Securifi Community Forum
Securifi Products => Almond+ => Topic started by: Vincenzo on July 11, 2014, 10:04:43 pm
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I already emailed tech support, but I figured I would come here and see if anyone else was having the same problem as I am.
I just received my almond+ and tried to connect it. Unfortunately all of the Ethernet cables I tried to plug into would not lock into place and could just be pulled out. I tried the cables in multiple other devices and had no issues with them locking into place. The only cable I could get to lock and stay in was the one that came with the router.
Has anyone else had a problem like this?
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I'm surprised this applies to all of the cables you have.
This is sadly a bit of a drawback of the design we did for the Almond+ and although we're aware this is an issue with some Ethernet cables, I'm surprised you're having this with all the cables you have.
I have one or two like that at home, but all the other cables I have connect just fine.
Usually the issues is if you have cables with a plastic protection cap, although I have one other cable I've had some problems with too.
Have you tried pushing them in until they click in properly? There should be sort of a soft click and then a louder click.
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When I push them in I don't get any kind of click. It's like they aren't going in far enough to engage the lock. None of my cables have the full dust boot they are all either the slim or eared style. I will see if I can dig up some other cables and try them out.
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That's not good. We've tested with several different cables as we found this issues a bit too late to rectify it, so we got a bunch of different cables and found that there wasn't a problem with most of them.
Terribly sorry about this and I'll forward your feedback to the engineering team.
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I found some other Ethernet cables and was able to get them to snap in and lock into the router. It looks like those first ones I tried were an anomaly. The jacks are a little tight though. Even with the ones that worked I had to push them in then wiggle them from side to side to get the lock to engage.
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Hi Lars and Vincenzo,
I'm seeing the same issue -- all of my existing RJ45 cables do not "click" into my Almond+ and I have to push them in pretty hard to get them to connect. Also, they get disconnected extremely easily -- if I move my Almond+ slightly, they can get disconnected. Once they're connected though, it's fine... as long as my Almond is laying down. I don't think I could ever mount it to the wall unless I bought some new ethernet cables that actually "click" into the jack.
Lars, thanks for providing this feedback to the engineering team, it's quite frustrating.
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Same problem here. I switched to cables that don't have the snagless protection cap and the WAN port was still really hard to get it into.
I only use one LAN port to feed my switch and that was fine with the no cap cable.
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I got about half my cables not working. Lucky I have some extra cables laying around. From the looks of it, the outer casing space tolerance might be too tight and "unlocking" them when you wiggle the cable. Or the casing might just be to thick for the snag caps to push thru...
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FWIW, I also had trouble getting the cable to click.
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We know the casing is a bit on the thick side, but this was adjusted some time ago.
Even so, sorry about this and as I said, I'll bring this up with our mechanical engineer on Monday.
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I noticed that as well and thought it might be my cables, I tried all available cable at home with cap and without cap and When I push them in I don't get any kind of click.
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Did any of you try the included cable?
I'll post up some pictures of cables that can't be used, but we tried about 10 different ones in the office today and only found one that wouldn't connect at all, one that was hard to attach and remove and one that was tricky to remove.
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All of my cables do not work in the LAN ports. The WAN port is unaffected.
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I have not seen the final design, but I do have a developer unit but doubt there is that much change in the physical design.
The Ethernet ports are slightly recessed so if you have a very large plastic cap on the ethernet cable it might be a problem.
I have some 20 different cables and only a few was a problem these had an unusual large molded plastic around the connector. Some had to be pushed a bit harder some had to be wiggled a bit, but all except for a few worked just fine.
The best are those cables without any plastic cap on them, they will never give you trouble. ;-)
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I had no issues at all with my dev unit and my cables.
The guys with issues, would you mind sharing some pics of the plugs and maybe measurements of the connector? just for reference so others could watch out when they go buy new cables
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Did any of you try the included cable?
I'll post up some pictures of cables that can't be used, but we tried about 10 different ones in the office today and only found one that wouldn't connect at all, one that was hard to attach and remove and one that was tricky to remove.
The included cable plugged in fine.
so now do I have to order the bunch of cables like that?
all these cables are industry standards and router port should take it.
my 2 cents.
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Apologies if this sounds snotty, but there's actually no such thing as an industry standard for Ethernet cables.
The provided cable is a more modern design and are commonly available.
There are a few types of cables that have a hard plastic moulding that extends outside of the clear plastic connector and these types of cables can't be used.
It's also more difficult using cables that has a dust shroud, but I'm using one on my Almond+ at home without any issues at all.
It would be good if you guys could share pictures of the cables you're having problems with.
In as much as this is an issue and we're not trying to say that we didn't make a misjudgment as to how big of a deal this would be, it shouldn't be very hard to find suitable cables.
We'll post some pictures later of the various types that we've tested that works and the few that we've had problems with.
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As promised, here are some pictures of various cables we've tested.
Many of them was the first time we tested with the Almond+ and out of the 14 cables, only two couldn't be used at all. Another three are not recommended. The first one on the left is difficult to remove due to the small size of the RJ45 connector and the other two requires the dust/clip cover to be pulled back (as shown if not entirely clearly on the dark blue cable in the middle) before the connector can be inserted, but both clip in properly.
