Crimpers and Connectors

[Katodude]

Hi All,

My shipment from Andy arrived yesterday and I am thrilled. I have a regular crimper and a bunch of monoprice connectors that seem to fail a lot. They don't stay plugged into the router or switches very well. I figure if I am spending all this money on equipment I should use high quality on the connectors.

After a bunch of reading it seems like the EZ crimper is the one to get. What kind of connectors does everyone recommend for a secure good connection. I have a bunch of Cat 5e cable, but I might just throw that out and buy Cat 6.

 

[hmjgriffon]

Hi All,

My shipment from Andy arrived yesterday and I am thrilled. I have a regular crimper and a bunch of monoprice connectors that seem to fail a lot. They don't stay plugged into the router or switches very well. I figure if I am spending all this money on equipment I should use high quality on the connectors.

After a bunch of reading it seems like the EZ crimper is the one to get. What kind of connectors does everyone recommend for a secure good connection. I have a bunch of Cat 5e cable, but I might just throw that out and buy Cat 6.

Just buy the EZ cat 6 connectors, they have little holes in the end that the 8 wires pop out of, then you can do two things, push the cable all the way in until the insulation bottoms out, and re check the wire order before you crimp, the EZ crimper cuts off the extra wire, I get perfect crimps every time and no issues with the connectors falling out or anything.

 

[hmjgriffon]

Hi All,

My shipment from Andy arrived yesterday and I am thrilled. I have a regular crimper and a bunch of monoprice connectors that seem to fail a lot. They don't stay plugged into the router or switches very well. I figure if I am spending all this money on equipment I should use high quality on the connectors.

After a bunch of reading it seems like the EZ crimper is the one to get. What kind of connectors does everyone recommend for a secure good connection. I have a bunch of Cat 5e cable, but I might just throw that out and buy Cat 6.

you can use cat5e with the cat6 connectors and there is no reason at all to throw out perfectly good cat5e unless you need to make a POE run over 100 meters.

 

[tangent]

you can use cat5e with the cat6 connectors

That's a really bad idea... very failure prone. Match the size of the cables and connectors.

This may be a silly point but make sure you get cat6 rj45 connectors, not the cat5e. I got the cat5e connectors for cat 6 cable when I first started; they worked but were a PITA. The cat6 connectors have a little more room for the bigger cable and are much easier to work with.

and vice versa; if you try to use cat6 connectors on cat5e cabling you'll rarely get a good enough crimp because they are designed for heavier gauge wiring..

You can get cat5 connectors and you can get cat6 connectors, you can also get connectors for solid copper and stranded.. vast majority of times when someone is having trouble getting a good termination its because they have the wrong connectors or some wrong got mixed up w/the right ones..

If you only ever buy solid copper cat6 cable and connectors you can save your self alot of grief..

re-terminate your cabling; dropouts with temp changes are often due to a poor crimp and normal thermal expansion causes it to fail.. that and the vast majority of random dropouts are due to wiring issues.

 

[randytsuch]

In looking at the monoprice bulk connectors, they have a cat 6 for solid, and a different one for stranded.
I didn't realize this until now. Their solid cat 6 wire is 23 gauge, and stranded is 24 gauge.

 

[hmjgriffon]

That's a really bad idea... very failure prone. Match the size of the cables and connectors.

How would that be failure proned? I'm very interested, the connectors are identical, except the crimp on the insulation is close to where the wire comes out of the insulation, it's still crimped down the same, you actually get less signal loss because the part of the wires that is un-twisted, is shorter, I'd have to see a youtube video proving they are any less proned to failure, especially since I've used them that way forever with 0 issues.

 

[hmjgriffon]

In looking at the monoprice bulk connectors, they have a cat 6 for solid, and a different one for stranded.
I didn't realize this until now. Their solid cat 6 wire is 23 gauge, and stranded is 24 gauge.

I'd get stranded connectors for stranded cable.

