DIY Ethernet Cabling

alphaomega16

alphaomega16

alphaomega16

Associate
Joined
4 Jul 2006
Posts
2,027
I was contemplating taking a punt and doing my own ethernet cables as there is one location that the size of an RJ45 cable wont fit through, how difficult is this? If its relatively easy once you get the hang of it id give it a try but any and all advice would be great on compatible products such as connectors to cabling and what is a good reliable brand etc etc.

I have watched some youtube videos and it seems simple enough.

I need a bigger network switch so was contemplating getting a POE one if I could power another POE switch with it, I was thinking about doing a switch down into the cupboard down the stairs for the solar equipment and then running a line through the waffle block into extension where the squares are big enough for cabling but not the connector.
 
Last edited:
Very straightforward with a cutter tool. I would use push through metal connectors as well. Having push through makes it easier to confirm correct placement of colours. I’d also get a tester.
 
If you’re not going to be doing it a lot, consider either paying someone to do this or put a call out for ‘help’ on Facebook etc.

You will need to buy;

Cable - the minimum seems to be about 50m, but you’ll end up buying more probably.

A cable sheath trimming tool

Then you need to decide if you want to do it right and terminate into surface mount or boxes or bodge it and just make up terminated cables.

Wall boxes are easier as you’ll just need a punch-down tool to wire up the socket. Buy the RJ45 components that match your cable.

If you decide to go with terminated cables you will need some plugs that match the cable you bought.

And a crimping tool that matches the plugs you bought.

Whether you buy pass-through plugs or ‘normal’ ones I would strongly recommend you use electricians scissors to trim the ends of the strands. These will give you a clean cut end that will seat itself into it through the plug.

If you’re unsure of what will work together then go to a specialist like Cable Monkey and call them and they will sell you everything you need and it will all work together. You can buy a continuity tester if you like but fundamentally when you plug it in it either works or it doesn’t and if it doesn’t the cable tester will only tell you which pairs are faulty.
 
I did get a quote for doing a line downstairs it was ~£250 but I figured even with trial and error it would cost half that to get the stuff and do it myself.

We recently had cladding done and the 2 decade old cat5 cable that had been going out my bedroom window and down into the extension was absolutely fine til the guys finishing up decided to keep treading on it and broke it, obviously it was spotted right away and the guys called up their boss and said to dad to ring the number and talk with boss about getting it sorted, we were told to get a quote and they would send us the money to get it sorted.

We got a quote then they started turning around saying well you pay it first then send us an invoice and pictures of work done THEN we will pay you, they had first hand witnesses the guys they hired that said they done it and confirmed it was broken.

Installation labor £200 was the bulk of it, if they were footing the bill I would have had it done properly, I did get my dad a TPlink wifi thing in the interim but transfer speeds over network are sub 10mb/s for some reason even after installing their drivers.
 
We charge £100+VAT per endpoint termination on a 'simple' job so £250 sounds about right. In that you've got the cost of the parts (call it £5 per socket on average including the cable at proper trade prices) and the rest is labour and overheads. TV antenna installers are usually excellent for running the cables at very good prices and then you can terminate them yourself.

Even the simplest job is 2 hours. It takes 20 minutes to get the ladders off the van and back on again. 20 minutes tidying up at the end. And anything working at height is a 2-person task in the RAMS so that's 2 people on site for 2 hours. And no-one wants to pay for travel time but we have to pay for it from the job cost. And then there is national insurance and pension. Plus insurance for our staff, for the customer and public and the running costs of the van and buying tools etc. It all adds up, little by little.

The actual termination is, as you say, simplicity itself. It's the fishing the cables, cutting the plasterboard, checking there is nothing there before you drill the hole. Measuring twice before you drill the hole, tacking surface mount cable in a neat straight line etc. that takes the time. And everyone expects everything done at below minimum wage because it's unregulated unlike an electrician or a gas plumber who can actually charge for their skills.

I reckon it will cost you at least £100 to gear up to do it and source the basic materials, of which you will have far too much at the end. And then several hours ****** about to get it right. It depends how handy you are at manipulating the cables.

There are handy people on Facebook who will come and help you out for pennies just because they've DIY'd their own homes and families to death and still need to exorcise their DIY demons. It's always worth asking.
 
