Mesa 7i29 - what to use single ended->differential

Just got my order from Mesa in - and I need to get some differential converters coming my way so I can tie this whole thing together on my mill.

I've got Avago 500 Count HEDS encoders on the mill now, I'd like something to go from the 5-wire HEDS interface to a differential output. I want something small enough to mount inside the end caps on my motors if possible.

I found this: www.smartelectronics.ca/heds_rs422.html which looks great, but is a bit spendy since I'll be buying 4 of them. I'm wondering if its the best option?

Also, I am curious about how best to connect such an interface over as much as 5-6' to the control cabinet that will house the Mesa 7i29's that will drive my servos. Part of me really likes the way that Rutex did it with Cat5 cable (especially since I still have a bunch of cat5 lying around...). I'm sure I could find straight-pin cat5 headers easily enough to solder to that board above but I'm wondering if that is the best option to keep noise down and get the best signal to my drives. Thanks!

greenbuggy wrote:

I've got Avago 500 Count HEDS encoders on the mill now, I'd like something to go from the 5-wire HEDS interface to a differential output. I want something small enough to mount inside the end caps on my motors if possible.

CUI makes differential "cables" for their AMT series of encoders. They are about $8 at Digi-Key,
listed as an accessory for the encoder. it has a chip on a TINY board housed in a
bit of shrink tubing. The pinouts and color codes are all on the Digi-Key web site, too.

Jon

I ended up getting the CUI ones from digi-key - my only complaint being that I wish they sold them with longer pigtails on them. I also bought some 10 pin connectors with short pigtails so I can solder them to the output wires of the CUI line driver and install them on the Mesa drives.

I'll try and save some future searchers hassle, the CUI number is CUI-103E-10 and the digikey PN is 102-1788-ND. As of today they are 8.45 in quantities of 1-9

www.digikey.com/product-search/en?x=-868...KeyWords=CUI-103E-10