CAT 5 Connectors Designed by Anti-Christ
basswood
| Posted in General Discussion on
Anyone have advice on getting all 8 little wires into the correct slots in male CAT 5 connectors…I’m going mad setting up my home network. One or two wires not fully seated at “crimp-time”, or wires double up on me at the last second. I’m going cross-eyed.
Replies
They're a pain in the A$$. I don't know what the secret is.....you'll get better after you do a few.
Good Luck!
A punch-down tool often helps. The 110 blade without the cutter. You might be able to pick up a cheap one at the big box store.
If you haven't drawn blood today, you haven't done anything.
Punch down tool is for the female CAT 5 connector...those I can do fine. Getting the male ends of runs terminated so they can plug into a router is the major bummer.
I've had moderate luck using needle nosed pliers. I strip back the covering, then use the pliers to gently straighten out an "press" the wires straight and into shape. Then I trim off the ends square and they seem to slide in a bit easier.
Q: What is the speed limit of sex?
A: 68........Cuz at 69 you have to turn around.
If it works like phone line connectors, do not strip the insulation off of the wires just remove the insulation that keeps them bundled. By leaving the multicolored insulation on, it keeps the wires in order and more rigid. The metal blades in the connector are designed to cut through the insulation and make wire contact when you crimp the connector down.
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that would be great , except the pairs are twisted and also one pair has to land on pins 3 and 6"
wireless!
have both wireless and wired networks...need both.
Isn't wireless slower then hard wired?View Image
Yes, but.Wired is getting up to a 1000 megs per second, while wireless does 104 meg per second at its theoretical best.Since most high-speed residential services top out at 3-6 meg per second, it's kind of a moot point unless you're doing major file transfers between your computers.
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Some hints:
Don't use a regular wire stripper; use one made for cat5. For cheap money, buy a spinner. It's a plastic wedge with a small recessed razor and a finger hole. You slide it over the cat5 jacket, insert your finger in the hole and spin it a couple of times.
I strip the jacket back 2 to 3 inches, untwist the pairs and arrange the wires. Then I grasp the wires about a half inch past the jacket between my thumb and first finger, then cut the excess perpendicular to the wire with wire scissors or a wire cutter (it has to be sharp). While still holding the wires, I slide it into the jack, then check it with a jeweler's loupe before crimping. Always check it with a cat5 tester. Once you get the feel of it, you'll rarely have one fail.
are you using 4 pr. cable
make sure you have the correct configuration before you make all those ends up.
cut the cable end square before you strip the jacket , untwist them and make sure the exposed wires are straight before you insert them into the connector.
do not strip more than you need to bottom them in the connector.
make sure the wires bottom in the connector, place the end in the crimper , and crimp! keep pressure on the wires and connector as you start to crimp
you will wish you had a third hand at first but ,practice,practice
also buy a tester,(Ideal makes an inexpensive one)
and test each cable as you make it. ....you will be glad you did
MD3 and Othersthanks for the input...it will be put to good use.
you are welcome, just be patient and go easy on yourself"
One problem is that if you cut the wires square and then strip the shell and splay them out properly, the wires on the outside end up short.The best way to deal with is to buy pre-built cables. For terminating in-the-wall cabling, use female connectors with punch-down blocks.(Of course, even that doesn't help me a whole lot since I'm color blind, and reading the color code on the blocks is even more difficult than reading the color code on the cable. I wish they'd just label the punch-down connections (eg, "W/G") vs printing those off-color labels.)
oops, you are right about the short wires, but I figured he had already found that out . thanksI don't know who makes them , but somebody, maybe P&S,makes a RJ45 where the wires pass through the connector before you crimp them, then you cut them off, perhaps basswood could use those?
He seems to want to make his own
"
Yeah, an advantage to that style is that it's a lot easier to double-check the color-coding with the ends sticking out. Plus you can be more generous with the jacket stripping to make it easier to separate/arrange the wires.
Strip off about 1-1/2" of the jacket, untwist the wires and get the kinks out. I use my thumbnail in kind of a scraping motion, not enough to damage the insulation. Then, move the wires to their correct location and make them lay as smoothly as possible. They'll be too long, but there's no way to get them to go where you want if you just cut them to the length needed for insertion. Once they're in the correct order, cut them to length(about 3/8" longer than the jacket) with a sharp wire cutter(I use an IDEAL data cutter-Home Depot in the area where the low voltage stuff is). Side cutters are too dull and will create a flat, lumpy end, which will not go in far or easily enough. If you're not using a phone plug crimper, pliers won't do it. It'll probably be easier and better for your sanity to buy pre-made cables instead.
The correct order, which you probably know, for Cat5e is(looking at the plug with the open end at the bottom and the release away from you):
White/Orange
Orange/White
White/Green
Blue
White/Blue
Green
White/Brown
Brown
After they have been cut to length, smooth them out and get the outside wires to be close to parallel to the sides of the plug. It should slide in easily.
Actually there are two different "standards" for RJ-45 connectors.It does not matter which is used for jumpers as long as each end is the same.And that is for straight through cables.There are also cross over cables which reverse a couple of pairs.
Edited 9/2/2005 11:49 am by BillHartmann
The important point is to keep the pairs together. You've got one pair on each end, one pair in the middle, and one pair straddling the pair in the middle. If you keep the pairs together, and the same color wires are on the same numbered pins on each end, it doesn't matter beyond that.Note that Cat 5 connectors are different from 4-pin fone connectors. The Fone Co likes theirs to be mirror-images on opposite ends, while the Cat 5 connectors should be identical.
