We have now updated the popular Cat and Kitten ( http://www.smartgreenhouse.org/index.php/products/accessories/catkit-long-distance-connectivity ) to version 2 . The kitten boards now sport 2 in line RJ45 jacks so they can be chained together with other kittens so that multiple devices can be connected on the same cable. We have improved the power delivery options so power can be provided via the CAT 5 cable from the Cat5 shield (Cat board) to the kitten or via a supply local to the kitten. The power regulator is able to deliver 950mA and the CAT board has been redesigned to mate with ethernet shields underneath.
Our thanks to the arduino community for their support and suggestions for improving this product.
The CAT5 shield has a Rx/Tx crossover to allow D0/D1 to be used over CAT5 cable for serial comms.
i.e. could be used to connect two Arduinos or other devices over the CAT5 cable with Just a jumper selection that switches Rx and Tx on one side of the connection.
In testing we have been successful with 100m of CAT5e at 9600 bps. Shorter cable allows higher data rates depending on the electrical noise in the area.
We see a lot of posts in these forums with questions about connecting remote sensors and devices. Rather than attempting to reply to each post individually, this may help get the word out about these very versatile boards that solve a number of connectivity problems.
Here's an example of how a CAT 5 shield with a Kitten board can be used:
Here we are running a remote display over 50M of CAT5 cable, but it could be a sensor, a pump or anything you would normally connect directly to a pin on the main board. There is no special software required, so your software is independent from the CAT/Kitten, you simply read/write to the same pins you were using on the breadboard.
This project http://www.smartgreenhouse.org/images/downloads/mediavault/CATkits/SGH_LCBwithKitten.pdf
used a standard 4 line/20 character LCD display, with an I2C interface board and a Kitten board on the back of the LCD. Since we are using I2C protocol, that signal is available for other devices with a different address. The Kitten board is designed to allow daisy-chained connections, for example connecting a series of sensors after the LCD. On the Kitten board there are additional pads where pull-up resistors can be added if necessary.
Since the CAT5 shield supplies up to 950mA of current at 5v, the remote device is powered over the CAT5 cable. This is ideal for relays, solenoids, servos and other low current devices.
Please note that the CAT5 cable is used as a low current signal cable with all 8 wires used. It is not using "Ethernet" or PoE protocols. - Available globally through http://www.boxabits.com
So you are saying that I could use just 1 cat5 cable and connect all of my I2C sensors as well as a display 50 meters away from my arduino, 3 times and still use ethernet?
In the picture you will see a CAT5 shield with 3 RJ45 jacks, mounted on top of an Ethernet shield.
The Ethernet shield uses pins 10/11/12/13 (SPI) and if the SD card is being used, pin 4 as well. All the remaining pins are available over the CAT5 cable for sensors and actuators - i.e. A0-A5, D0-D3 + D5, D6-D9 are all available if you are using an Ethernet shield.
I2C (IIC) and Dallas 1-Wire devices have a specific address and they can share a single pin (connection) among many devices.
If I understand your question correctly, all of your I2C sensors, and the display, could share a single CAT5 cable from the CAT5 shield, using the in-line Kitten boards to distribute the sensors.
The Ethernet shield and it's cable are independent. You could also use a WiFi shield instead.
A note for those folks using the CAT5 shield with the Galileo....
Mount the board as usual, but DO NOT use the power jack on the CAT. Only use the power jack on the Galileo because it requires a 5v supply. The jack from the CAT will supply power to VIN which may overheat the Galileo regulator and cause it to fail.
The Galileo will supply power to the CAT5 shield and cables as usual.
Otherwise we have seen no issues with the CAT5 shields or the Kitten system with the Galileo.
