cat7 ethernet installation advice please

[Armageus]

I wouldn't get hung up on whether things are 'compliant' to a certain designation based on the wire gauge. The specs for Cat5e for example call for performance characteristics at certain frequencies but I can't see anywhere that it tells manufacturers what size conductors to use.

24awg minimum from the specs I found when I looked a few months ago for something at work (certainly wouldn't dream of 26awg for Poe applications)


In answer to the op though - might as well just put some cat5e faceplates on it now, will likely work anyway.

 

[bremen1874]

No dc resistance requirements in the specs?

As you say it’s unlikely to matter, and as the cable can’t be replaced it’s moot anyway.

 

[RichL]

26awg must be stranded cat7. Makes sense for a patch cable.

 

[bremen1874]

Confirmed as solid core somewhere above.

Stranded Cat5e and Cat6 I have here are 24AWG and 23 AWG respectively (as you'd expect).

Edit: Even CW1308 (twisted pair phone cable) is 24AWG. There's a chance that 26AWG could be too thin to reliably work in normal IDC terminals (hopefully not).

 

[adamCCC]

Having done a stupid amount of research (as you can see by the time of this post!) and having taken advice from the previous posts in this thread my current thinking is this:

Most resources online suggest that you should only ground at one point, therefore I have decided, as bledd suggested, to get the Cat6a FTP RJ45 Module (https://www.netstoredirect.com/cat6...p-rj45-module-euromod-size-5056045700264.html) and fit 10 of these into faceplates where all the cables converge in the hall, by the router.

Patch leads from the faceplates will then be connected to a desktop switch.

In the individual rooms, I'll use regular cat6 faceplates, non grounded.

As far as I can see, this is my best course of action?

The only problem I still have is how to ground the cable! I have never done it before therefore simply don't know how (I'm sure its very straightforward but I want to do it right!) I cant find any guides online on what you physically have to do to ground the cable. Could someone please tell me exactly what needs to be done to ground the cable to the Cat6a FTP RJ45 Modules?

Cheers

 

[bledd]

8x faceplates will look terrible.

Use a patch panel.

How many ports do you have?

https://www.ebay.co.uk/i/2326441352...3D710-134428-41853-0%26rvr_id%3D1435756304436

What you should do is have a cable running from router to a central location that can be boxed in and have all other called running to that point and use a switch from there.

Either use shielded connectors on both ends of none at all. Yes, only one side needs grounding to a switch, but both sides should have the shielding punched in.

 

[bledd]

Since the cable is so thin, you can probably just use use cat5e unshielded modules and patch panel if you don't care about the shielding.

This will keep the cost down big time.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B0...wall+mount&dpPl=1&dpID=41sDpGtq6VL&ref=plSrch

Decent panel that can be mounted vertically, you can then box this in.

https://www.netstoredirect.com/29-cat5e-modules

Installed thousands of these modules, never had a single failure.

https://www.netstoredirect.com/rj45-network-cables/41829-cat5e-rj45-patch-cables.html

Decent patch leads.

 

[adamCCC]

8x faceplates will look terrible.

They won't look terrible, they are behind a unit/sideboard so you wont see them at all.

How many ports do you have?

10

What you should do is have a cable running from router to a central location that can be boxed in and have all other called running to that point and use a switch from there.

This is the case, as i said before, its a small house I didn't have the space to have a dedicated area for this. The router sits on top of the unit, the cat7 is coming out of 3 back boxes on the wall behind the unit. I was going to plug 7 of these into a desktop switch ( this one: https://www.amazon.co.uk/TP-LINK-TL-SG108-Gigabit-Ethernet-Switch/dp/B00A121WN6 - which will also be hidden behind the unit) and the remaining three cables directly into the router. All you will see to the eye is a router on top of unit.

Either use shielded connectors on both ends of none at all. Yes, only one side needs grounding to a switch, but both sides should have the shielding punched in.

Ok, will do. I'm still unsure of the grounding though! does it get grounded just by being plugged into the switch, as this is then plugged into the grounded mains?

I really appreciate the help, I understand its ludicrous (now) to be using cat7, live and learn eh?

 

[bremen1874]

If you use shielded faceplates AND shielded patch cables from them to the switch you should have your ground path (avoid switches will all plastic network ports).

 

[adamCCC]

Finally got around to addressing this again (baby on the way in the next couple of weeks so its been a bit manic getting the house ready!)

As i had the plastic faceplates lying around I thought I'd try them, so rigged up a little test with 2 quad faceplates and a foot long piece of cat7 between them. Plugged 1 into modem, 1 into pc and to my amazement it worked! Getting a full speed connection @ 71mb/sec.

This was however only a test. Will the plastic faceplates hold up? They are working now but are they likely to break when installed properly in the wall? On one hand I'm thinking they are working so its fine but on the other hand im thinking I should get the shielded faceplates!

 

[bremen1874]

IIRC the breaking issue was related to the size of the wires putting strain on the IDC terminals.

You'd expect the wires in a Cat7 cable to be thicker. In your case I believe that they were actually pretty thin, thinner than you expect for even a Cat5e cable, so you should be fine.

71mbps isn't very fast. Are you just testing your broadband speed? You'd expect Gigabit to manage 110MBps(-ish) which is over 12x faster than your test.

 

[adamCCC]

yes sorry, that was just the broadband speed. I'd been using wifi and powerlines before and not got over 40.

was just surprised it worked - was my first go at wiring ethernet. Just the 20 more times to go now :X

 

[Pocah]

I have a Cat5e network in my house that doesn't use earthed outlets and it happily achieves 1Gbps throughout the house. I get mechanical disk to disk transfers of about 100MBytes/s, which is plenty fast enough for a home network now and for some time to come. So I really wouldn't worry about Cat 7 at all. Just wire it up as if it's cat5e.

 

[Scream]

Cat7 is a pain in the backside. Helped a mate wire a new school in cat7 a few months ago. Hard to beat cat5e for joy.

 

[Nikumba]

From using them in work I would use Nexans modules and plates, so much easier to install than traditional punch down stuff