Having a hell of a time making a patch cable

Goose

Goose

Goose

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I must have spent a good 90 mins trying to fit an RJ45 connector to my cat5e cable and i'm about ready to start crying. No matter how careful I am i just cant the wires to separate properly in to each 'channel' and on the rare occasion that i manage it no amount of crimping will get the wires in a neat row.

I was wondering if I could use the spacers you get when making cat6 patch cables? Or any other help anyone can offer would be most appreciated.

Thanks
 
Don't make your own patch cables is my not-so-helpful suggestion.

Permanent runs should be between faceplates or patch panels, temporary stuff gets a pre-made cable.
 
Expose more of the twisted pairs than you need - e.g. over an inch,

Flatten the pairs out against a worktop or desk, then start rearranging them, flatten out after rearranging.

Test fit to the connector

Once they are in the right order and flat, then trim to required length for the connector.
 
I'd agree in general about using faceplates for this sort of job.

What you're doing is also perfectly valid if it suits your particular situation. As you already have the cable you may as well persevere.

It can be tricky...

  1. Strip back plenty of the outer jacket, 5-6cm.
  2. Straighten and arrange the conductors into the correct order. Roll them between finger and thumb until they tend to stay in the correct position.
  3. When you're ready clamp the conductors between finger and thumb and use a pair of sharp scissors to trim them all to the same length.
  4. Slip the plug on sharpish.
  5. Check the order is still correct and crimp it.
 
I'm just wanting to run a single cable from my router to my NAS in the next going through a plasterboard wall. To keep the hole as small as possibly I wanted to feed to cable through and then attach a connector.
 
Get some RJ45 connectors with a loading bar?

I'm not sure what you mean by neat row? all wires touching the end of the connector? just make sure you cut the wires to the right length and push the jacket in as far in as possible, the connector should bite onto the jacket.

edit: With the loading bar connectors what a lot of people do is remove a lot of the jacket, cut the wires diagonally and then feed them into the loading bar one at a time, then once the loading bar is pushed on far enough cut the wires straight.
 
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I have made loads of patch cables over the years, i tend to just make a cable every time i need one from an old reel of cat5e i keep in the garage.

I always cut around 6 inches of the casing off to reveal about 6" of the twisted pairs, then straighten them all out and order them, roll them between your fingers into line so they stay where you want them. Then cut them off in a perfect straight line (my crimper has a nice sharp cutter in the handle) so they sit in the right order nice and straight. Then just push the RJ45 connector on and crimp. Ive never had one not work and it takes <1min per connection at most doing it with lots of excess like this.
 
Goose said:
I must have spent a good 90 mins trying to fit an RJ45 connector to my cat5e cable and i'm about ready to start crying. No matter how careful I am i just cant the wires to separate properly in to each 'channel' and on the rare occasion that i manage it no amount of crimping will get the wires in a neat row.

I was wondering if I could use the spacers you get when making cat6 patch cables? Or any other help anyone can offer would be most appreciated.

Thanks
Click to expand...

It's not hard at all, I do pretty much what the guy in the video does. As long as you have a decent quality crimp/cutting tool it goes on easily.


As for the member who reveals around 6" of wire, that is too excessive imo.

Edit - Are you using stranded core cable by any chance? That stuff is horrible to straighten compared to solid core.
 
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Take a photo of the end of your cable. I would only ever try and make cables using decent copper cable. Chopping the end off and existing cable is usually asking for trouble.

Takes about 60 seconds tops with decent cable.

Buy a 100m reel of CCS cat5e cable.

Chop the cable, then use either a came stripper or the stripper on your crimp tool to remove 1cm of the cable outer casing. Snips/side cutters to cut the cord, then sort the order out and put the end on.
 
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Twirlywoos said:
It's not hard at all, I do pretty much what the guy in the video does. As long as you have a decent quality crimp/cutting tool it goes on easily.
Click to expand...

Putting a plug onto solid core cable (as in the video) really is a doddle. The conductors stay straight once straightened, and are stiff enough to easily slide into the plug.

Putting plugs onto stranded cable can be much more of a challenge.
 
Stranded or solid it doesnt make much difference as long as you roll the ordered cables between your fingers to make them sit in the right way on their own. You really shouldnt use solid core cable as patch cables (and therefore shouldnt ever really be finding that you need to crimp an RJ45 connector to solid cable)
 
The problem i'm having is that the wires are so incredibly soft that when i put them in the connector one or two of them will just bend and not go in.
 
i used a kenable rj45 it has a wire guide that slides into the plug end to keep all the wire in order.

** No hotlinking **
 
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You can get Cat5e plugs that use a loading bar if you try.

For your purpose the type of plug won't matter.

It really shouldn't be that hard to fit a standard Cat5e plug. Make sure you're cutting the cable ends cleanly. If the cable ends get squashed/flared they can be difficult to insert. It could just be how the cable you've chopped is made, but I've never a problem reterminating cables in the past.
 
Jez said:
Stranded or solid it doesnt make much difference as long as you roll the ordered cables between your fingers to make them sit in the right way on their own. You really shouldnt use solid core cable as patch cables (and therefore shouldnt ever really be finding that you need to crimp an RJ45 connector to solid cable)
Click to expand...

solid makes is easier as it is more rigid and won't bend compared to stranded. I have both cat5e stranded and solid infront of me now and solid core is much easier to put into a rj45 plug.
 
zophiel said:
i used a kenable rj45 it has a wire guide that slides into the plug end to keep all the wire in order.

** No hotlinking **
Click to expand...

Yep, plugs with guides of some sort are the easy way to do it. I've added connectors using the standard method you're trying to use and I'm rather slow, but connectors with guides turns everyone into an expert. :)
 
Goose said:
The problem i'm having is that the wires are so incredibly soft that when i put them in the connector one or two of them will just bend and not go in.
Click to expand...

Buy a 100m reel of CCS cable

Chopping premade cables is along for trouble
 
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