Gender changer
Encyclopedia
Electrical connector
An electrical connector is an electro-mechanical device for joining electrical circuits as an interface using a mechanical assembly. The connection may be temporary, as for portable equipment, require a tool for assembly and removal, or serve as a permanent electrical joint between two wires or...
s of the same type and gender
Gender of connectors and fasteners
In electrical and mechanical trades and manufacturing, each half of a pair of mating connectors or fasteners is conventionally assigned the designation male or female...
.
An example is a cable connector shell with either two female or two male connectors on it (male-to-male or female-to-female), used to correct the mismatches that result when interconnecting two devices or cables with the same gender of connector.
Gender changers are used for RS-232
RS-232
In telecommunications, RS-232 is the traditional name for a series of standards for serial binary single-ended data and control signals connecting between a DTE and a DCE . It is commonly used in computer serial ports...
C ports in either the original DB-25 or the IBM AT DE-9
D-subminiature
The D-subminiature or D-sub is a common type of electrical connector. They are named for their characteristic D-shaped metal shield. When they were introduced, D-subs were among the smaller connectors used on computer systems....
format. They are also used when extending any sort of cable that normally has plugs on both ends (rather than a socket on one and plug on the other), however in this case it is usually called just an "extender", such as with F connector
F connector
The F connector is a type of coaxial RF connector commonly used for "over the air" terrestrial television, cable television and universally for satellite television and cable modems, usually with RG-6/U cable or, in older installations, with RG-59/U cable. It was invented by Eric E...
s, BNC connector
BNC connector
The BNC connector ' is a common type of RF connector used for coaxial cable. It is used with radio, television, and other radio-frequency electronic equipment, test instruments, video signals, and was once a popular computer network connector. BNC connectors are made to match the characteristic...
s, and various RJ connectors used in telephony
Telephony
In telecommunications, telephony encompasses the general use of equipment to provide communication over distances, specifically by connecting telephones to each other....
and computer networking.
Gender changers are used in professional audio
Professional audio
Professional audio, also 'pro audio', refers to both an activity and a type of audio equipment. Typically it encompasses the production or reproduction of sound for an audience, by individuals who do such work as an occupation like live event support, using sound reinforcement systems designed for...
to adapt XLR connector
XLR connector
The XLR connector is a style of electrical connector, primarily found on professional audio, video, and stage lighting equipment. The connectors are circular in design and have between 3 and 7 pins...
s, RCA connector
RCA connector
An RCA connector, sometimes called a phono connector or cinch connector, is a type of electrical connector commonly used to carry audio and video signals...
s, Speakon connector
Speakon connector
The Speakon is a type of cable connector, originally manufactured by Neutrik, mostly used in professional audio systems for connecting loudspeakers to amplifiers. The same manufacturer produces another connector dubbed PowerCon, which is designed to carry mains power rather than audio signal...
s and TRS connector
TRS connector
A TRS connector is a common family of connector typically used for analog signals including audio. It is cylindrical in shape, typically with three contacts, although sometimes with two or four . It is also called an audio jack, phone jack, phone plug, and jack plug...
s.
Alternative names for a gender changer are "gender bender", "gender blender", and "gender mender".
Null modem
Null modem
Null modem is a communication method to connect two DTEs directly using an RS-232 serial cable. The name stems from the historical use of the RS-232 cable to connect two teleprinter devices to modems in order to communicate with one another; null modem communication was possible by instead using...
. Despite the word modem
Modem
A modem is a device that modulates an analog carrier signal to encode digital information, and also demodulates such a carrier signal to decode the transmitted information. The goal is to produce a signal that can be transmitted easily and decoded to reproduce the original digital data...
appearing in the name, it is not a modem. Rather, it is a device with the appearance of a gender changer that imitates the presence of a modem.
A normal gender changer simply changes the gender without rerouting any pins. Therefore, pin 1 connects to pin 1 on the other side, pin 2 connects to 2, pin 3 connects to 3, and so forth.
A null modem reroutes wiring so that two serial devices may connect directly to one another without any communications hardware (see RS-232
RS-232
In telecommunications, RS-232 is the traditional name for a series of standards for serial binary single-ended data and control signals connecting between a DTE and a DCE . It is commonly used in computer serial ports...
). For example, a null modem crosses pins 2 and 3, so that pin 2 on one side is connected to pin 3 on the other. This causes the "transmit" from each side to be routed into the "receive" side of the other, similar to how a crossover cable
Crossover cable
A crossover cable connects two devices of the same type, for example DTE-DTE or DCE-DCE, usually connected asymmetrically , by a modified cable called a crosslink...
is used in Ethernet
Ethernet
Ethernet is a family of computer networking technologies for local area networks commercially introduced in 1980. Standardized in IEEE 802.3, Ethernet has largely replaced competing wired LAN technologies....
to connect two devices directly without a hub or switch. Two to three other pairs are similarly crossed in a null modem.
A null modem may also act as a gender changer if it has the same gender connector on both sides. Other null modems have a different gender on each side. It is important to recognize that a null modem used in place of a gender changer (or a gender changer used in place of a null modem) will result in an inoperable connection, even if the connectors physically fit.
Because of the significance of this distinction, gender changers and null modems for serial communications are typically labeled with the words Gender Changer or Null Modem to clarify the internal wiring.