 

[drew91101]

I have always used the regular rj45 connectors as the ez connectors were quite expensive. With a little more attention to detail and a little practice, I have had no issues with terminating cat6 cable with standard connectors. On amazon, 100 cat6 connectors are $9 and the EZ connectors are $30 for 50 connectors. The crimpers are also another consideration...The cheapest EZ crimper I found was $76 whereas the standard crimpers

 

[drew91101]

How would that be failure proned? I'm very interested, the connectors are identical, except the crimp on the insulation is close to where the wire comes out of the insulation, it's still crimped down the same, you actually get less signal loss because the part of the wires that is un-twisted, is shorter, I'd have to see a youtube video proving they are any less proned to failure, especially since I've used them that way forever with 0 issues.

I think what @tangent is referring to is using a cat6 connector with cat5[e] cable. The space is slightly bigger to account for the plastic insulator in the cat6. I haven't used cat6 connectors with cat5 cable but trying to use a cat5 connector with cat6 cable was tough since the space was smaller.

 

[tangent]

How would that be failure proned? I'm very interested, the connectors are identical, except the crimp on the insulation is close to where the wire comes out of the insulation, it's still crimped down the same, you actually get less signal loss because the part of the wires that is un-twisted, is shorter, I'd have to see a youtube video proving they are any less proned to failure, especially since I've used them that way forever with 0 issues.

Some modular plugs actually claim that they work on different size cables or both solid and stranded... most don't

Externally they're the same, internally there are differences in the parts that pierce the wire and the holes the wires fit into as well as differences in the part the grips the jacket (OD of cat5e and cat6 is different). They'll generally all work initially if it fails it generally happens over time and sometimes intermittently as the cables put strain on the connector and temps fluctuate. Intermittent cable failures are a PITA.

Did you even read the the things I quoted above?

In looking at the monoprice bulk connectors, they have a cat 6 for solid, and a different one for stranded.
I didn't realize this until now. Their solid cat 6 wire is 23 gauge, and stranded is 24 gauge.

match the connector to the cable. For in-wall use solid it the best choice.

 

[hmjgriffon]

I think what @tangent is referring to is using a cat6 connector with cat5[e] cable. The space is slightly bigger to account for the plastic insulator in the cat6. I haven't used cat6 connectors with cat5 cable but trying to use a cat5 connector with cat6 cable was tough since the space was smaller.

I have zero issues.

 

[nayr]

this is the crimper I use at home, at work we have nicer ones but this works just as well IMHO: Klein Tools VDV226-107 Compact Ratcheting Modular Crimper - - Amazon.com

 

[tangent]

I have zero issues.

regardless it increases the chances of issues and is not good advice to give to other people. Kind of like encouraging someone not to wear a seat belt.

 

[hmjgriffon]

okay then

 

[Q™]

this is the crimper I use at home, at work we have nicer ones but this works just as well IMHO: Klein Tools VDV226-107 Compact Ratcheting Modular Crimper - - Amazon.com

+1 on that Klein Tools VDV226-107 ratcheting crimper. I've been using one for over a year and I rarely have to re-crimp. Highly recommended. I use Ideal RJ45 connectors which seem to work just fine IMO.

 

[bob2701]

+1 on that Klein Tools VDV226-107 ratcheting crimper. I've been using one for over a year and I rarely have to re-crimp. Highly recommended. I use Ideal RJ45 connectors which seem to work just fine IMO.

Another vote for the Klein crimper, have had mine for a year and no problems at all.

 

[hmjgriffon]

Another vote for the Klein crimper, have had mine for a year and no problems at all.

A crimper is a fairly simple tool, as long as it crimps evenly across the connector, you should have no problems.

 

[tigerwillow1]

The Monoprice RJ45s that use inserts work a bit different than the EZ connectors, but use the same principle and cost a bundle less.

 

[Katodude]

Great info here. Thanks everyone. Good information on the crimpers. Is there a brand of connectors that people recommend. I will make sure that I match the connector to the type of cable that I use.

 

[tangent]

Great info here. Thanks everyone. Good information on the crimpers. Is there a brand of connectors that people recommend. I will make sure that I match the connector to the type of cable that I use.

Just don't buy no-name stuff off ebay, amazon, or aliexpress those can fall apart upon crimping. Any name brand or fairly reputable option like monoprice will work just fine.