Birth of my first patch cable

[cuz]

Maybe you used connectors for stranded wire on solid copper cable. My guess would be, that you indeed used the wrong connectors, as there are alot of different ones specified to the corresponding cable.

Thanks, but I'm sure I have the correct items, maybe the Ideal Industries products are not the best ones to use, but that's what Lowes had in stock when I needed more connectors recently and noticed the new pass through types. I bought the tool and some Cat5e and Cat6 connectors. They work fine, but when you only terminate a couple of cables a year, and don't really like doing it, it becomes a process. As you work through the process you learn things. I learned that next time I'll get the 24awg cable. It may not make much of a difference, but there will definitely be a difference. That minute difference may be negligible, and I may not notice it, but it will be there. I'm sure I could have also gotten Cat5e cable instead of Cat 6 and saved some money, but somehow I couldn't bring myself to buy the Cat5e cable even though I knew it would be plenty good enough.
Thanks for the suggestions, I may look into the Platinum EZ Tool, but what I have does work, and I use it fairly infrequently I don't know if it's worth investing in at this time.

 

[fenderman]

Thanks, but I'm sure I have the correct items, maybe the Ideal Industries products are not the best ones to use, but that's what Lowes had in stock when I needed more connectors recently and noticed the new pass through types. I bought the tool and some Cat5e and Cat6 connectors. They work fine, but when you only terminate a couple of cables a year, and don't really like doing it, it becomes a process. As you work through the process you learn things. I learned that next time I'll get the 24awg cable. It may not make much of a difference, but there will definitely be a difference. That minute difference may be negligible, and I may not notice it, but it will be there. I'm sure I could have also gotten Cat5e cable instead of Cat 6 and saved some money, but somehow I couldn't bring myself to buy the Cat5e cable even though I knew it would be plenty good enough.
Thanks for the suggestions, I may look into the Platinum EZ Tool, but what I have does work, and I use it fairly infrequently I don't know if it's worth investing in at this time.

Wow, you can't admit that you made a mistake, that's what I learned. Stop posting misinformation and nonsense, it it is no more difficult to terminate a cat6 over cat5. You purchased plugs for cat5 and tried to stuff cat6 into it. Don't toss the box of cable, toss the connectors.

 

[TonyR]

@cuz ,
If you definitely have the correct connectors for the cable, this might help with CAT-6 (my post of April 10, 2018). The staggered connector, plus the possibility of a "fatter" 23 gauge with CAT-6, makes it a challenge over non-staggered and likely "slimmer" CAT-5e. The straightening of the conductors and the angle cut BEFORE attempting to feed into the connector DOES help.
____________________________________

A little something I posted a few days ago on another thread ==>> here. I've been using Monoprice's 2-piece (Insert with lip and RJ-45 male) for my CAT-6 lately. Like anything, the first couple are not easy, but then you get the hang of it.

I have even better luck by using the non-serrated, flat part of my needle nosed pliers to gently flatten the wires, one at a time, in one plane then rotate the pliers 90 degrees and flatten in another plane. They then lay closer to each other, go into the insert easier, and allow the insert to get closer to the outer jacket, all the way up to where each pair's twist begins.

Sure, it takes longer but it insures I get the benefit of CAT-6 by keeping the pairs twisted as much as possible and no re-do's.

 

[cuz]

@cuz ,
If you definitely have the correct connectors for the cable, this might help with CAT-6 (my post of April 10, 2018). The staggered connector, plus the possibility of a "fatter" 23 gauge with CAT-6, makes it a challenge over non-staggered and likely "slimmer" CAT-5e. The straightening of the conductors and the angle cut BEFORE attempting to feed into the connector DOES help.
____________________________________

A little something I posted a few days ago on another thread ==>> here. I've been using Monoprice's 2-piece (Insert with lip and RJ-45 male) for my CAT-6 lately. Like anything, the first couple are not easy, but then you get the hang of it.

I have even better luck by using the non-serrated, flat part of my needle nosed pliers to gently flatten the wires, one at a time, in one plane then rotate the pliers 90 degrees and flatten in another plane. They then lay closer to each other, go into the insert easier, and allow the insert to get closer to the outer jacket, all the way up to where each pair's twist begins.

Sure, it takes longer but it insures I get the benefit of CAT-6 by keeping the pairs twisted as much as possible and no re-do's.

View attachment 35463

Thanks TonyR,
I have used the 2 piece connectors at work a few years ago and found that with the angled cut it was much easier to thread the wires. It took a while to make that discovery, lots of trial and error. They were also staggered like in your pic and I remember the wires feeding into the holes much easier than the ones I'm using now. I don't recall the specs of the cable, but it was Cat6 cable and connectors. They were not pass-through connectors so after feeding the wires and pushing the first piece all the way down, I used a small pair of straight clippers to snip all the wires short and even before putting on the connector and crimping it. I think I prefer the pass-through connectors now that I've tried them. One of the things I noticed was that I always thought that Cat6 used staggered connectors and Cat5 used straight across, but on the Ideal brand I purchased, both the Cat5 and Cat6 connectors have the wires going straight across.

