Best place to buy Cat 5 Cable online?

cdltech

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They have been a lifesaver for me. The insert allows you to feed the wires through one at a time while holding all of the ones you've already fed through in place. From there, it's just slide the insert down until it's where you want it, snip the excess off, insert the whole thing into the connector as a unit and crimp. I've gotten to where I can terminate an RJ-45 now in about 5 minutes, maybe less, and that's from strip to crimp - easily half the time (if not less) that it used to require, and they just work, every time. I haven't had a single failed termination since I started using these things.
That is pretty cool. Sounds similar to the ones I have been using. The only exception is nothing holds the wires in place. Some else mentioned them but I past the link again. Platinum Tools EZ RJ-45 CAT5e Connectors - 50 pk | 100003C | Platinum Tools
 

cdltech

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Personally I would say no. You should be fine with normal connectors.
 

looney2ns

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You are in Kansas with nasty lightening. Use the shielded cable and ground at least one end. It may save you from induced surge damage.
 

DWW0311

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Ok, I just never noticed it before while terminating other cat5e I guess. I used T568a.

I thought I had read somewhere that data corruption could cause picture issue's, thats' what I get for thinkin. ;)

Thanks all.
Cat5e can handle gigabit, but it wasn't designed for it. 100t only uses two pairs for signaling, hence the tighter twist on the blue and green pairs. The de facto standard (note: don't set off a war here about standards) IMO has become 568b and manufacturers have responded accordingly (as it utilizes the blue and green pairs for signaling in a 100t implementation, they twist those pairs more tightly).

Usually, with quality Cat6, you'll see tighter twists on all four pairs (since Cat6 is designed for gigabit and 1000t utilizes all four pairs for signaling).

That said, now that you have implemented 568a, stick with it unless you want to re-terminate your existing cabling. Mixing standards within a network is a recipe for disaster.
 

ingeborgdot

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How will that cause problems? Not questioning, just wanting to know. If I run something to a switch in a and then have another cable I bought that was b what will happen?
 

DWW0311

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How will that cause problems? Not questioning, just wanting to know. If I run something to a switch in a and then have another cable I bought that was b what will happen?
They just won't ever talk to one another unless you implement a crossover cable, and unless you're fond of squinting to look at cable ends & reopening jack boxes, in my experience you will forget which is what. Best practice is to pick a standard (I recommend B) and stick with it throughout your network.

Patch cables are straight-through (unless you have bought a crossover cable), so no worries there either way.
 

ingeborgdot

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Well, I think most of my stuff was done in a years ago. I've now since purchased some cables instead of making and they seem to be b which I just noticed now after talking about it. I went and checked and they are b. I had never noticed any problems though so I don't know what to tell you on that.
 

cdltech

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Most switches these days can auto-sense between a straight cable and a cross-over cable. Before then you had a MDI/MDIx designated port on the switch with a button. That button allowed you to change between a straight cable and a cross-over cable (MDI straight cable, MDIx cross over cable). I can't remember when the industry started making switches that did that. I am thinking some time in the late 90's. I am thinking it was around when Gigabit Ethernet was implemented. I think autosense MDI/MDIx was a new feature on gigabit switches.
 

NoloC

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So do I need shielded connectors also if I am using shielded cable?
Well if you don't ground that shield somehow, it is useless. And a good reason to use Shielded connectors as they can provide that ground connection but only if the device they are plugged into supports it. Most cameras do not. Some switches and other terminal equipment might. So you need to get creative to connect the shield on the cable to ground on at least one end. As Looney stated.
 

ingeborgdot

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So in other words, making your own shielded cable is useless. It would be best to buy already terminated shielded cable if I felt I needed shielded otherwise just use regular Cat6 cable.
 

NoloC

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No. Making your own shielded cable is useless if you don't ground it. Or use shielded connectors. Although others in this thread have advised otherwise.
 

ingeborgdot

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I don't really know how any of it could be grounded. I still would shield against EMI I guess but it wouldn't prevent or help with lightning I guess.
 

NoloC

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Good guess.

If you're not going to ground it, don't bother using shielded cable.
 

cdltech

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It is not useless. Just because you don't bond it to a ground doesn't make it useless. The foil around the cable still protects it. Don't confuse transient voltages on a cable with rfi or emi. Bonding a cable to a ground mitigates static charges and provides alternate ground path.
Foil linings are common way to limit or block emi/rfi in interference.

If you to ground the shielded cable. You can use these. I haven't bought any from here. Just using their site for the pictures.
Ubiquiti Networks&nbspTC-Con-100 - TOUGHCable Ethernet Connector 100pc
Ubiquiti Networks&nbspTC-GND-20 - TOUGHCable Grounded Ethernet Conn 20pc

The first one can connect to a drain wire if present in the cable. The second connector has a ping tail that you can ground to ground bus or ground wire.
 

cdltech

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Had a typo in my previous post. I meant to say pig tail.

@ingeborgdot I didn't want to make this complicated.

When it comes to lightning. If you have a direct strike or a stringer from a near by direct strike. You are screwed. Growing up in Ohio. We can get some bad storms. We had lightning strike our house. It did $10,000 damage to the roof alone. Another $15,000 in appliances and electronics.

If you want. You bond (attach) a #6 ground wire to the ground your utility service uses. Run it to your networking equipment. Get a bus bar for your rack if you have one. If not just bond everything to that. Most business class or higher has a ground connection. On your shielded connectors. Attach the pig tail to the same bus bar. If your shielded cable has a drain wire. Attach it to your connect with the crimp attachment.

I was just trying to save you from having to do all this. At least for your use case. I have it done over here. I just don't use shielded inside the house.
 
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