Front-Facing Ethernet Ports

Not sure if I dislike front-facing ethernet ports or those 6’ armored strain boots on some industrial patch cables more, but inevitably they combine to hit something mounted on an enclosure door…

Plus, I’ve never seen an installation where the patch cables looked as good/straight as the I/O wiring.

It’d be cooler if patch cords connected top/bottom like the other component wiring.

This all happened because I shot myself in the foot on Friday afternoon. Setting up for FAT, I hooked up that HMI panel to the dev network and found the boot rubbing a little when inserted into ports 3 & 5. The back contours of the touchscreen where the VESA mount in hangs over just a bit.

Drawings showed 30mm clearance, but after installation the gasket seals crushed down to reduce it to 23-25mm. It’ll work for this set of patch cables, but I know field installation is going to need at least an inch for the boot + bend radius.

My fault of course, just could hear my dad in my head saying “If you have to ask if it’s good enough, you already know the answer”.

It’s a solid father’s day message, but it’s but not going to stop me from blaming the equipment for having to move the DIN rail up an inch to clear the touchscreen!