[Imxerox]

Just want to know if anyone knows of a site that shows you how to do this. Like what wires go were in the plug before you crimp it. I heard there are 2 different ways to line up the wires in the plug, and it depends on what you are going to do with the wires. Please help this is all becoming sooo confusing. Thanks




Lisa

 

[HomeVideoGuy]

Wires in the cable are in pairs, color/white stripe, white/color stripe. Therefore the term UTP or unshielded twited pair cable CAT 5 being the type Category 5.


Insert the wires into the connector color/white stripe and it's matching pair white/color stripe right next to it. Do this for all pairs in the connector. Do the same on the other end of your cable, in the same color order, for a straight thru cable.

 

[wyrdone]

WRONG. You will not be Category 5 compliant and get horrible crosstalk with run over 5 meters long.


Here is a site on how to properly wire a Cat5 Connector:

http://www.pcnineoneone.com/howto/cat5diy1.html

 

[ertyu]

My very own guide

http://www.ertyu.org/~steven_nikkel/ethernetcables.html

 

[TraderGordo]

You guys did't bother to ask her what she is going to do with the cable. An important question (not that often that we discuss networking with home theater computers but it is important).


Anyway, you can do the standard design or the cross-over design. If you are going directly from a device (such as an XBox or a wireless access point for wireless LAN to name two examples) into your computer's ethernet port you will need a crossover cable. If you are just going both TO or FROM a switch, routher, or HUB, then you just want a normal straightforward cable (the most common scenario).


-Gordo

 

[Imxerox]

Thanks for the help. The setup will go like this: I will be connecting a cat5 cable from my modem to the router, then from there the cat5 cablings goto their located outlets. I hope this answers the question as what I'm doing with the wires. So which one do I use crossover cable or straightforward cable. Thanks again for the help.





Lisa

 

[maniac]

Use a straight forward connection. Connect your modem to your router and then the cat5 from the router to each of your devices.

 

[TraderGordo]

That's right. You do not need any crossover cables.


By the way, that first web site link (PC 911) is terrific!

 

[dblloyd]

For what it's worth, here's a few things I learned while fooling around with Cat5 wiring.


First off, I miswired a bunch of cables by assuming that all that mattered was matching each end up: pin 1 to pin 1, etc. Each twisted pair was next to the other. Interestingly, only the miswired cables that were shorter than about 10 feet worked. The problem is that, for some reason, consecutive pairs of pins are not used as transmision pairs. I'm not really sure what forces are at work here (cross talk?), but it really does matter how you wire them.


I don't typically like "reading directions" and would much rather just try to figure things out for myself, but when it comes to Cat5 wiring, read the directions.




The other thing I learned (the hard way) is that it's important to get a good crimp. This crimp tool didn't always work:

Belkin Crimp tool


I think because it did a poor job of pushing the pins down into the wire.


This crimp tool always worked:

Cables To Go Crimp tool


and did a great job of pushing the pins down into the wire. There may be other good crimp tools out there, but these are the two I have.



Lastly, don't bend the Cat5 cable at a sharp 90 degree angle. It's temping to do this while trying to run the cabling around walls, etc., but there's a good chance that this will cause mysterious problems in your network.



Hope this helps,

Dan

 

[ertyu]

I agree.


When I worked for a school division there was a conciensious decision made that all network cable would be installed correctly. If a computer was moved, a new jack would be installed, rather than running a long extension cable around to the new location.


After a couple months, it was shown that this reduced trouble calls significantly, probably half the network failure calls were as a result of cabling issues.


So in short, keep the cable lengths down, don't run them around rooms, don't bend the cable, don't step on the cable, wire it correclty, it really does make a difference.


If you want an example, take the coaxial cable tv signal and bend the cable around, step on it, etc. while watching tv.

 

[drewman]

Here is why the pairs aren't all right next to each other.


Back in the dark ages, someone thought it would be a good idea to have both phone and data on the same line. Phone only takes one pair and it is in the middle of the connector which leaves 3 conductors on each side for a 4 pair cable.


So, one pair is split up on either side of the middle pair and then the two outside pairs are normal.


This allowed both phone and network to be on the same cable and if you plugged a telephone cable into a network jack, nothing would happen.


The last pair (Brown/White Brown) is also used for POE - Power over ethernet which is making a comeback powering wireless access points in ceilings through the same cable as the network.


The people who designed this system, made one that is flexible and long-lasting. I am impressed every day in my job by how flexible.


Andrew

 

[HomeVideoGuy]

Yes, that is true. Obviously I screwed up in my first post, but that was how I used to do it. I did it the same way as phone cable but never caught the problem because my cables were very short. To be honest, 99% of my work then was doing cross-connects on 110 punch down blocks and I rarely made a cable to hook a PC into the wall jack. Longer cable runs would have exposed the problem. No one else I worked with caught it either.


In twisted pair, it is very important to keep the pairs together. I almost said that in my first post. Cat 5 cable is not shielded but it is the return wire twisted around it's matching data signal wire that helps shield it from outside interference. Shielded cable has the returns grounded to the shield to protect from outside interference. Although unshielded, the quality of Cat 5 is very close to shielded cable and is much easier to work with.


Hopefully, I learned something and redeemed myself too.

 

[Srgtfury]

Fascinating "thread."


I have a problem that I hope you guys can help me with. I have a LAn with RJ45 CAT5 runs of 70 feet or so. Now I have made straight thru cables with shielded and unsieldede cat5 and have good connections in a computer to computer LAN using my Linksys DSL router with ethernet connectivity. When I take the same cables and connect them to a Crestron ethernet card or an Audio Request MP3 player, I get at best inconsistent results-partial transmissions and drops from the fprmer and no connection at all with the latter. I can connect the Request piece to the LAN with a short supplied cable just fine(4 feet).


Now I don't know if the following is the problem, but maybe. I got RS rj45's and compared those to the connectors on the Request cable, noting that there is a difference in the length(plug into port direction) of the plastic cross member between the copper wires and the punchdown areas. This prevents the "snap" and "click" insertion of the connector, which has to be sort of pushed into the port/card's female receptor.


Any help much

appreciated.


Thank you very much

rich

 

[drewman]

BTW, old thread I know, but Crestron had problems with a batch of their ENET+ ethernet cards. PM me for details.


Andrew