I purchased a tooless IDC Keystone Jack and it has 8 slots to fit the 4 pairs of twisted wire for the cat5. The cat5 cable that I'm using has an extra bare wire, for ground possibly ??
Where would this bare wire go on the jack ?? I don't see an extra slot for this !!
Please advise....Thanks
Are you sure the cable is labelled 'category 5'? Cat 5 is supposed to be unshielded; there should be nothing like a foil or mesh wrapper around the cable pairs. There are (or were) kinds of shielded twisted pair that were used for other things (IBM token ring, for instance), not 10/100baseT ethernet.
Are you sure it's a copper wire? Some cables have strands of non-conductive fibre for strength, to decrease damage when the cable is pulled.
If it is shielded twisted pair, it may not work for ethernet. If it is really cat 5 with an odd wire, then, well, I dunno. I'd leave it unconnected.
Maybe you could post back with the exact brand of the cable and any markings on it.
Chip C
The bare wire is stranded steel and not copper. It also has a foil jacket underneath the plastic covering.
Here's the info stamped on the cable: Belden Datatwist(R) Five 1624P ScTP CMP Powersum Verified (UL) Catergory 5 E108998.
Hope this helps you... Ray
Sounds like an rs232 shielded cable, get the correct wire.
It's Catagory 5E shielded (ScTP - "screened" twisted pair), plenum rated (CMP). You would normally use it with a shielded keystone jack. You would then use shielded patch cables, etc. The shield helps keep outside interference from affecting the data. It's good quality cable, but typically not needed in a home environment, and more expensive than the standard Unshielded Twisted Pair (UTP).
If you purchased the wire and haven't used it, see if you can return it and get UTP. If you can't return it, go ahead and use it and just ignore the bare wire. In a commercial environment, with hundreds (or thousands) of feet of wire, that's not a good idea since the unconnected shield can act as an antenna, but for the distances you're working with in a home, it's not going to be an issue.
- Mike O.
Mike, Thanks for the come back ! This cable was given to me by a friend and I already have it burried in conduit out to the workshop, about 200 feet worth.
So replacing it would be a tremendous effort. I'll do what you suggested and cut off the bare wire and go with the 4 twisted pairs.
This will be used for an Ethernet connection. I believe I failed to mention that in my Original Post.
Thanks to all who replied.
Ray
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