It is possible to do it cheaper, but I wouldn't really recommend it. I needed a run from downstairs to upstairs, so rather than buy a box of cable and a load of gear, I just bought a slightly-too-long solid core pre-terminated patch cable. A five quid Ethernet tool from an online warehouse shop (not sure if OcUK sell them...), lop the connectors off, run the cable and then a tenner for a cheap wall box, and the job was jobbed. Been working for years. :D
 
I had contemplated a few options

1. Network switch upstairs and multiple cables going over and down stairs (Shorter cables connected to solar gear with a middle extension block to plug both ends of rj45 cable into)
2. Network switch upstairs to a switch downstairs in cupboard that connects to the solar gear + through the gap in brick to extension, singular cable same method as #1 (Would need to have a electrical socket fitted in cupboard but was thinking about this anyway so would be a nice push.

3. As mentioned the socket in wall that is run through same cabling for solar/electricity cables although it was a little tight when solar guys tried to feed the dc cables down through but it would have to be singular as I doubt multiples will fit so would be 1 socket with two network switches.

I am hoping these people that said to get a quote so they can give us the money to replace it stop mucking us about, first they wanted copy of quote before they would give us they money then changed to pay for it out of pocket and send us pictures before we send the money, its ridiculous.
 
Last edited:
Personally i'd be tempted to do it yourself, IIRC you can buy a reasonably good cable crimper for ~15, although you could also go for solid core cabling to network sockets then use ready to go patch cables for the last bit to the switches etc (which has the advantage that the bit of the cabling that is most likely to get damaged can be replaced very easily).

The actual termination etc of the cables is really quite simple as long as you follow instructions and double check, I think the tools I use for ours cost probably ~100-120 but that includes a reasonable cable test tool (can check for breaks, shorts etc and had 8 remote end points), a half decent crimp tool, terminal punch down tool for the network boxes, and a set of cable rods. You could probably get the specific tools including a basic cable tester for £25ish and make do for the rods if needed :) (for years I used an ancient CB aerial).

One tip if you do put the sockets/wiring in yourself is to get good network sockets, preferably the modular type (1-4 or more per back box and many brands will do telecoms/aerial modules) and keep some spares:) I've gradually had to replace a bunch of ours because originally I bought some relative cheapies in '99/00 and they were always a bit temperamental/fragile.

If I was to redo our house, I'd probably put switches where it makes the most sense to minimise cable runs (rather than multiple active cables running along the same route), as our house has had it's network added to and modified since the days of thinwire 10baseT (I'm already half there, I've got a couple of switches where I needed more cables and the airing cupboard now hosts a switch).
 
I recently ran my own cables through my many years old mid-terrace house.

Pick a standard wiring order, T568B tends to be the most widely used.
Any cables that will be hidden in walls or under floorboards etc, run a pull cord with it then you can replace or add more cables in the future with ease.
Avoid sharp bends, particularly with cat6 as it is more rigid. You want a nice sweeping flow.
When crimping cables, do the crimp then relax a little and crimp it again.

I didn't use a cable tester, luckily all my runs were good, but it can be handy to have.

Be brave, I believe in you.
Good luck.
 
Last edited:
Not sure if any help but I recently had external ethernet done over a 3 storey house. Wanted internal but the potential issues could have quadrupled the price. We now have a nice looking black conduit line going up a corner of the house which then just required for drilling a hole into each floor for the ends. Much cheaper, looks neat and works as needed
 
Last edited:
Looks like they don't want to pay out for someone to do it and instead have offered us £150 to sort out ourselves, bit of a joke but they moaned at the £250 quote and I forwarded the E-Mail the installer sent the official quote in, took 2-3 weeks to respond and they came back asking for it in PDF format, seriously you want a quote from a company with its logo, contact details and all relevant information resent IN PDF FORMAT.

By that time they couldn't do it anymore as it was such a small job so I sent them a list of what id need and its price and after a week they said that the price of the cable was too high they were cheaper from the go to for everything retailer and I had to explain to them teh cable they were talking about was a ready to go one that wont fit through the breeze block otherwise I woulda done that at the very start and told them to send me twenty quid lol, told them I have never done this before and wouldnt know how much id need extra to make sure it worked if they were not willing to pay someone to come and do it.

Well they asked for dads bank details and that they would send £150 (less than what I tallied up but I thought they broke a 20yr old cable that was running on outside of house bout time I got a future proof one again).

Going to run a solid line from upstairs to inside cupboard from one of those old telephone line looking boxes so if anything happens to it on the runs after that im not replacing an ENTIRE cable and just have it from upstairs box in hallway under carpet and into bedroom to router and then from cupboard through breeze blocks to dads computer with a bit of slack his side incase its needed.