I was going to mention the 'A' and 'B' standard for wiring too, but I'll add that crossover cables are usually not needed anymore. Most hardware will autodetect now.The plugs should have manufacturer's specifications for the amount of wire that has the sheathing removed, and how much sheathing should be inserted into the plug. the little scissors work well for trimming the wires to the proper length, once they have been straightned out. Remember that the twisting is what gives the wires their robustness, so you don't want to untwist any more than absolutely necessary.And I recommend Cat6 now.
There are 2 different standards for the termination (A and B), and the only difference is that the Green and Orange pairs are swapped. If you look at RJ-45 jumper cables, they're usually in the order I listed before. The Cat5 insert or plate is where the A or B comes in. Most punch down panels are A (slightly slower data transfer than B) and most racks with separate inserts are punched down as B. It can also be determined by the company that it doing the terminations, too. The company I work for is in the process of standardizing the wiring.
"I cut this piece four times and it's still too short."
Yeah, the A-B thing is really a PITA. Networking was pretty much standardized on B until about 5 years ago when, close as I can tell, lots of new folks got into the action who didn't know which was which and figured A had to be better than B. So now it's about 50/50.Not a problem if you terminate both ends the same way, but you can only guarantee that if you have the same model/brand on both ends. Often (usually?) the parts aren't even labeled as to whether they're A or B.
If the inserts or plates are Leviton, For "A", the white/brown, brown, green and blue are on the right side, looking from the top with the back of the insert toward you. For The orange, white/orange, white/green and white/blue are on the left. The first colors in both lists are at the front of the insert. If the insert is Pass & Seymour, "B" confihuration has the orange and brown pairs on one side. They're marked. If the part isn't marked, there's not much point in using it unless the person punching them down knows exactly which way they're going in.
"I cut this piece four times and it's still too short."
One problem is that you never are assured that the colors are layed out in pin order, so you can't match color code to pin # (even if you can make out the colors) to check whether A or B.
My solution - don't use cables with male connectors that are home made. I've made these and even though they test out with my signal generator, the equipment still wont run.
Solution - only by pre made cables with male connectors. When running wires in walls, use the punchdown female connectors - these work great. But from the wall to the computer, use factory cables.
You get out of life what you put into it......minus taxes.
Marv
I've never done CAT5 but, perhaps wearing magnifying glasses would help.
Yes, a good pair of magnifiers will do wonders when trying to get all of those wires in the right order before crimping the plug.
Strip off about 1-1/2" of the jacket, untwist the wires and get the kinks out. I use my thumbnail in kind of a scraping motion, not enough to damage the insulation. Then, move the wires to their correct location and make them lay as smoothly as possible. They'll be too long, but there's no way to get them to go where you want if you just cut them to the length needed for insertion. Once they're in the correct order, cut them to length(about 3/8" longer than the jacket) with a sharp wire cutter. Just like highfigh said. Except after flattening, I hold the cable tight between thumb & finger of left hand at the point where the insulation is stripped, cut to length, and slip right into the RJ45 connector. I have made hundreds of this type connection for networks and phone systems and have never had a cable fail certification, it just takes a little patience & practice. good luck!!
In a 'proper' installation you shouldn't need to crimp the male ends. By 'proper' I mean that the solid wires are punched down on a patch panel, and then factory-made stranded wire patch cables, usually no more than 6 ft long, are used to connect the cable run to the hub equipment.
Now, I use the 'proper' term loosely, 'cause I've made many networks were the solid wire had male ends crimped on to it and was then shoved directly into a hub. This avoids the cost of a patch panel and patch cables, but there are a couple of problems. 1) It's a PITA to crimp the ends, as you have found out. 2) Crimp ends are made with little teeth that bite into the stranded cable when you crimp them. These teeth can't bite through the solid wire and can wiggle loose if subjected to repeated stress.
Good luck,
Scott.
Edited 9/2/2005 12:45 pm ET by Scott
There are two different types of crimp-on ends -- solid and stranded. You need to buy the type that's appropriate for the type of cable you use.
Practice, Practice, Practice. I do geek work as my occupation, and the remodling for fun on my own house. Where do you live? You might be able to find a young geek to do it for you in exchange for a few hours of surfing time. You can find patch cables for a couple of dollars depending on how long you need the cables (i know i know, at least as long as you own the computer). Ebay, CDW, BlackBox. GOod luck!
Neil
I do it pretty much like highfigh. I also have my 8YO son or 12yo daughter inspect the wires in the plug against a chart before I crimp LOL. (white w/ brown stripe vs white w/blue stripe; sheesh.)
I need to correct my post with the color order in the RJ-45 plug. The striped wires alternate with the predominately solid colored wires with no two adjacent wires being either striped or solid. If the system is being wired from start to finish by someone who is technically wiring it out of sequence, it's not a problem. If it's being added to an existing system and one end has an RJ-45 with a jack on the other, the order needs to be correct. FYI, the "A" configuration has been adopted as the communications industry and the 568 number has changed to 570A. The B config. has been dropped by approx. 80% of the industry. This info came to me during CEDIA training this week. OTOH, there were quite a few contradictions, but the 570A and any other numbered designations come from the National Electrical Code.
"I cut this piece four times and it's still too short."