Is It Possible To Attach CAT5E RJ45 Connectors to Flat CAT7 Cable? (and make it work)

Associate
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9 Jul 2020
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Hi - I am trying to sort out my son's network cabling in a new extension to his property. He bought a 50mtr roll of Flat CAT7 cable which had what looked like gold-plated RJ45 connectors on each end. During the laying of the cable, from his router in another room, he cut them off and has asked me to see what I can do now that the cable has been laid to attach new connectors. From an old project at my property I have a Philex 76601HS Crimping tool and a box of 76110HS RJ45 Connectors and Boots. I looked last night and it seems the boots and connectors fit the flat cable but the Crimping tool and connectors are designed to be used with CAT5E cable.

My question is, if I use the connectors and boots and attach them to the CAT7 cable, will they work?

I appreciate that I'll probably only get CAT5E bandwidth throughput but if this is the case, then I know that will be more than adequate as the cable was bought for future-proofing given its non accessability now that it's been laid. And he's only going to use the network in his extension for Sky Q and his old PC which he uses for browsing alone. The extensive CAT5E cables in my property work very well indeed and I do a lot of heavy network video playback which is faultless.

So if I strip the outer sheaf off carefully, followed by careful removal of the outer shielding from the four pairs, to get the 8 wires into the connector (in the right order
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) will I be good to go?

I hope some knowledgable person can answer please
 
Associate
OP
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Hi - thank you for taking an interest - much appreciated.

The flat CAT7 cable is 7mm wide, I can squeeze the "round" ends of the boot onto the cable and the width of the RJ45 plug seems to be just right. If it's the holes in the connector that you think may be too small, then I don't think they are. If anything, they look too large as if they're meant for thicker wires. There are 4 individual pairs in the cable, each shielded with metal foil. Stripping this off and then looking closer at the wires themselves, reveal each of the 8, contain appx 5/6 very fine strands of copper with a polythene or fibre strand. They're all very flexible.

Hope this helps? I'm hoping, that if by twisting the copper strands and perhaps doubling them by bending them down a little on each other, they will fit into the holes in the connector to make a good contact before crimping.

Maybe I'm reaching out to someone who has experience here?
 
Soldato
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20 Oct 2008
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You can only try it. You don't strip the insulation from the inner conductors. The plugs are designed to pierce the insulation and make contact with the conductors within.

There's a lot of junk so-called Cat7 out there sold via Amazon, eBay, etc. The only people buying it are those who think the higher number makes it better.

A real round Cat7 cable will be over 7mm. A flat cable of the same width doesn't sound credible.

Cat5e or Cat6 is what you want for the job. Standard solid core UTP terminated at faceplates.
 
Associate
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Right - I've got it now. So the wires are "pierced" at the crimping stage then? Regarding the cable itself, it was advertised, yes on Amazon, and I succumbed to believing it better than CAT5E/CAT6. It's shielded though and with the correct connectors, which I don't have (or the crimpers) it presumably wouldn't give the bandwidth advertised? That said if it gives me the same as CAT5E or better, then that'll do. I feel more confident now that I don't have to strip back anything other than the black outer sheath. :)
 
Soldato
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20 Oct 2008
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No way to know whether it'll work without trying it. I wouldn't expect great things (especially if you're running anywhere near the 50m length).

Did you try it before the ends were chopped off?
 
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