I was thinking about getting the following
4x Leenue Toolless RJ45 Connector Cat6A
2x Ethernet Wall Sockets (unsure which to get)

Can anybody recommend some decent POE cable, I was looking at the Oren Cat6A 500mhz 100M for £94, but if anybody else has any other suggestions I would be all ears.
I had also contemplated the JAVEX 23AWG CAT6 UL in-Wall Rated Bare Copper 600MHz at £129 for 305M

Better late than never on they to sort it out but hopefully this new cable will last at least the same length of time on the inside of the home as the Cat5 cable did on the outside of the home lol.
 
Last edited:
Sorry, but you should just get the work done by a professional and send them the bill. If they don’t pay it, small claims will get them to open their wallets. Just based on what you’re looking at cable-wise (way too much by the way) it’s going to be £150 in parts and tools and then your time on top. You’re being mugged.
 
Last edited:
WJA96 said:
You can buy a continuity tester if you like but fundamentally when you plug it in it either works or it doesn’t and if it doesn’t the cable tester will only tell you which pairs are faulty.
Click to expand...
It's not always quite as simple as "it works or it doesn't".
You need to make sure you're not too rough with the cables, especially when routing through awkward spaces, as forcing them can degrade the quality and reduce the speed.
I've had runs that appear fine on a basic tester, and seemed fine in initial use, but would fail to work with devices when higher speeds were needed.

Basic testers are cheap, but the ones that can test speed and quality are really expensive. You will be better off using a couple of laptops either end, or make something with a couple of Raspberry Pi units.
 
WJA96 said:
Sorry, but you should just get the work done by a professional and send them the bill. If they don’t pay it, small claims will get them to open their wallets. Just based on what you’re looking at cable-wise (way too much by the way) it’s going to be £150 in parts and tools and then your time on top. You’re being mugged.
Click to expand...
Thought id best get a bit so I got some spare for later use incase needed and im going to have to have excess incase I screw up the terminating. To go from upstairs to extension through the home im looking at 15-20m and its going to be trial and error.

I did watch the guys fitting lan cable to my solar battery and it seemed easy enough I just want to go overkill on what I need just incase and may as well use all the money they giving me.

Just wanted to make sure all being well the cable won't need to be changed for quite some time with POE functionality for cameras.
 
darkblade said:
It's not always quite as simple as "it works or it doesn't".
You need to make sure you're not too rough with the cables, especially when routing through awkward spaces, as forcing them can degrade the quality and reduce the speed.
I've had runs that appear fine on a basic tester, and seemed fine in initial use, but would fail to work with devices when higher speeds were needed.

Basic testers are cheap, but the ones that can test speed and quality are really expensive. You will be better off using a couple of laptops either end, or make something with a couple of Raspberry Pi units.
Click to expand...

I sell certified connections as an upgrade to a standard working install and the Fluke certifier was about £9000 and it’s another £600 every year to have it calibrated. Bottom line. If you wired it up A or B at each end and it passes data then it works about as well as it’s going to work. If it doesn’t pass data then the £10 tester telling you you mixed up the blue/white with the green/white after the orange isn’t going to help - you can see that visually BEFORE you crimp it in place. And if you us a pass-thru crimp tool you get another opportunity to check. Punch-down is even easier because it’s always in pairs - see my previous post about opening up the cable strands for the tightest cabling possible. This is a side-gig for me but I’m good enough and you don’t need the tester.
 
WJA96 said:
I sell certified connections as an upgrade to a standard working install and the Fluke certifier was about £9000 and it’s another £600 every year to have it calibrated. Bottom line. If you wired it up A or B at each end and it passes data then it works about as well as it’s going to work. If it doesn’t pass data then the £10 tester telling you you mixed up the blue/white with the green/white after the orange isn’t going to help - you can see that visually BEFORE you crimp it in place. And if you us a pass-thru crimp tool you get another opportunity to check. Punch-down is even easier because it’s always in pairs - see my previous post about opening up the cable strands for the tightest cabling possible. This is a side-gig for me but I’m good enough and you don’t need the tester.
Click to expand...
Cheap tester can also be used to trace cables back from a patch panel etc - which you sholdn't need to do if you've labelled it all correctly.
 
So, any thoughts on the above cables or any recommendations? To be safe bare minimum is going to have to be 30m at least but the more the better as if I get on well I can do custom sizing and cables for rest of my gear at a later date and have some spare.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom