Cellebrite RJ45 UART to USB Adapter Cable

Alot of us may need a data cable for an old cell phone to pull data off of them. However, most cell phones made before 2009 (Before the adoption of standardized connectors like MicroUSB) used proprietary connectors for which finding old data cables can be challenging. However, if you're lucky, you may end up finding a Cellebrite cable for it on eBay before finding the official data cable. While some Cellebrite cables use standard USB connectors, the serial ones use an RJ45 connector with a proprietary pinout. I know what you're thinking, and yes, those RJ45 connectors are UART, NOT ethernet. However, using a male to female ethernet extension cable and a USB to UART converter cable, you can build an adapter cable that will allow for using the proprietary RJ45 Cellebrite cables on a standard PC.

D-Tech FTDI FT232R USB UART Converter Cable (I strongly recommend the FTDI over the Prolific due to the Prolific having compatibility issues during my testing) [https://www.amazon.com/dp/B083HVM7VZ]

J&D Female to Male Ethernet Extension cable (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B074KK7WRF)

Wire cutters and strippers

Soldering iron

Solder

Brass sponge

Heat shrink tubing

Helping hands

Heat source for heat shrink (Lighter or heat gun)

Cut the female DuPont connectors off the USB UART cable using your wire cutters, and then strip off the insulation. You only need TXD, RXD, and GND. Just cut the VCC, CTS, and RTS wires, as you don't need them.

Cut the male end off the Ethernet extension cable, then strip off the main cable insulation. Cut off the clear middle piece, and the white/orange, orange, green, and white/brown wires, as we won't be using them. Leave the white/green, blue, white/blue, and brown wires intact and strip them.

First place a large heatshrink tube over the entire cable, then place the two cables into your helping hands tool. Now, place a small heatshrink tube over each of the wires to join (One piece per joint, so three pieces). Remember to always place the heatshrink on BEFORE making your joint. Do NOT shrink it yet, but it needs to be over one of the wires already for shrinking later. Make sure the tube is currently on an area of the wire that won't get too hot during soldering, or the tube will shrink prematurely. Twist the wires together for joining so you have a relatively stable mechanical connection before you solder.

Follow the schematic shown for making sure you wire up the cable correctly. White/green and brown on the ethernet cable should go to GND on the UART cable, blue on the ethernet cable should go to RX on the UART cable, and white/blue on the ethernet cable should go to TX on the UART cable. Make sure you have the correct wires on whatever converter cable you use. Once you know the correct wiring, solder the wires together. I won't go into detail on how to solder here, but if you're new to soldering, there are plenty of good tutorials online to get you started. Luckily, soldering two wires together is the easiest form of soldering, so this tutorial can accommodate anyone who's just getting started with soldering. Once each wire is soldered, slip the heat shrink tube over the joint and use your lighter or heat gun to shrink it on so it tightly insulates the joint.

Now's a good time to visually inspect your work. You'll want to make sure each of the three wire joints is well insulated to prevent shorting inside the finished cable. After that, slip the large heat shrink over the wires area and shrink.

You're now ready to test your adapter cable! Plug any desired Cellebrite RJ45 UART cable into the female Ethernet end and the compatible phone, and then plug the USB end into your PC. You should now be able to communicate with the phone using the appropriate software for the specific model. In this example, I used a Sanyo SCP-6200 and I was able to read it's filesystem using BitPim.