On June 11, 2006 at 13:29, tnova said...
I don't know about it being "critical." Note that
the shield is floated on the device end with no
mention of terminating it at the stat.
This is electrostatic shielding, and their literature sort of implies that their system might be susceptible to interference.
This is exactly the way studios used to (still do?) shield their high-isolation audio cables, and that kind of shield connection, with the shield at the audio source end, is why there are arrows on some audio cables. It's not that the wire is somehow directional, but that there is an electrostatic shield that should drain to the source, not the amp.
For thermostats, it might work, it might not. If you just have the brown wire, be sure to connect every unused conductor to ground at the equipment end.
Depends on
the length and manner in which the tstat wire
was run, any sources of interference nearby, etc.
Exactly, and the shielding lessens these problems. Trying the wire you have is way less expensive than running new wire, and if it works, it works.