Again, we're not saying that there isn't a problem, but it's clearly a problem that's easy to solve.
(http://forum.securifi.com/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=1154.0;attach=157)
(http://forum.securifi.com/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=1154.0;attach=155)
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I had the same issues as well. It turned out that I had to cut the "Cover" off of the cable cupeling. There was a plastic "Cover" thing on every single one of my cables (all different brands/qualities, etc). After I took the scissors to them they plugged in just fine. I was a little surprised to have to modify all my cables though.
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Unless the cover is moulded onto the cable, the covers can normally be slid back and off the actual connector and then be pushed back in place after the connector has been inserted.
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Same issue here.
Just received my backer unit and 3 out of the 4 cables do not stay connected. The router I used before had no issues at all.
:-[
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Have you tried other types of cables, like the ones in the pictures above?
Or tried to push back the dust/clip protection cap?
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Hi lars,
I have not tried other cables but as I said they all fit two different routers I had used before :)
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Well, I have one cable with a cap in the unit I have at home and I had no issues with it, but we fully understand that this is frustrating, as it really shouldn't be an issue.
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I looked and searched for the post about the cables falling out and couldn't find it.
The Almond + has been designed with a two step deep socket.
In order to get a solid seat, one must peel back any existing cable hood and apply more pressure than usual. You should have two clicks. I did this and got a sufficient connection.
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Posts merged.
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I just got my Almond and none of my wires work, they are all terminated with the same ends. Please provide a link to known ends that stay in the router. I am unable to wall mount this until I reterminate my wires, and the ends I have are apparently no bueno. Anyone have any luck with known connectors?
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Did you try the provided cable and made sure that you hear two clicks when you insert it?
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Hi all,
When i first unpacked the unit and tried plugging in all my ethernet cables, i saw exactly the same thing. The cables didn't snap into the jack. However, if you force them down further they do snap in and remain attached even when moving the router. So, less baby care, more military style! ;) However, this is the only piece of equipment i experienced this issue with, something is slightly unusual there.
Andy
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See below. I completely agree with Andy.
Jeff
Hi all,
When i first unpacked the unit and tried plugging in all my ethernet cables, i saw exactly the same thing. The cables didn't snap into the jack. However, if you force them down further they do snap in and remain attached even when moving the router. So, less baby care, more military style! ;) However, this is the only piece of equipment i experienced this issue with, something is slightly unusual there.
Andy
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Agreed -- I pushed really hard and managed to get the cables that didn't click in to click in and stay connected.
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what I did is by putting tissue in the port in order to make it fit and "clicked". but for me it is quite frustrating when other equipment/network devices that I am dealing with did not facing the same issue.
-fauzi-
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I had the same issue. I contacted support and almost returned the A+ because I could not get any cables to fit in the uplink port. The other ports seem easier. None of the cables I used had a jacket, or dust cover. Even the included cable was hard to get in though it was ultimately the one that worked. I hope it never goes bad. ;)
One thing i found was that I had the stand installed on the router and it interfered with me being able to push the cable in as hard and as far as it need to be. I removed the stand and could get the cable in, though it was still tough. I really think that this is something the A+ team should consider going forward into mass production.
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We've already addressed this. It's an issue with the actual physical ports and we're changing component supplier.
We're really sorry about this issue, as it's something we discovered too late. It was really not an issue we expected to have and it's frankly quite embarrassing :-[
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It's good to see that this issue is being addressed. I had opened a support ticket as I had missed the thread here (it's not under the "problems" area). I had posted a fair amount of detail in my support ticket. I'll repost that analysis here as I have a suggested "low tech" fix for those affected. I've bolded it below:
I wanted to follow up on this ticket with some additional information. Upon further testing with both the Almond+ unit, my old router, and a couple of 8 port switches from different manufacturers, I’m confident I know what the issue is.
For all of the 8P8C (aka “RJ45”) jacks, there is a dimensional difference between the sockets on the Almond+ I received and those found on all the other devices I tested. Specifically, the depth between the “bottom” of the jack (where the tip of the male plug contacts) and the inner face of the case (where the latching tab on the male plug engages with the case to “lock” the plug into place) is slightly shorter with the Almond+. For all the rest of the devices I tested, there is approximately one-half to one millimeter of play (0.5mm-1.0mm) which allows the 8P8C plug to be inserted fully, the latching tab to engage, and then the stress on the socket to release slightly.
I was able, by pushing *very* firmly, to finally engage the latching tabs for several of the jacks (but not all). This unfortunately leaves the connector housing in compression, stressing the connections to the motherboard. This stress is likely to increase as the unit is put into service and thermal expansion causes additional pressure on this trapped connector and may lead to an early failure from thermal cycling.
I would suggest you review the ISO 8877 specs and tolerances on the jack. A work around for permanent installations may be to manually file down the latching tab on the plug to be inserted (not the Almond+, the plug) to provide more gap once connected.
Hopefully this potential fix helps others with the issue without requiring purchasing new cables. An inexpensive nail file is probably sufficient to remove a small amount of plastic from the latching tab.
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I had the same problem with the rj45's that I had put on. the store bought ones worked fine. I went and bought a new batch of rj45 ends and changed them on my cables and then the cables locked in place perfectly.
I would suggest either new cables or new ends if you made your own cables.