can’t see is wired into the RJ11 socket in the shell. These wires come from the factory connected to the RJ11 and with the female pins already soldered on.They are from the left 2(black), 3(green) and 5(red).

If you look closely you can see the pin numbers are on the black plastic which holds the pins – the writing is very small and very hard to see. Use the photograph to guide you.

Your 4 connector cable will have black, red, green and yellow wires.

On the RJ11 end use – these are most likely already connected in the shell for you.

• black for pin 1
• red for pin 2
• green for pin 3
• Yellow is not used. Crimp it in the RJ11

On the DB9 female (pictured)

• black to pin 2
• green to pin 3
• red to pin 5
• yellow cut off. Yellow should be cut short it’s not used. Cut it off at the db9 end.

Simply push the pins into the rear of the socket as shown in the photograph. Assemble the plastic shell.

Making the “Telephone” Cable

• You will need:
• 2 off RJ11 crimp connectors

A length of “telephone cable” – this can safely be up to 25ft long (7 metres)

Learn more about maximum cable length and issues with electrical noise.

Crimp both connectors to the cable – make sure the order of the wires is the same in both connectors

This is the cable that connects the first pump to the second, and then the second pump to the third etc. You will need

• 2 off RJ11 4 contact 6 position connectors
• a length of 4 conductor telephone cable

Let’s make the cable

This cable has what’s known as a twist. This is where the wires in the cable connect to opposite pins. Don’t be confused by this diagram – you don’t do anything other than reverse (twist the cable – not individual wires or it will be fiddly to crimp) when you crimp your second connector.

There are 4 wires in the cable coloured Black,Red, Green Yellow – they lay in that order.

1. Crimp the first RJ11 connector on one end of the cable – black wire to pin 2 just like in the diagram right hand connector.
2. Reverse the wire orientation in the second connector. i.e. make the green wire pin 2 instead of the black wire.
3. Reverse the wire orientation in the second connector. i.e. make the black wire pin 4, Red pin 3, green, pin 2.”

I have included a photo of the continuous infusion cable. If you look closely at the image above, you will see the wire colors in each plug – this will let you make your own cable. If you compare the CBL-DUAL-3 Continuous infusion cable to a CBL-NET Pump-to-Pump Secondary Network Cable – you can see that they are wired the same. Really study that photo first! Then build yourself and CBL-NET!

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