Quoted from JStoltz:It's been brought up a couple times, but the RJ45 connectors/cabling used in Spike 2 are not for your typical network usage;
Not true. Per Stern's Spike System Manual:
"The SPIKE node bus utilizes standard Ethernet-style RJ45 8-pin modular jacks and ethernet cabling."
I have personally verified this using a NS-468 Cable Tester on Spike2 network cables. The wiring configuration is exactly the same as a standard ethernet patch cable.
Quoted from JStoltz:they use it as a convenient fieldbus for their own protocols (and power distribution).
Quoted from JStoltz:If you buy a standard QR code reader with an RJ45 connector on it and hook that into a Spike 2 system, it's going to damage either the QR reader, the Spike 2 system, or both.
By "standard QR reader" you mean like the one provided by Stern? If so, connecting it with a standard RJ-45 ethernet patch cable will do no harm. In fact the cable provided by Stern in the QR reader kit is a standard ethernet patch cable.
Quoted from JStoltz:The QR Reader won't be expecting the higher voltages on the ethernet cable that Spike 2 is sending.
In fact, in a friends Beatles I have installed a QR Reader in the coin door using a straight thru splitter at the cabinet Node 1 board. It's close proximity allows the use of a short (horror of horrors) standard ethernet cable. No long cabling to Node 8 or a long cable to the back box is necessary. No touching the PF or Backbox. Short and Sweet. Works perfect. I'll save the details for another post.
On a side note, in the ethernet cabling world there is POE, Power Over Ethernet (google is your friend) using 2 spare wires in an ethernet cable for sending power to appropriately configured devices. So it's not surprising that Stern is using the same concept in their own network protocol, which standard RJ-45 ethernet cables are happy to accommodate. 
Naperville, IL
