genesound Posted January 25, 2019 Share Posted January 25, 2019 I'm having great difficulty in getting aftermarket Ethercon cables to work reliably between the Helix Rack and the Helix Control. The connection acts intermittent and power disconnects if I wiggle the cable, and often the Control never hooks up at all, however a genuine Line 6 Variax cable works fine. The cables test fine on a cable checker or on other audio gear. And this isn't just one cable, I've tried 4 different ones, either made by myself or other wiring professionals and they all exhibit the same bizarre behavior. (I've been a pro soundman for over 40 years and have made thousands of various kinds of cables, including network and digital audio cables). Regular CAT 5 cables will also often not work between the Rack and Control. The only one that worked reliably was the stiff nasty one that shipped with the unit. Other standard CAT 5s might or might not work at all as well. The issue is I don't really need or want a 25' cable from the Rack to the Control when I'm setup in my house, 10 feet would be fine. It's a real PITA to have an extra 15' of cable to hide somewhere. Any ideas? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
foreverguitarman Posted January 27, 2019 Share Posted January 27, 2019 On 1/25/2019 at 2:43 PM, genesound said: I'm having great difficulty in getting aftermarket Ethercon cables to work reliably between the Helix Rack and the Helix Control. The connection acts intermittent and power disconnects if I wiggle the cable, and often the Control never hooks up at all, however a genuine Line 6 Variax cable works fine. The cables test fine on a cable checker or on other audio gear. And this isn't just one cable, I've tried 4 different ones, either made by myself or other wiring professionals and they all exhibit the same bizarre behavior. (I've been a pro soundman for over 40 years and have made thousands of various kinds of cables, including network and digital audio cables). Regular CAT 5 cables will also often not work between the Rack and Control. The only one that worked reliably was the stiff nasty one that shipped with the unit. Other standard CAT 5s might or might not work at all as well. The issue is I don't really need or want a 25' cable from the Rack to the Control when I'm setup in my house, 10 feet would be fine. It's a real PITA to have an extra 15' of cable to hide somewhere. Any ideas? I use these...https://www.be-electronics.com/product_p/ne8mc.htm Work awesome...cheers 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
psarkissian Posted January 28, 2019 Share Posted January 28, 2019 The VDI Ethercon is for connecting Variax guitars. The foot controller to the rack, use CAT5 or CAT5e. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MonkeyXT Posted January 28, 2019 Share Posted January 28, 2019 The Variac cable by Line 6 works perfectly in this scenario - I use exactly that, and it's been great for 2.5 years and onward *knock on wood* Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
genesound Posted March 22, 2019 Author Share Posted March 22, 2019 Yes the aftermarket cables made with Neutrik connectors work fine for me on the bass to Helix, they just don't work from helix to control. The ones from Line6 work fine, but I don't always want a 25' cable. Go figure. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
codamedia Posted March 23, 2019 Share Posted March 23, 2019 Not sure if this is the problem or not, but I was once told by Line 6 support that CAT6 & CAT7 (common in today's marketplace) is not recommended with Line 6 products... always use CAT5 or CAT5e when buying a 3rd party cable, or making one of your own. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrNoisy Posted May 31, 2021 Share Posted May 31, 2021 Any updates to this - i'm having problems now with capacitive touch not working at all on my controller (its a 5 year old rack and controller but looks brand new - everything else is fine). Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
foreverguitarman Posted June 2, 2021 Share Posted June 2, 2021 I've been using the cat5 cable and made a 10' - 20' - 50' & a 75' using these connectors...https://www.be-electronics.com/product_p/ne8mc.htm Work awesome...Spent $10 on 2 connectors to use with the 50 feet of cat5 I already had compared to spending $65 plus shipping on this... https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/EtherShld50--pro-co-50-foot-shielded-cat-5e-ethercon-cable As they are they exact same NEUTRIK brand supplied from Sweetwater Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
richsg Posted June 2, 2021 Share Posted June 2, 2021 I have been using the Van Damme Ethercon Cat 5e cable for the past couple of years for my rack with no issues at all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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