Does anyone know whether ethernet links can run reliably on a quadcopter or a rover (rc car) with either brushed or brushless motors? Since the standard UTP is not shielded I wonder whether a short device to device cable (say up to 50 cm) will pick up some noise from the motors. Anyone tried?
I’ve ran a 30cm cat5e cable through to the tail boom of my fixed wing project - it laid alongside the esc and motor wires for about 5cm. I thought there might be an interference issue too but after testing it was able to negotiate and sustain 100mbps at 1/10, 1/5, 1/3, 1/2, 2/3, 4/5 and full throttle. I have yet to see a dropped packet, though admittedly I’ve not looked for them after initial testing.
I’d suggest rigging it up and running tests like I did to check for issues, perhaps someone else has more information, but empirically, I’ve had no issues.
It’s probably more likely you’ll see issues on more sensitive gigabit connections, in which case shielded cable isn’t that expensive and would probably result in a stable connection - let me know how you get on I’d be interested to see if you did get issues!
M
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ferrit cores help a lot and if you are much into that kind of things, you may shield the wires.