Thanks,
-Cuz

 

[TonyR]

........One of the things I noticed was that I always thought that Cat6 used staggered connectors and Cat5 used straight across, but on the Ideal brand I purchased, both the Cat5 and Cat6 connectors have the wires going straight across.

Those are likely the Ideal 85-375, which are pass-thru,1 piece and are not staggered. The biggest issue I see with those is that person performing the termination can make those conductors as loose, sloppy and UN-twisted as they want to, perhaps to make it easy on themselves, and that will nullify the CAT-6 rating.

I'm not saying that you have done that, I'm just saying the 2 or 3 piece sled design is better about insuring the twist is maintained as long as possible until the 8 metal tangs pierce the insulation.

The 1 piece design is great, as is pass-thru, as long as it's done correctly and that's true of ANY design. If not, one might as well use CAT-5e.

 

[davej]

I don't understand the thunderstorm issue. Do I want to use shielded cable for runs longer than 50ft?

Also cat6 is cheaper than cat5e...
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B016YS99X0
https://www.amazon.com/Monoprice-Cat5e-Ethernet-Bulk-Cable/dp/B016YS9E76

 

[cuz]

I don't understand the thunderstorm issue. Do I want to use shielded cable for runs longer than 50ft?

Also cat6 is cheaper than cat5e...
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B016YS99X0
https://www.amazon.com/Monoprice-Cat5e-Ethernet-Bulk-Cable/dp/B016YS9E76

If the cat 6 is cheaper you may be looking at copper clad aluminum (CCA) wire instead of solid copper wire.

 

[TonyR]

If the cat 6 is cheaper you may be looking at copper clad aluminum (CCA) wire instead of solid copper wire.

Both of those are quality, solid copper from Monoprice; I've used it several times.
The 6 may be cheaper because the linked color is blue, the linked 5 is white. It has been my experience that blue is cheaper than white 9 times out of 10.

 

[BigFoot]

You’re almost there...but to join the club you must now crimp gel-filled double-jacket shielded Cat6 cable!

What is "gel filled double jacket shielded Cat 6" ?

I've never even heard of it ....... or is someone pulling my leg Is it kinda like a 'long stand', a 'can of scotchbrite' or a 'sky hook' ?

 

[TonyR]

What is "gel filled double jacket shielded Cat 6" ?

I've never even heard of it ....... or is someone pulling my leg Is it kinda like a 'long stand', a 'can of scotchbrite' or a 'sky hook' ?

I recall in the Navy it was "a bucket of prop wash".
And you had to watch out for "sea bats".

BTW, there's "gel filled DUAL jacket shielded Cat 5e" here, not sure if there's CAT-6, but I'm not the world's authority.

 

[Q™]

DO NOT make a mistake with Gel Filled cable!

 

[Josh Fisher]

Both of those are quality, solid copper from Monoprice; I've used it several times.
The 6 may be cheaper because the linked color is blue, the linked 5 is white. It has been my experience that blue is cheaper than white 9 times out of 10.

It looks like the gauge of the wire is different...23awg vs 24awg. Anyone have thoughts on that?

 

[TonyR]

It looks like the gauge of the wire is different...23awg vs 24awg. Anyone have thoughts on that?

You'd think the "more copper" 23 AWG would be more expensive, but we're not talking a lot of copper when it comes to value; I think it's because of the popularity of the cable spec and especially the cable's color (blue). Kind of like when you could buy a 4 ft. fluorescent tube for $1.25 but a tiny 8" tube would cost $4.00....the popular 4 footer outsold the tiny tube probably 1,000 to 1.

As far as advantages to the larger gauge? If I were running POE over 200 feet I'd probably opt for the 23 AWG just to do what I could to minimize voltage drop.

 

[Josh Fisher]

You'd think the "more copper" 23 AWG would be more expensive, but we're not talking a lot of copper when it comes to value; I think it's because of the popularity of the cable spec and especially the cable's color (blue). Kind of like when you could buy a 4 ft. fluorescent tube for $1.25 but a tiny 8" tube would cost $4.00....the popular 4 footer outsold the tiny tube probably 1,000 to 1.

As far as advantages to the larger gauge? If I were running POE over 200 feet I'd probably opt for the 23 AWG just to do what I could to minimize voltage drop.

Yeah that especially seems to ring true on Amazon.

 

[tigerwillow1]

DO NOT make a mistake with Gel Filled cable!

View attachment 35475

This is a result of connecting epoe through a pickle and drawing too much power.