Outline · [ Standard ] · Linear+ Cat6 Cable and Crimpers, help

Hey its great this place is back!

Need some help.

I'm building a new house that will have an unfinished basement, just thw wals will be roughed in. So I'm tanking this oppertunity to wire the whole place with ethernet.

I have never made my own Cat5/6 cable before so I'm a little ify about the process. I tried some cat5e cable with some regular connectors and a cheapy RJ45 Crimper. That seemed OK, but the crimper didn't push all the plates down all the way.

Now I found some Cat6 cable really cheap. They sell bulk cable and sell scrap peices that they have (50 - 100 ft) really cheap ($2.33 USD) per. Anyway I got the cable and tried putting a connector on it... Not so easy. First off there is a + shaped plastic divider in the cable making it thicker than normal. Also tthose cheap crimpers have gotten worse.

So here is what I need.

1. Suggestions on whet type/brand crimper I should get. I saw a nice one(i think) at HomeDepot that has a rachet system (Ideal Ratchet Telemaster™ Telephone Tool for RJ-11/RJ-45 Model 30-696):

'http://www.homedepot.com/prel80HDUS/EN_US/diy_main/pg_diy.jsp?frmSearchStr=drywall&paging=1&cameFromSearch=false&CNTTYPE=PROD_META&sortOrder=relevance&currentPage=2&MID=9876&com.broadvision.session.new=Yes&CNTKEY=misc%2fsearchResults.jsp&renderer=basic

2. Does anyone have experience crimping RJ45? Can you give me some advise as to the best way to get all the wires straight and lined up right?

Thanks

Cat 6 uses totally different connectors to Cat5, well not totally different, but from what ive learnt cat6 is larger wires therefore needing new modules, making the cables is very easy once you get going, i rabbed a cheap crimper off ebay and a tester to make sure they work, also cheap.
Every cable ive made so far seems to work
that crimper looks good and easy to use, and if you got the cash why not, maybe you just need to squeeze a little bit harder with the one you got :)

With getting the wires in, i think its mainly luck, after ive stripped the cable i try flatten it out a bit and organise them in the correct order then flatten out a bit more and just slide it in check to make sure everything it through enough to get a good bite and crimp making sure to hold it firmly in so it doesnt slip etc.

One last thing, id probably just stick with Cat5 unless you plan on staying a while and upgrading hardware to utilise Cat6 when it has full support?

~Haroc

This post has been edited by Haroc: May 9 2004, 12:21 PM

I've done quite a bit of Cat5 crimping for cabling in my house, but I've never had a problem. Just gotta be careful, have patience, and a cable tester.

When using 10/100Mbps, it only uses 2 of the 4 twisted pairs (so somewhat forgiving...you might get lucky -- but I'd rather get it right the first time so there are no problems down the road). If you go Gigabit I think it uses all 4 pairs.

I've never tried Cat6, so I'm not much help.

captbics


This post has been edited by captbics: May 9 2004, 02:06 PM

Stick with cat5e and you'll be all set.

The thing with RJ45 connectors is to use a good end connector like AMP, not the cheap stuff found at Home Depot. Some ends seem to be a bit smaller and fit loosley into the end device, giving you intermittent connections. A good quality RJ45 plug will fit snug and give you trouble free ethernet. Make sure when you crimp down that all the wires are flush to the end of the connector, and you get a bit of the plastic jacket to hold the wires in place.

Thanks for the info guys. Really does help.

Since I already have the Cat6 cable, got it super cheap @ 9 bucks for ~275ft, I'm going to try and use it. The wires inside are exactly the same as normal Cat5e wires, its just there is this big plastic X inside making the whole wire much bigger. I played around a bit crimping ends on little 4 in. peices and the hardest part is getting the unstripped part to fit in the back of the connector. But I found that by crushing it flat with the lower part of my wire strippers it fits pretty good.

The crimpers I am using have 8 little teeth on the crimp head. Each tooth hits a single connecter blade <- not sure if that what they are called, and pushes it into the wire. Problem is it looks to be cheaply made in tiawan and 2 of the teeth just make the blades slip to the side when you try to crimp it. I am looking into a sloid crimp head crimper, or just make one myself :). Looks like al you need is a small rectangular peice of metal that is the same width as all of the blades and perfectly flat. I'll rig up something so I can press it down on the connector smoothly and straight.

Thanks again for the advise.

Hey dude,

If you've got the plaster off your walls at the moment why don't you do a full install? I'm halfway through one at my folks place. Just get standard modular electrical faceplates and buy some female sockets. I'm sure you can get your hands on suitable Cat6 sockets, but really for a home installation Cat5e along short distances should be sufficient for Gigabit ethernet because of the short cable runs.

Anyways, I ran two lengths of Cat5e to every room in the house, along with one of dual shield RG6 Coax. You can use Quad shield if you want. I took them all to a patch bay where I installed a 24port patch bay and some Coax sockets. My only mistake was to use standard arial connectors rather than F-type connectors, but this only affects the fly leads you'll use.

As mentioned earlier in this thread, ethernet connection only uses two pair of the cable, thus, it is feasible to run two ethernet connections from the same line. All you have to do is crimp custom fly leads from the patch bay to the PC / Router / Switch. Also, you should be able to run up to four telephone lines per Cat5e socket. Again, all the work is done at the patch bay with the fly leads. This gives you immense flexibility, and also allows for enhanced home automation at a later date.

Almost forgot. You won't need to use a crimping tool for the sockets. You'll need a Kroning tool. These are great and really easy to use. You simply strip back the cable sleeve exposing the twisted pairs and punch them into place. The Kroning tool will automatically trim the lines for you. How neato is that?!

Don't forget to run your Cat6 cable at least 1m (3ft) away from a parallel electrical cable and cross them at right angles to reduce interference.

Otherwise have fun.!

You ever going to finish that install at home mcelb? As I recall, it was quite a while ago you started doing that...

Not that I'm much better, I started wiring up my house with cat5e some months ago now. The hub is still floating around the backseat of my car...

But yeah, its much easier to get everything wired up with face plates on the walls for connections. unfortunatly, I lost my kroneing tool in my bedroom and havent found it again.. unless i let it to someone...

sigh.

`Andy

I've done quite a bit of wiring myself and it looks like you guys have covered just about everything possible! I found this site that has an awesome step by step guide to wiring your house. http://www.swhowto.com

I also ran the Cat5 to all of my telephones while I was at it.

This post has been edited by Parli: Jun 14 2004, 02:13 PM

Nice resource parli.

Funny you should mention that kroning tool... I seem to have one sitting here on my desk. I wonder whose it is...?