RJ45/RJ45 double-ended Ethernet cables for industrial applications

With the drive toward connected machines and the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), more automation than ever is being connected via Ethernet. In industries from automotive to metalworking to food and beverage, Ethernet has become the data connection of choice. While wireless networks work well in office environments, a hardwired connection is still preferred for many applications in manufacturing to ensure connectivity and data availability.

Traditional office Ethernet products may struggle to survive in harsh industrial environments. Industrial cable jacket materials are employed to improve the robustness and survivability of the machine-to-machine or device-to-device connections in the plant. Balluff offers three main cable jackets: PVC (polyvinyl chloride), the most common jacket type, with high moisture resistance; PUR (polyurethane), good resistance against abrasion, oil, and ozone; and TPE (thermoplastic elastomer), highly flexible, resists aging in sunlight, UV, and ozone.

With so many Ethernet connections, it can be confusing for maintenance and IT teams to troubleshoot and diagnose network issues. Some manufacturing companies are now standardizing on certain colors of Ethernet cable jackets for certain applications to allow for quick recognition of the connection type and simplify troubleshooting. For example, runs between a managed switch and local unmanaged switches could use orange cables. Use teal cables to connect field-level devices like sensors and I/O. Red cables could connect robots in the work cell and the local switch. Green cables for vision system data connections, and royal blue cables for HMI communications.

With multiple colors and jacket materials, Balluff helps you implement the Ethernet network that meets your reliability needs and the needs of your applications and teams.

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