Is this good Cat5e?

[Jmmsbnd007]

Link
Is that cat5e that they sell pretty good? They have a link... This is going to be for a lan party.
Also, are these crimpers pretty good? Thanks.

 

[ElFenix]

is there such as thing as bad cat 5e?

 

[Jmmsbnd007]

Originally posted by: ElFenix
is there such as thing as bad cat 5e?

Dunno... is that crimper pretty good? Do I want stranded or solid cable? hehehe...

 

[ElFenix]

stranded bends better.

 

[stev0]

solid is better, but if your pulling it through a wall it is a pain in the a$$. (better because when you go to crimp ends on it, your crimping to a solid peice of wire. when you crip ends to stranded there is a chance the little metal teeth on the ends will go in between the wires)

 

[Jmmsbnd007]

Is most belkin stranded? It sounds like I'll *probably* go with solid... which is what that cable is. Is the performance pretty much the same?

 

[Mucman]

Stranded is meant to be a max of 5 (or is it 2?) meters long, and you should not crimp em by hand... I highly doubt you can hand crimp strand cables and keep the cat5 spec even... solid core cables are meant for in wall structured cabling and it is not meant to be moved. To be fair to the LAN party goers I would buy patch cables. It will suck being the guy who is noticing crappy performance because his cable did not get crimped very well.

 

[Jmmsbnd007]

Originally posted by: Mucman
Stranded is meant to be a max of 5 (or is it 2?) meters long, and you should not crimp em by hand... I highly doubt you can hand crimp strand cables and keep the cat5 spec even... solid core cables are meant for in wall structured cabling and it is not meant to be moved. To be fair to the LAN party goers I would buy patch cables. It will suck being the guy who is noticing crappy performance because his cable did not get crimped very well.

...
I'm obviously going to practice a few times to make sure I get a good cable.

 

[Mucman]

Jmmsbnd007 - If spidey07 cannot make perfect crimps then I don't think anyone can... just trust me ok

Of course I am a little anal about cabling now (thanks to ScottMac ). Of course you can get away with crimping your own for personal use (I am guilty of this), but buying certified patch cabls is the only way to go... Our cable supplier doesn't even sell stranded cables anymore because they say the only way to get a cat5e certified patch cable is to get it done by a machine (from an Anixter rep).

 

[Jmmsbnd007]

I'd rather save tons of money rather than gain an extra kbps.

 

[Mucman]

It's not just bandwidth... it's overall flakiness that can be caused by a bad crimp and attenuation (sp?). Who am I to talk though... I got the company to pay $750 for our patch cables, and not a dime out of my pocket

 

[Jmmsbnd007]

Originally posted by: Mucman
It's not just bandwidth... it's overall flakiness that can be caused by a bad crimp and attenuation (sp?). Who am I to talk though... I got the company to pay $750 for our patch cables, and not a dime out of my pocket

I'm an extremely technical and detailed guy, if it requires exactly half an inch of exposed Cat5e, it WILL be EXACTLY 1/2 inch if I'm doing the wire stripping

 

[Mucman]

Originally posted by: Jmmsbnd007

Originally posted by: Mucman
It's not just bandwidth... it's overall flakiness that can be caused by a bad crimp and attenuation (sp?). Who am I to talk though... I got the company to pay $750 for our patch cables, and not a dime out of my pocket

I'm an extremely technical and detailed guy, if it requires exactly half an inch of exposed Cat5e, it WILL be EXACTLY 1/2 inch if I'm doing the wire stripping

I guess there is not much else I can tell you then this link might help.
Of course that link is talking about x-over cables, so just make sure the ends are crimped the same (I use 568b), and have fun

 

[Jmmsbnd007]

So, what do you think of that site/crimper?

 

[Mucman]

All I use are scissors and an Ideal crimper from Home Depot (there are two there, I got the pricier one). My crimps are always good (but don't ask me if they will last longer than a year ).

 

[ScottMac]

SO, just to make sure I understand....

You'd rather run at a flakey (i.e., unreliable) 10Meg, than a pretty decent 100Meg?

For the cost of the crimpers, the (Cat5e-rated) connectors, and the bulk 5e cable (don't even think of using stranded), you could have a sh!tload of well-made certified cables.

You might as well play through modems.

Good Luck, Have fun.

Scott

 

[Mucman]

ScottMac - I didn't know you ventured in OT!

So Jmmsbnd007... if you are a gambling man, crimp your own

 

[Evadman]

I crimp all my own cables. I install and wire entire homes for cat5e. It is not hard at all. get solid wire, buy a good crimper ( read: $30+ ) and get the cable from Home Depot in a 1000' spool for $55. Hell, they even have plenum for about $140 for 1000 ft. Sure I have had a few bad crimps, but they all get caught by my tester that I bought. that was about $90 and you can get away without it as long as you test each cable by tossing some data over it.

 

[Mucman]

Evadman - Yeah, I wired my own home too, and it's been a year now and everything is fine... I think ScottMac and I are paranoid, because we've done wiring for networks that require top performance and 99.99% uptime. I know my customers would raise hell if I had to tell them they were down because of a flaky cable.

 

[Evadman]

Originally posted by: Mucman
Evadman - Yeah, I wired my own home too, and it's been a year now and everything is fine... I think ScottMac and I are paranoid, because we've done wiring for networks that require top performance and 99.99% uptime. I know my customers would raise hell if I had to tell them they were down because of a flaky cable.

Yes, that is true. Wiring for residential and for buisness are 2 vastly different things. For a lanparty though, I would think self crimped cables would be ok. They are only going to be used for a short time, and if one cable goes flakey, cust cut off the ends and recrimp them.

 

[Jmmsbnd007]

Originally posted by: ScottMac
SO, just to make sure I understand....

You'd rather run at a flakey (i.e., unreliable) 10Meg, than a pretty decent 100Meg?

For the cost of the crimpers, the (Cat5e-rated) connectors, and the bulk 5e cable (don't even think of using stranded), you could have a sh!tload of well-made certified cables.

You might as well play through modems.

Good Luck, Have fun.

Scott

How can it be unreliable? Many people have had success crimping their own cables, assuming they know what they're doing.

 

[ScottMac]

Well, yeah, sorta.

The problem is that it *looks* easy, and mechanically, it's not that bad. The problem is that there are a dozen ways to screw it up, and just seeing data through it isn't always a good indication that it was done right (especially with cable used at 100Mbps +).

Cat5e connectors have the little "sled" that the wires feed through, it's a pain to get that located properly (until you've done a few dozen), most new/first-time crimpers don't get the strain relief right, many/most don't even know about the pair-ordering and usually end up with a split pair @ pair 2.

Many/most folks I see getting ready to do their own cables don't know that there's a difference between the cheap RJ45 connectors and the Category-rated ones (that are much more expensive) ...... so they buy the cheap ones, and shoot the Category rating down to "nothing" (unrated cable).

Many/most folks see data getting through, and assume everything is fine ...except they're getting 10meg or less because of some mechanical/electrical violation.

For the expense of buying decent tools and supplies, and the time it takes, it's usually just better to buy the cables and be done with it.

Wiring your own home? yeah, sure, no problem ... most of that will be punched (much harder to screw up). There are still rules/guidelines, but they are easier to implement.

Mucman: "I'm everywhere"

FWIW

Scott

 

[Jmmsbnd007]

Link to Cat5e connectors?

 

[Daniel]

You guys have a recommended place for quality but good priced cat5e patch cables?