ribbon type ethernet cable & making patch cables

[high_revs]

so I made a few patch cables. Damn, last time I did this was volunteering for a "netday" event wiring up a san mateo school in the 90s. Lol my eyes were straining in the beginning until I got into a groove. I wasted the good end of a long cat5e I was breaking into 3ft patch cords because I didn't align the cables the same way, i.e. Orange white was opposite end. Wasted a couple of connectors also getting into groove.

I don't remember if orange white should be left looking from top or bottom of connector. Not that it mattered but I was a bit anal about it. I wanted to skip the whole pattern in the beginning getting frustrated green-white was crossing over like 3 wires making sure you pressed hard keeping the pattern. Not sure why that is.

anyway, are tests pretty much pass or fail? I didn't untwist beyond the outer housing but was not sure if signal quality gets affected if I did accidentally and by how much. All seem to work and lights are on both sides of devices.

also anyway to tell if ribbon-type patch cord is cat5e or just cat5. Maybe I can use them for just the tv/bluray since they won't need gigabit speed.

[d4v0s]

standard cabling is White-orange, orange, white-green, blue, white-blue, green, white-brown brown. This is a 568B cable. There is not difference between 568B and 568A. To make a crossover cable simply make one end B and one end A.

The white-orange, orange will be placed on the left side when the connector is in your hand and the clip is facing the ground.

When unwinding your cables make sure to only undo the minimum amount of cable because the twists shield against noise and more noise means less throughput.

Another trick I use is when cutting the ends off before you push them into the connector, hold the cable up to the connector, eye ball the end of the jacket so it just passes the ridge in the connector, then cut the wires back flush with the end of the connector. The biggest mistake I see with cables is not seating the wires into the end of the connector. You should see them pushed up against the plastic. The other mistake people make is to not capture part of the jacket when crimping, make sure the jacket is being held onto by the ridge that comes down after you crimp.

Cables are mostly pass fail, but be cautious of reverse polarity if you have POE (power over ethernet). you can fry stuff pretty quick by making bad cables.

Here is an awesome website I point people too..

http://www.lanshack.com/make-cat5E.aspx

[d4v0s]

I saw another part of your post i missed, in regards to the cat5e or cat 5. The cable should specify its rating. If not, look at the twist rate of the cable. Cat 5 has a slower twist rate than cat5e.

Cat5e is wound tighter to reduce crosstalk when going to 1000baseT speeds.

I just did cables for three new P2P radios at my work, They were cat5e outdoor rated, gel filled, I officially hate outdoor gel filled cable, they make you work at getting an end on that stuff!!

[high_revs]

thanks d4v0s. i actually wired to 586b. some sites show 586a not just to be opposite but the twisted pairs were in different arrangements. (http://www.speedguide.net/articles/h...ork-cables-118). so i just stuck with 586b.

it was just a pain to move that green-white over away from green that it would have to go over or under 2 strands (blue, bluewhite) hence not quite "flat". i have to hold on to the arrangement tight. i couldn't tell from some youtube videos and sites if the clip was up or down but as long as i followed the pattern, i should be good. iirc in a old thread here, some said it doesn't matter anyway as long as your consistent. only trouble would be if someone was fixing your work later but these are just patch cables for personal use anyway.

no power over ethernet. just tcp/ip signals.

the ribbon cable must be old and cat5. when i meant ribbon cable, it's literally flat like a cassette tape type flat ribbon. can't recall who gave me that but it come with a internet device. probably my ooma hub? before tossing the asus rt-n56u router box and stuff i left inside, i found they gave me a ribbon cable in there and that has designation (cat.5e). just figuring out if i can reuse some cables instead of making more patch cords for devices that won't benefit gigabit.

p.s. yeah, initial ones i made (1 connector mistake) was that i didn't have long enough strands that it literally pulled the jacket and cable away from plug when i was unplugging. i made sure i kept a "good" example (belkin end) and always compared before cutting. i think i kept a long enough jacket to shove it in there too per a youtube video also.

