Guide to Making Cat 5 Cable
Needed Cable Making Supplies
|
CAT 5 Crimper - This is the most essential tool and critical to the cable
making process. If you don't have a quality crimper, then your cable connections
will be bad. Inferior crimpers will make it difficult and/or nearly impossible
to achieve a tight connection between the wires. Many better quality crimpers
also have a ratcheting controlled closure for precise crimping |
|
Cable Tester – Although not necessary for making cables, having
a good cable tester can prevent and solve cable wiring configuration and
installation problems. Most testers consist of two boxes (transmitter and
receiver) you plug your patch cable into. The transmitter box tests the
cable by sending test pulses down each individual wire, lighting up LED
lights on the receiver box. Most testers will show you a result of the
pass. Why do you want to test cables? Even if they are slightly damaged,
network cables will work, but cause packet loss and data corruption to
your hardware. |
|
Cat 5 Cable - Not all Cat 5 Cables are created equally. We recommend 24 gauge wire with a fairly hard cable jacket that both protects the wires but has bending flexibility. |
|
Other Cable Supplies – It’s always a good idea to have a
box of
RJ45 connectors, as well as a straight edge wire cutter. |
Cable Wiring Standards
There are two wiring standards for Cat 5 Cables, called T-568A
and T-568B. They differ only in pin assignments, not in uses of the various
colors.
While there is no advantage to using one or the other, it is
essential that
you know which standard you are using if you have to work with keystones
(wall jacks) or patch panels. Here are the pin designations for both standards.
Pin |
Color |
Pair |
Description |
1 |
white/orange |
2 |
TxData+ |
2 |
orange |
2 |
TxData+ |
3 |
white/green |
3 |
RecvData+ |
4 |
blue |
1 |
Unused |
5 |
white/blue |
1 |
Unused |
6 |
green |
3 |
RecvData- |
7 |
white/brown |
4 |
Unused |
8 |
brown |
4 |
Unused |
|
Pin |
Color |
Pair |
Description |
1 |
white/green |
3 |
RecvData+ |
2 |
green |
3 |
RecvData+ |
3 |
white/orange |
2 |
TxData+ |
4 |
blue |
1 |
Unused |
5 |
white/blue |
1 |
Unused |
6 |
orange |
2 |
TxData- |
7 |
white/brown |
4 |
Unused |
8 |
brown |
4 |
Unused |
|
Cable Making Instructions
Skin off the cable jacket around 1”.
Be careful not to remove too much of the jacket since it need to be put on
the end of the connector to support the network cable. Also make sure you do
not cut any of the wires. Nicked and cut wires will most likely cause signal
loss and interference.
Un-twist each
pair, straightening each wire between you fingers. Arrange them in the wiring
order shown above (T-568B or T568-A). Then, bring all the wires
together until they touch. At this point, double check the wiring sequence.
Hold the grouped wires together tightly, between your thumb and forefinger.
Cut all of the wires at a 90 degree angle at ½” from the end of
the cable jacket. Make sure the wires are cut straight and evenly. If they
are not, some or all of the wires may not make proper contact.
Insert the wires into the connector with the pins facing up. Push fairly
hard to ensure that all of the wires have reached the end of the connector.
You
need to make sure that you have about 3/16” of the cable jacket inside
the box part of the connector, because when you crimp the cable, the box will
compress on the jacket, removing all stress from the cable wires.
Place the connector into your crimping tool, and squeeze hard a couple of
times to make sure that all of the wires were properly inserted into the pins
and
the connector has a good hold on the cable.
After you have put connectors on both ends of your cable, test your cable
with your cable tester.
Detailed Cat 5 Cable Building Instructions
Buying Custom Cat 5 Cables
Need a large supply of Cat 5 custom cables made?
You can trust Comtrad Cables for your residential and commercial cable
needs.
|
All cables are custom made and hand tested
Choose from any of our 11 colors (pruple, pink, black, orange, blue,
beige, gray, green, yellow, red or white)
Select any length you need - from a few inches up to 100 feet!
All products
are made from top-quality materials
NO minimum order size
FREE SHIPPING to anywhere within the continental US on all orders $100
or more. |
|
