Patch panel with connectors on front and back??

[ingeborgdot]

Is there such a thing as a patch panel that has a place for connectors on the front and the back instead of having to punch the wires in in the back? I thought I saw some earlier but can't seem to find it now.

 

[imagoon]

They exist but from my experience they cause more issues than they solve, especially if they are on a hinged wall panel. Also the keystones that are loaded in to them tend to cost far more than cost of a punch tool and the time to punch the wire.

Edit: issues being that the solid core wall wire tends to break in the end connectors causing intermittent connection issues. They also typically do not pass the Gigabit tests on our testers because you cannot "twist" the wires easily inside the plastic connectors.

 

[xSauronx]

Originally posted by: ingeborgdot
Is there such a thing as a patch panel that has a place for connectors on the front and the back instead of having to punch the wires in in the back? I thought I saw some earlier but can't seem to find it now.

punching down is relatively quick and easy after a couple of tries, youre basically asking for a row of couplers...why dont you want to punch things down?

 

[kevnich2]

As others have suggested, just learn how to punch them down and get a GOOD punchdown tool (difference between $20 punchdown and a sub $100 tools is like night and day) You can actually get a punchdown tool that punches all wires down at once instead of one at a time, this will save your hands if you do a lot of punches regularly. If it's just a few dozen cables, get it done and you pretty much never have to worry about it again. I've never had a properly punched down termination ever fail on me. The plastic connections are usually the weak point.

 

[ingeborgdot]

That's what I will do. Thanks.