Consolidating sensor pairs into one cat5 for long haul

[Steve]

With all due respect, I think you are way overthinking it. Contact switches are easy, almost any wire that will make a circuit will work. 22/2 is standard. You don't need shielding for contacts. My point was if you take a Cat5 with 4 twisted pairs in a single sheath (outer jacket, not shield) and you want to run to 4 different doors that are in different rooms, etc then you will be tearing your Cat5 apart to pull out the individual pairs. It's more of a easy of install/neatness thing, not electrical.

 

[miamicanes]

Ah, ok! In this case, all 4 sensors (2 contact, 2 shock) are all located within about a foot of each other, so I guess it'll work fine

 

[CollinR]

I just run regular 22-2 or 22-4 back to the junction box with the Cat5. For video over UTP I just cut sections of Cat5 and run betwen junction box and camera. I never remve the sheath more then about an inch and a half.

 

[BraveSirRobbin]

The alarm panels use a voltage window/range to determine when a contact is opened or closed, thus the wiring/contact resistance variations/values will have no effect on operations.