RJ45 plug recommendations for STP CAT 6 monoprice cable

R

Rodney Tindel

Young grasshopper
Feb 16, 2019
44
16
Panama City Florida
I bought regular 8 prong cat 6 modular plugs and they will not fit in CAT 6 cable-550mhz STP solid, riser rated(cmr), 23 AWG. I would prefer pass through plugs.
 
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It seems folks have complained in monoprice's online reviews that the individual conductor jacket is very thick and they were not forewarned to purchase the RJ-45 ends that would accommodate that fact.

I would contact monoprice and ask them specifically if THEY have a connector for the cable you purchased since you also want a pass-thru type.
 
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I was reading that last night as well. I’ve seen a YouTube showing copper tape to secure the drain wire-didn’t know what that bare wire was called btw. And that the drain wire has to be terminated as well, are you familiar with this ?
 
Rodney Tindel said:
I was reading that last night as well. I’ve seen a YouTube showing copper tape to secure the drain wire-didn’t know what that bare wire was called btw. And that the drain wire has to be terminated as well, are you familiar with this ?
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Yes, if you want the full benefit of the STP the RJ-45 housing should be metallic and have a lug to which the drain wire from the STP is inserted and crimped.
 
Cat 6 and shielded cable are a pain in the ass (more so shielded) to deal with. Several years ago I just decided to start buying per-terminated shielded outdoor rated Cat5e for all my outdoor runs and decided to just deal with having to drill a slightly larger hole to accommodate the connector. I've never (and will never) run Cat 6 as I think it's not needed for simple home/SMB stuff.

Agree with @TonyR, the drain wire has to be attached to the shielded RJ45 connector or you lose all benefits of the shielded Cat6 you are running.
 
Thanks guys again :) I did contact monoprice and they suggested the same plugs that are metal and have a collar of sorts on them. Does anyone use or have used the metal plugs in the above video ?
 
Rodney Tindel said:
Thanks guys again :) I did contact monoprice and they suggested the same plugs that are metal and have a collar of sorts on them. Does anyone use or have used the metal plugs in the above video ?
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Not me.

But I have another hint about using the CAT-6 load bar. My 71 year old fingers have little or no feeling in them and the arthritis usually keeps me from having much strength in my fingers so I came up with this method. The 23AWG is pretty stiff and if you have trouble undoing the twists as he mentions, you can do what I do:
  • Separate all pairs into 8 separate conductors, fan out as usual.
  • With the UN-SERRATED (smooth) part of your needle-nose or flat-nose pliers, pick one conductor, start opposite the end and gently squeeze to flatten it, let off a bit and move the pliers a bit more, squeeze gently again, repeat to the end, staying in the same plane.
  • Rotate the pliers 90 degrees and repeat the above, all the way to the end. Repeat in both planes as necessary. With practice you'll go pretty fast.
  • Remember to use the SMOOTH part and squeeze gently.
I already mentioned to you in a PM about cutting the conductors at 45 degrees as demonstrated here so you can insert them one at a time into the load bar by holding the load bar steady and rotating the 8 wires, once one way, next the opposite way. For me, it was difficult trying to insert all 8 at the same time, hence the 45 degree angle. Like anything, practice makes perfect...modify to suit your needs /abilities.
 
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Another trick is to use a pair of flush cutters to cut the wires. It leaves a squared off end rather than the pinched, pointed, end that diagonal style cutters leave. The square ends also help in getting the conductors to seat as far as possible into the RJ connector.

Another way to get the spiral out of the wires is to draw them over a screwdriver, the round part of the shaft, while pressing with a thumb. You can do them one at a time or all at once if you have the hand strength.
 
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To straighten out the untwisted wires I use the curved outside edge of the needle nose pliers to take out the curls. Any rounded item will do the same. I choose a rounded item so you'll be less likely to damage the wires.

I place my thumb over the wires against the rounded edge with a bit of pressure and pull the wires out from under my thumb. I repeat the process until all wires are straight. I follow it up one more time once I have all the strands in the correct order to help them hold their proper order so they're ready to feed into the RJ45.

It gets a lot easier once you've done a couple of them. :thumb:

P.S. Not sure how I missed @sebastiantombs reply. You're welcome to ignore my duplicate information. :facepalm:
 
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I'm having this same problem. I don't know why I bought STP from Monoprice. I ran it all through my attic and now it doesn't fit the connectors that I bought. Should I pull the cable out and run UTP or get the metal connector?

Sent from my ONEPLUS A5010 using Tapatalk
 
You have to use a shielded metal connector if you want to take advantage of running STP.

If its already run I'd try to use it. Do you have the cable outside for a significant length of run or are your cameras mounted to your house? If 99.9999% of your cable is in your walls/attics then I'm not sre how beneficial STP will be to begin with.
 
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biggen said:
You have to use a shielded metal connector if you want to take advantage of running STP.

If its already run I'd try to use it. Do you have the cable outside for a significant length of run or are your cameras mounted to your house? If 99.9999% of your cable is in your walls/attics then I'm not sre how beneficial STP will be to begin with.
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I didn't realize what I bought. I didn't specifically buy it for the shielded. I assumed it was regular cable.
I plan to run this cable to my computer, camera, PS4 and tv.
Should I still keep the STP? I only ran one 50ft run of it. I hate that I fucked this up. It's obviously my first time.

Sent from my ONEPLUS A5010 using Tapatalk
 
biggen said:
You have to use a shielded metal connector if you want to take advantage of running STP.

If its already run I'd try to use it. Do you have the cable outside for a significant length of run or are your cameras mounted to your house? If 99.9999% of your cable is in your walls/attics then I'm not sre how beneficial STP will be to begin with.
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Can I somehow use a regular connector with the shielded cable?

Sent from my ONEPLUS A5010 using Tapatalk
 
So a regular RJ45 doesn't fit?
Amp8424 said:
Can I somehow use a regular connector with the shielded cable?

Sent from my ONEPLUS A5010 using Tapatalk
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You can if it will fit. That seems to be the issue with this Monoprice cable. Getting it into the connector seems to be the issue.
 
biggen said:
So a regular RJ45 doesn't fit?

You can if it will fit. That seems to be the issue with this Monoprice cable. Getting it into the connector seems to be the issue.
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Yea unfortunately it doesn't fit, like at all. The strands won't even go into the load bar they are so big.

Sent from my ONEPLUS A5010 using Tapatalk
 
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