Cable Wiring

The Winegard dish variants use two different serial bus standards. The Trav’ler family uses RS-485 half-duplex (2-wire), while the Carryout G2 uses RS-422 full-duplex (4-wire). Choosing the right adapter and wiring it correctly is the first step.

RS-485 vs RS-422

Property	RS-485 half-duplex	RS-422 / RS-485 full-duplex
Signal wires	2 (+ GND)	4 (+ GND)
Direction	One direction at a time	Both directions simultaneously
Max nodes	32 drivers + 32 receivers	1 driver + 10 receivers (RS-422)
Max distance	1200m / 4000ft	1200m / 4000ft
Max baud	~10 Mbps	~10 Mbps
Voltage swing	±1.5V to ±5V differential	±2V to ±5V differential
Bus turnaround	Required (adds latency)	Not needed
Typical adapter	USB-to-RS485 (DTECH, etc.)	USB-to-RS422 (FTDI, DIYables, etc.)

The Trav’ler’s RJ-25 connector exposes both a half-duplex pair (pins 2-3, labeled T/R) and a dedicated receive pair (pins 4-5, labeled RXD). Gabe’s code uses only the half-duplex pair. Davidson’s G2 code uses all four wires as RS-422. The same physical connector may support both modes depending on the firmware — this is unconfirmed on the Trav’ler but worth testing if you have a 4-wire adapter.

Adapter chain by variant

Variant	Adapter	Wires Used
Trav’ler (Gabe’s setup)	USB to RS232 to RS485 (DTECH)	Pins 2-3 only (half-duplex)
Carryout G2 (Davidson)	USB to RS422 (5V TTL)	Pins 2-5 (full-duplex)
Carryout G2 (confirmed)	DSD TECH SH-U11 USB to RS422 (FTDI FT232R)	Pins 1-5 (full-duplex + GND)
Carryout G2 (ESP32)	ESP32 UART2 to RS422 module (DIYables)	Pins 2-5 (full-duplex)

Wiring instructions

RS-485 (Trav'ler)

The Trav’ler, Trav’ler HAL 2.05, and original Carryout use RS-485 half-duplex at 57600 baud. The physical connector is an RJ-25 (6P6C).

RJ-25 Pinout (bottom view, clip up)

Pin	Label	RS-485 use
1	GND	Ground
2	T/R-	Shared data-
3	T/R+	Shared data+
4	RXD-	(unused in half-duplex)
5	RXD+	(unused in half-duplex)
6	N/C	Not connected

Connection steps

1. Get a USB-to-RS485 adapter. The DTECH USB-to-RS232-to-RS485 chain is what Gabe used. A direct USB-to-RS485 adapter also works.

2. Connect the shared data pair. Wire the RS-485 adapter’s A/+ terminal to pin 3 (T/R+) and B/- terminal to pin 2 (T/R-) on the RJ-25 connector.

3. Connect ground. Wire the adapter’s GND terminal to pin 1 (GND).

4. Leave pins 4-6 unconnected. In half-duplex mode, the RXD pair and pin 6 are not used.

5. Verify the serial port appears. On Linux, look for /dev/ttyUSB0 or similar. Check with ls /dev/ttyUSB*.

6. Test with a terminal emulator. Open the port at 57600 baud, 8N1. Press Enter — you should see a > prompt or boot messages.

The Trav'ler Pro is different

The Trav’ler Pro uses a USB A-to-A cable and shows up as ttyACM0, not ttyUSB. It does not use RS-485 at all. Connect it directly via USB and use 57600 baud.

RS-422 (Carryout G2)

The Carryout G2 uses RS-422 full-duplex at 115200 baud. The physical connector is an RJ-12 (6P6C) — same form factor as the RJ-25, same 6-pin modular jack.

RJ-12 Pinout (clip away)

Pin	Wire Color (Davidson)	Wire Color (confirmed)	RS-422 Function
1	White	Orange/White	GND (PE)
2	Red	Orange	TX+ (TA) — computer to dish
3	Black	Green/White	TX- (TB) — computer to dish
4	Yellow	Blue	RX+ (RA) — dish to computer
5	Green	Blue/White	RX- (RB) — dish to computer
6	Blue	Green	Not connected

Wire colors vary

Wire colors differ between cable manufacturers. The “confirmed” column is from a standard 6P6C flat cable tested 2026-02-12. Always verify with a multimeter before connecting.

Connection steps

1. Get a USB-to-RS422 adapter. The DSD TECH SH-U11 (FTDI FT232R) is confirmed working. Any RS-422 or 4-wire RS-485 adapter should work.

2. Connect the TX pair (computer to dish). Wire the adapter’s TX+/TA terminal to pin 2 (TX+) and TX-/TB terminal to pin 3 (TX-).

3. Connect the RX pair (dish to computer). Wire the adapter’s RX+/RA terminal to pin 4 (RX+) and RX-/RB terminal to pin 5 (RX-).

4. Connect ground. Wire the adapter’s GND to pin 1 (GND).

5. Verify the serial port appears. On Linux, look for /dev/ttyUSB0 or similar.

6. Test with a terminal emulator. Open the port at 115200 baud, 8N1. Press Enter — you should see a TRK> prompt.

Polarity is critical

Swapping +/- on the RX pair produces garbled data at the correct baud rate (systematic bit inversion, not random noise). Swapping +/- on the TX pair causes silent failure — the dish doesn’t respond because it can’t decode the inverted framing. If you see garbled data, swap the +/- wires on the RX pair first.

RS-422 module notes (DIYables MAX490)

If using the DIYables RS422-to-TTL module with an ESP32, be aware of the failsafe concern: the MAX490 does not have failsafe logic. When the RS-422 bus tri-states (no driver active), the receiver inputs float and may produce spurious bytes.

Workaround options:

1. Add external bias resistors — pull A/RX+ toward V+ and B/RX- toward GND through ~560 ohm resistors. This biases the idle bus to a known logic-high state.
2. Use prompt-terminated reads — our CarryoutG2Protocol._send() reads until > (ASCII 62) which naturally filters out garbage between commands.
3. Keep cable runs short — under ~3m, the built-in 120 ohm termination is sufficient and bus float rarely causes issues.

IDU/ODU cable wiring (if cut)

If you need to repair a cut cable between the indoor unit (IDU) and outdoor unit (ODU):

• Top row: Green, Yellow, Orange
• Bottom row: Red, Brown, Black

Power

The dish runs on 120VAC input to the RP-SK87 power supply, which outputs 12VDC to the IDU. The internal coax carries 12-18VDC bias for the LNB.

LNB bias voltage

Do not connect 5V equipment (SDR LNAs, etc.) to the coax without bypassing the power injector. The 12-18VDC bias will damage equipment rated for lower voltages.