Is it hard to make your own cat 5?

[BD2003]

Me and my friends are about to move into an apt, where we might need cables in excess of 30 feet. I assume at this distance, its probably a lot cheaper to make on your own.

How is it done, how hard is it, and how much cheaper is it to make your own compared to buying premade? Is there anywhere on the net to buy cheap long cables?

 

[Dulanic]

Sure, you can pick up CAT 5 cable decently cheap. I think I bought a 100 ft roll from RadioShack when I wired up my house. But I installed outlets to plug into... if your going to make just cables youll need the plugs on the end and a crimping tool. Prob be cheaper just to buy a premade cable if you just need 1.

 

[mosco]

i bought 50 feet at home depot for under 2 bucks. the most expensive thing is the plastic connectors. It easy as long as you put the wires in the right way.

 

[Paulson]

white orange/orange/white green/blue/white blue/green/white brown/brown

that's the ordering you want to have on each end of the cable... it's not hard to make them but you might have to practice... so get a couple ends in case you make a mistake...

 

[Matt2]

Originally posted by: Paulson
white orange/orange/white green/blue/white blue/green/white brown/brown

Ah no!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

*wakes up in a sweat*

Brings me back to the first semester of my CISCO certification days.

 

[brianp34]

If you can borrow a crimper, it would definately be cheaper.

 

[astroview]

Yea, personally I think its a b!tch so I don't like to. But I'm not gifted with many technical or mechanical skills.

 

[BD2003]

How much is a crimper? The way its looking right now, we'll need about 2 30ft cables, 1 10ft cable, and 2 5 ft cables.

 

[TheBoyBlunder]

$30 - $40 from Ratshack or Home Depot.

 

[GonzoDaGr8]

At those short lengths, It would be cheaper to buy pre-made cables.

 

[V00DOO]

You may want to check the Hot Deals Forum for Compgeeks special of Cat 5 cable kit under $50.00. Here is a link telling you how to make your own Patch cable Lanshack

 

[Mday]

www.pccables.com
www.cyberguys.com (for color)

if you have no tools, it's expensive to just make your own patch cable. of course if you need a lot of cables, that's well, stuff.

 

[brianp34]

I bought the kit from compgeeks mentioned above here's a link. 1000 feet of solid core cat 5e, a set of crimpers and a continuity tester for $38 plus shipping. The tools aren't the best, but they'll work fine for you I'd imagine. The cable is solid core stuff, meant to be run through walls, but I've used some to make some patch cables too. (If you have 900 feet of cable in the closet, its not really a big deal to replace a 30 foot piece that has some broken wires.)

I didn't have any experience at all, and it took me about 15 minutes to get it all figured out.

 

[HaroldW]

In addition to the crimping tool and RJ-45 connectors, you need: good eyesight, normal color perception (some of us are color blind) and nimble fingers.

 

[Dennis Travis]

Matt2, um, that is the color code that every premade cable uses that I have ever seen. There is T-568A and T-568B and that is the B. The only difference is the Greens and Oranges are backwards in the A. Paulson is right. OW, O, GW, B, BW, G, BW, B.

 

[vegetation]

Be careful with solid core wires (what you usually buy in those huge spools), they aren't meant for the constant bending and abuse that typical patch cables go through. The inner wires are very easily broken.

 

[Matt2]

Originally posted by: Dennis Travis
Matt2, um, that is the color code that every premade cable uses that I have ever seen. There is T-568A and T-568B and that is the B. The only difference is the Greens and Oranges are backwards in the A. Paulson is right. OW, O, GW, B, BW, G, BW, B.

yeah, I know. I was just expressing my opinion that making cables and memorizing the color codes was not fun at all.

 

[randumb]

The prices of Cat5 are like toilet paper. I'd just buy some.

 

[Macro2]

Just buy the dang things.
Learning to make cables and trying to do it with a cheapo crimper is not worth the trouble.

LINK FOR CHEAP CABLES

 

[brianp34]

Originally posted by: Macro2
Just buy the dang things.
Learning to make cables and trying to do it with a cheapo crimper is not worth the trouble.

LINK FOR CHEAP CABLES

It isn't that difficult...I enjoyed learning how to do it. If you're into that kind of thing, it will probably save you some money and you've taught yourself a handy new skill. Then again, if you're the kind that gets frustrated easily, save yourself the headache and just buy em.

 

[Macro2]

you can get what he needed for $13 plus shipping from the link I gave. A good srt of crimpers will run you $40 up to to mention the plugs and cable.

 

[Dennis Travis]

Matt2, sorry about that! Guess I read it wrong. Yeah it was hard for me at first to remember the dang colors but it eventually stuck in my memory!

 

[Curley]

Until last week, I used to snake cat5 everywhere, sniping about a foot off the end before I crimped the wires correctly.

Last week, I installed a wireless 802.11B router and pci cards. I have to say that I am impressed with 802.11B. The router was on the third floor and one of the computers was in the basement. The signal had to travel past 2 ceilings and 2 walls and the computer still had a 78% signal strength.

For home networks, I will never go back to cat5 unless the house was pre-wired during construction.