Q: Long Keyboard/Mouse Cables

  • Thread starter Thread starter Jeffrey W. Travis
  • Start date Start date
J

Jeffrey W. Travis

Greetings --

Is there any inherent reason why one shouldn't be able to run the
keyboard and mouse over 50ft. cables?

If so, I'm surprised I was able to buy the cables. If not, any tips?
If it's a problem of weak signals, is there a "booster" on the market?

I am trying to connect a keyboard and mouse in my basement to the
computer in my 2nd floor office. A 75ft. S-Video cable connecting the
graphics card to the basement TV is working acceptably well for my
purposes. The 50ft. keyboard and mouse cables were new out of the bag,
and the keyboard and mouse have been proven good by connecting them with
standard short cables. As the cables are male on both ends, I am using
a "barrel" (female-female adapter) on the basement end to accept the
keyboard and mouse connections.

Any help appreciated!

Thanks,

Jeff Travis
 
Greetings --

Is there any inherent reason why one shouldn't be able to run the
keyboard and mouse over 50ft. cables?

If so, I'm surprised I was able to buy the cables. If not, any tips?
If it's a problem of weak signals, is there a "booster" on the market?

I am trying to connect a keyboard and mouse in my basement to the
computer in my 2nd floor office. A 75ft. S-Video cable connecting the
graphics card to the basement TV is working acceptably well for my
purposes. The 50ft. keyboard and mouse cables were new out of the bag,
and the keyboard and mouse have been proven good by connecting them with
standard short cables. As the cables are male on both ends, I am using
a "barrel" (female-female adapter) on the basement end to accept the
keyboard and mouse connections.

Any help appreciated!

Thanks,

Jeff Travis
Click to expand...

At the 50' mark the issue should mostly be the quality of
the cables, poor quality limiting distance. Even so if you
had another system or keyboard you could try that might be
revealing. You might also use a continuity meter to confirm
that all pins on the extension cable are connected.
 
Jeffrey W. Travis said:
Greetings --

Is there any inherent reason why one shouldn't be able to run the
keyboard and mouse over 50ft. cables?
Click to expand...

Won't the screen be rather small at that distance??

(Only kidding!)
 
kony said:
At the 50' mark the issue should mostly be the quality of
the cables, poor quality limiting distance. Even so if you
had another system or keyboard you could try that might be
revealing. You might also use a continuity meter to confirm
that all pins on the extension cable are connected.
Click to expand...

That's probably my next step. To do it, I will have to un-dress the
cables from their ultimate routing -- kind of a pain. It's either
that or buy another set. I really should have tested that the setup
would work before routing the cables. Oh well.

I have tried another keyboard/mouse. Same symptoms -- they work fine
connected to the share switch on top of my computer, but not at the
other end of the long cables.

Have you actually experienced a problem with long keyboard/mouse
cables? I would expect that quality would not be much of an issue,
since the required bandwidth is so minimal. With video/monitor
cables, I have seen the difference between cheap and quality.

Thanks for the suggestions, though!

Jeff
 
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