Making USB extension cables using UTP cable

Solution 1:

Is it possible to make an extension for an USB 3.0 cable using regular UTP cable?

No, because the cables are not compatible:

• Cat 5 cable contains 4 twisted pairs (8 wires) so it does not contain enough wires.

• Cat 5 UTP has twisted pairs that are not shielded and only contain 8 wires.

• Cat 5 STP has twisted pairs the are shielded and only contain 8 wires.

• USB 3 cable requires 2 SDPS (Shielded Differential Pairs) each of which contain 3 wires.

• USB 3.0 cables requires 10 wires:

  • Two wires are used for power.

  • A single unshielded twisted pair (UTP) is used for High-Speed and lower data transfer and allows for backward compatibility.

  • Two shielded differential pairs (SDPs) have been added. Each SDP contains three wires, two for signal transmission and one drain wire. The two SDPs are used for transferring SuperSpeed data allowing for simultaneous bi-directional data flow.