[stilly]

Good info here.

[corrosively_armed]

Behold.

http://www.cableorganizer.com/platinum-tools/ez-crimp-tools.html?gcsct=0ChMIoK3FvefZsQIVRTPnCh34FAAAEA8&gcssku=PL-EZRJ45-CRIMP

You have to use their brand of connectors but they're cheap considering the ease of using this thing. The wires stick out the end of the connector so you know you have them in the right order. Then when you crimp it auto snips the wires off!

Amazon has the new model, called the ez crimp HD. Heavier duty and improved.

[stilly]

Behold.

http://www.cableorganizer.com/platinum-tools/ez-crimp-tools.html?gcsct=0ChMIoK3FvefZsQIVRTPnCh34FAAAEA8&gcssku=PL-EZRJ45-CRIMP

You have to use their brand of connectors but they're cheap considering the ease of using this thing. The wires stick out the end of the connector so you know you have them in the right order. Then when you crimp it auto snips the wires off!

Amazon has the new model, called the ez crimp HD. Heavier duty and improved.

I saw this and I ALMOST bought it but then I have my own method for cutting cables. PLUS, this is a NOOB tool to me. Now granted I am a NOOB also, but when I saw this I was marveling at it and how much easier it would make my life, but HEY, Ask anyone, Fighting with those pesky cables trying to get them all straight and lined up is PART OF THE FUN! Am I right or am I wright? (sorry, dunno what that is supposed to mean, it just sounded funny) (get it, SOUNDED funny but in reality it sounds the same so it really should LOOK funny...) Oh the humor machine is fired up today.

No seriously though, those look cool but the connectors are expensive compared to regular connectors and hoarders like my tend to buy a LOT of connectors so we can rebuild the world when it breaks... That plus the $65 price scared me away after I saw it on the rack at Electronics Warehouse. I was like, OH HELL NO. But DAMN that would just about cut my time in half... I WILL admit though, I WAS marveled...

[Merc1138]

Might as well learn how to do it the right way with standard connectors and crimpers. Using a different type may be easier, but if for some reason you don't have access to that specific tool or the connectors, you're SOL and right back to square one.

[stilly]

Oh yeah, there IS that little part too... I can find RJ-45 anywhere but pull through rj-45?

[corrosively_armed]

The RJ45 connector is the most archaic, non user friendly, fault prone piece of crap in the computer world. We used to have the floppy disk for that award but fortunately it has died and we are left with the '45. Fortunately this new connector has made it's continued existence somewhat less tiresome. The other day I had to put on I believe 10 of the standard types and ruined at least 8 due to lack of ability to see the damned colors inside the connector. This solves that problem plus it solves the problem of nont knowing if the wires are pushed in far enough because with the ability to pull the wires all the way through you will never NOT have them in far enough for all of the damned little teeth to grab them when you crimp.

[BigFatGuy]

Be glad you don't work punchboards for the phone company. the color pattern has... 125 combinations if I'm not mistaken, and they go in one and only one correct order.

I was a network admin for almost 15 years, mostly for cheap bosses a small companies. I made a LOT of ethernet cables in my day. These days, I buy them when I need them... the extra few bucks is worth my sanity.

[MattG.]

Behold.

http://www.cableorganizer.com/platinum-tools/ez-crimp-tools.html?gcsct=0ChMIoK3FvefZsQIVRTPnCh34FAAAEA8&gcssku=PL-EZRJ45-CRIMP

You have to use their brand of connectors but they're cheap considering the ease of using this thing. The wires stick out the end of the connector so you know you have them in the right order. Then when you crimp it auto snips the wires off!

Amazon has the new model, called the ez crimp HD. Heavier duty and improved.

I wish I had these when I was rewiring the entire server room for a large LAN center, they would've saved me SO much time. I could've easily trained someone to help out on the fly too, hah.