cat5 cabling: making your own

'tis fiddly, I normally strip back an inch and half of sleeve, sort the

wires then trim to length, damn sight easier than trying to push/pull th e sleeve and sort 1/2" long wires.

Bear in mind the £10 ones only test at DC, they won't pick up a badly

pinched or kinked cable or other weirdness that can screw up the actual

data transmission. Still useful to detect gross DC errors like open/shor t wires, phase reverse pairs, crossed pairs etc.

Reply to
Dave Liquorice
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In article , Peter Parry writes

You can buy plugs suitable for single strand and plugs suitable for multi-strand. The trick is not to mix them up...

Reply to
Mike Tomlinson

In article , Bob Eager writes

Me too (at home).

Rule of thumb: install twice as many as you think you need.

Reply to
Mike Tomlinson

I did!

Reply to
Bob Eager

In article , Bob Eager writes

;-)

Reply to
Mike Tomlinson

And most of mine are coiled up inside the stud walls.

My friend who do the installation says 'cable is cheap: always run 2-3 cables: then you can always extend from a close point'

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Reply to
The Natural Philosopher

..

I found making cables utterly impossible until I found these two-part "Cat6" connectors, which worked with a decent crimper and also the cheapie off Ebay I'd bought first. The difference in ease of fixing and success rate was so enormous that I'd never, ever, use anything else. Search for "Two piece Cat6" (why Cat6 I've no idea) and see Ebay item

121074970777 for an example.
Reply to
Philip Herlihy

+1, with my dodgy eyesight there is no alternative now.
Reply to
The Other Mike

It is pretty easy if you have the tool, but it will cost you more than any sensible length of long premade cable for even the cheapest tool. If you can borrow a tool and cadge the connectors then no problem.

Obviously you also have to put the line pairs in the right places too.

If you are running it through tight holes in walls then you may have no option but to pull it through as a bare cable and crimp to a socket. Buying a premade long cable and cropping an end off is still cheaper and easier for a one off job.

Reply to
Martin Brown

Thanks for the replies everyone.

Yes, I thought this would be an advantage too: not having excess cable to have to hide somewhere.

Reply to
Fred

[...]

Thank you, I had not realised that there were two types of cable. It makes sense now that you say it: just as we do for mains electricity: sold T&E for the fixed stuff and flex for the portable stuff, so why not for cat5 too.

I don't think I've ever seen mention in descriptions on web sites or in catalogues about cat5 being solid or multi strand and I certainly didn't know there were two types of telephone cable. I thought it was always solid. I know there are often reports about people using stranded alarm cable by mistake and that being less reliable in this use.

Reply to
Fred

Sorry, I could have been clearer. A one off job prompted me to think about this but I am sure if I proceeded, I would go on to make more cables for myself, friends, and family, with the advantage that the cables would be the perfect length. However this stranded versus solid thing is making me reconsider.

Reply to
Fred

It's not all that big a deal, at least domestically. You can generally repunch/re-head a cable that's gone bad.

The one to *really* watch out for is copper-clad aluminium, which is exactly as awful as you would expect. Never use it. It's half the price of the good stuff, so beware.

Cheers - Jaimie

Reply to
Jaimie Vandenbergh

En el artículo , Fred escribió:

Actually, alarm cable /is/ stranded, and this is perfectly normal. It can't be used as ethernet or 'phone cabling, because the wires are not twisted together ("twisted pair").

Reply to
Mike Tomlinson

solid is for fixed wiring and is punched down on SOCkETS. stranded is for patch leads and is crimped into PLUGS.

Attempts to do otherwise incur a lot of problems. I am not saying I haven't seen it done as a temporary bodge, BUT the tools and terminations are designed to match the respective cables.

You are asking for trouble if you use solid wire in a removable patch lead, as it can't take many flexures before it breaks

Reply to
The Natural Philosopher

not that essential for PHONE wires.

Reply to
The Natural Philosopher

In article , The Natural Philosopher writes

Still a bad idea, because a) it's not twisted, b) the Krone punch-down connectors are not designed for stranded cable, c) it doesn't meet the CW1308 spec.

Using cat5 would be a much better choice.

Reply to
Mike Tomlinson

In article , The Natural Philosopher writes

How many of your patch cables are subject to repeated flexing?

Reply to
Mike Tomlinson

All of them The whole point of a 'patch' is that it is intended to be removed. Otherwise you wouldn't have it at all. Juts hard wire everything together.

Reply to
The Natural Philosopher

You can get plugs optimised for either...

Reply to
John Rumm

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