How to wire a VGA

[chrisporter1984]

Hi

 

I need to attach a new male connector to a VGA cable. I have found several things of use but I need to know what coloured wires go to what pins. I know pins 1,2,3, are red, green, and blue, that 5 to 10 are the grounds (though I don't know what colours go where) and that 13 and 14 are the H-sync and V-sync (if any of this is wrong then please let me know).

 

Also, are 4, 11, 12 and 15 needed?

 

I'm running a projector from a laptop if that is of any help

 

 

Please help a frustrated lighting guy

 

Much appreciated

 

Chris

[Stuart91]

My best advice would be - don't bother! Unless you're a real whizz at soldering, it's next to impossible to get all the terminations made correctly. And my experience has been that soldered VGA connectors are far more likely to fail than the moulded factory made ones. If you've mangled an end of a VGA cable, just buy another one - it's really not worth the hassle.

[jason5d]

I agree

 

just buy a new one, much easier

[Dave]

See here (amongst many other places on the net) for the pinouts: http://pinouts.ru/Video/VGA15_pinout.shtml

 

5-10 are not all grounds

 

For the video signal, you need to connect 1, 2, 3, 6, 7, 8, 10, 13, 14, but if it's an el-cheapo cable some of the grounds (6,7,8,10) may be commoned. However the laptop may not realise a projector is connected unless 11, 12, 15 are also wired up.

 

Assuming your cable has a plug on the other end, best thing to do is use a DMM to work out what wire goes where as there is no standard colour code other than RGB on 1, 2, 3.

 

The 15 way HD D plug is fiddly to wire up and I wouldn't advise it unless you're good at soldering and cable termination. An easier (but uglier) approach that I've seen is to buy a short VGA cable from CPC (page 860 of 2009 catalogue, both the grey and the black ones are excellent quality and competitively priced - I'm not sure about the two described as "standard VGA cable" though. Also check the offers leaflets). Chop the plug off one end and use a plastic enclosure as a junction box to join the two cables - it will give you a lot more working room.

 

Alternatively, why not just scrap the old cable and buy a complete new one from CPC - the chances are that it will cost less than the value of your time to solder the plug!

 

EDIT: I see others beat me to it and share my view. However, I would add that I've had VGA cables from some fairly large AV hire companies that have had replacement plugs fitted. I'm sure they wouldn't do that if it was unreliable. But these firms probably have competent technicians with a bit of spare time. The VGA connector (and the thin cable) really is a consumer product and doesn't stand up to heavy-duty use very well. But the only real alternative is full-size five-wire which is rather unwieldy.

[pstewart]

If the cable is in situ and you do really need to repair it, you could replace the end with one of these - AV13258 from CPC which has screw terminals, rather than the soldering the fiddly 15 pin plug. Then use a short flylead to connect & next time it breaks just replace the flylead.

 

Philip