How to Wire Your Own Ethernet Cables and Connectors
How to wire your own ethernet cables and connectors.
What You Need:
Required:
Cable - bulk Category (Cat) 5, 5e, 6 or higher cable Wire Cutters - to cut and strip the cable if necessary For Patch Cables: RJ45 Plugs RJ45 Crimper For Fixed Wiring: RJ45 Jacks 110 Punch Down Tool
Recommended:
Wire Stripper Cable Tester
About the Cable:
You can find bulk supplies of the cable at many computer stores or most electrical or home centers. You want UTP (Unshielded Twisted Pair) cable of at least Category 5. Cat 5 is required for basic 10/100 functionality, you will want Cat 5e for gigabit (1000BaseT) operation and Cat 6 or higher gives you a measure of future proofing. Bulk cable comes in many types, there are 2 basic categories, solid and braided cable. Braided cable tends to work better in patch applications for desktop use. It is more flexible and resilient than solid cable and easier to work with, but really meant for shorter lengths. Solid cable is meant for longer runs in a fixed position. Plenum rated cable must be used whenever the cable travels through an air circulation space. For example, above a false ceiling or below a raised floor. It may be difficult or impossible to tell from the package what type of cable it is, so peal out an end and investigate. Here is what the internals of the cable look like:
Internal Cable Structure and Color Coding Inside the cable, there are 8 color coded wires. These wires are twisted into 4 pairs of wires, each pair has a common color theme. One wire in the pair being a solid or primarily solid colored wire and the other being a primarily white wire with a colored stripe (Sometimes cables won't have any color on the striped wire, the only way to tell which is which is to check which wire it is twisted around). Examples of the
naming schemes used are: Orange (alternatively Orange/White) for the solid colored wire and White/Orange for the striped cable. The twists are extremely important.
What You Need:
Required:
Cable - bulk Category (Cat) 5, 5e, 6 or higher cable Wire Cutters - to cut and strip the cable if necessary For Patch Cables: RJ45 Plugs RJ45 Crimper For Fixed Wiring: RJ45 Jacks 110 Punch Down Tool
Recommended:
Wire Stripper Cable Tester
About the Cable:
You can find bulk supplies of the cable at many computer stores or most electrical or home centers. You want UTP (Unshielded Twisted Pair) cable of at least Category 5. Cat 5 is required for basic 10/100 functionality, you will want Cat 5e for gigabit (1000BaseT) operation and Cat 6 or higher gives you a measure of future proofing. Bulk cable comes in many types, there are 2 basic categories, solid and braided cable. Braided cable tends to work better in patch applications for desktop use. It is more flexible and resilient than solid cable and easier to work with, but really meant for shorter lengths. Solid cable is meant for longer runs in a fixed position. Plenum rated cable must be used whenever the cable travels through an air circulation space. For example, above a false ceiling or below a raised floor. It may be difficult or impossible to tell from the package what type of cable it is, so peal out an end and investigate. Here is what the internals of the cable look like:
Internal Cable Structure and Color Coding Inside the cable, there are 8 color coded wires. These wires are twisted into 4 pairs of wires, each pair has a common color theme. One wire in the pair being a solid or primarily solid colored wire and the other being a primarily white wire with a colored stripe (Sometimes cables won't have any color on the striped wire, the only way to tell which is which is to check which wire it is twisted around). Examples of the
naming schemes used are: Orange (alternatively Orange/White) for the solid colored wire and White/Orange for the striped cable. The twists are extremely important.