How to Terminate Cat5 cable with RJ45 Connectors?

[Salvador]

Hi,
I have a feeling that this has been discussed, but I can't pull it up on the forum search engine.

Is there a site or can someone simply tell me how to properly terminate my CAT5 cable with RJ45 connectors?

I bought a crimping tool, I just need to know which wires go where. Someone told me that there are a couple ways of doing it and I obviously want to do it the right way.

Also.. If you have any tips I can use when terminating the CAT5 with connectors, it would be much appreciated!

TIA,

Sal

 

[sohcrates]

there's a ton of guides out there.

here's one for instance

just go to google and type in "cat5 wiring" or something to that extent.

good luck

 

[CoolTech]

this is a great guide, check it out:

Link

has lots of pictures and easy to understand. good luck.

 

[CoolTech]

checkout the one i suggested, its a lot better than the other guys.

 

[sohcrates]

hey! i have a name!

 

[Rickten]

In my experience when I wired my house I did it with "white, orange, white, blue, white, green, white, brown" that is from left to right. Then I just made sure that I was consistant with them all. I'm not totally sure but I don't think it really matters what order the wires go into the connectors as long as you stay consistant. I once read on here that there is supposed to be some standard for how it should be done but I'm pretty sure that it doesn't matter.

 

[CoolTech]

lol, sorry sohcrates

 

[Mday]

it's very poorly written

 

[navylinux]

There is a industry standard. www.duxcw.com lists the standards. But as long as you where consistant with how you wired the connectors, then the standard would not matter.

 

[Salvador]

Thanks for all the information!

One other question.. I have a 5 ft premolded cable that came with my Netgear RT314 Router. How can I tell which standard this cable is wired to? I'd probably wire it the same way as this cable, but I can't tell because the ends are not visible. They have molded plastic over the connectors.

Thanks again,

Sal

 

[CoolTech]

navy linux, turn on private msgs

 

[CoolTech]

i have the same router as you, there is an A and a B standard, they perform the same, so it doesnt matter, just use the same standard on both ends of whatever cable you are going to make

 

[JackMDS]

The two standards are just a matter of color convenience; there are no functional differences. When you do your own keep the same standard (color scheme), it makes it easy to debug. Don?t worry about pre made cables (most of them don't keep any standard).

The only issue is whether a cable is Straight or Crossover.

I think that the cable that comes with the Netgear is straight.

 

[Salvador]

Many thanks!

Sal

 

[nweaver]

Easy way to remember, Like Devices (ie hub to hub, comp to comp, switch to hub, etc) Crossovers,
Unlike devices, (IE router to switch, comp to hub)Straight through. Like they said, it doesn't matter how you wire straight through, but crossover goes like,
_TX+
_RX+
_TX-
_
_
_RX-
_
_
and you need to put Tx+ to RX+, TX- to RX-, This may be wrong, running off of memory...
And they say eyes are the first,
I can't remember the second...

 

[lambo881]

The cable that comes with the RT314 uses the 568B standard. When you buy patch cables, you don't need to really worry about the standard since it's the same on both ends, the exception being that you get a cross-over cable, which is used for connecting two PCs together without a hub/switch.

I decided to use the 568B standard for all of my homemade wiring and connections since it seems to be the most common. You should note that in home networking, only 4 of the wires are actually used eventhough there are eight. The 4 are the orange pair and the green pair and they take up pins 1,2,3,6 in both the 568A and 568B standard.

 

[Mday]

there is only ONE way to crimp, but 2 standards to colors.

as long as you are consistent, it's fine. i suggest conforming to B, as opposed to A.

make sure that after you align the colors that the wires sticking out are flush AND (more importantly) only enough of the wires have been untwisted that need to go into the plug. try not to untwist too much

 

[wiin]

"You should note that in home networking, only 4 of the wires are actually used eventhough there are eight. The 4 are the orange pair and the green pair and they take up pins 1,2,3,6 in both the 568A and 568B standard."


Can I use a CAT5 cable as phone line? The info. on the box (cable I got from OD) seem to suggest so.

 

[ScottMac]

First, Pair order DOES matter. Depending on the manufacturer, the insulating material can change from pair-to-pair, the twist-rate varies from pair-to-pair (orange is usually the most twisted), and the manufacturer designed the cable with a specific pair-order in mind, and chances are the cable meets Category specification only when the cable rigged in either 568a or 568b.

Second, when the cable is run throughout the building, terminated in panels and faceplates, it's generally referred to as "Structured Cabling." The concept of structured cabling grew out of the situation where every kind of computer or phone device needed different cable (coax, twinax, "Rs232 stuff," "phone wire"....). The Structured Cabling specification provides infrastructure quality sufficient to run computer networking, phones, terminals (with baluns/adapters), baseband video & audio (with baluns/adapters), RF/cable TV (limited but functional), RS232, and some other application-specific functions.

Third, terminate all four pairs; trying to snake four of the eight into the right slot of the RJ connector is a right royal pain the the a**. Line 'em up (all eight wires) and they slide right into place. If you want to split the function of the cable (not recommended, BTW), break it out at an outlet box, or create a "breakout cable," that plugs into the outlet then splits.

The correct pair-orders are:
568b (most popular these days): white/orange, orange, white/green, blue, white/blue, green, white brown, brown.

568a : white/green, green, white/orange, blue, white/blue, orange, white/brown, brown.

This order is left-to-right, with the clip-side down or away from you. If you got it right, it should look like white|color|white|color...all the way across. Note that the BLUE pair is reversed (blue, white/blue).

There should be no more than 1/2" of exposed/unjacketed wire, and the jacket should get crimped inside the connector. Part of the RJ connector is designed to crimp down on the jacket to provide strain relief.

If you can't do it right, get someone in that can. Improperly installed/created cable WILL mess up your performance. Most of the time it ends up showing as intermittent problems...usually when the cable is loaded...like long file transfers.

FWIW

Scott