Is crimping meant to be this hard?
Discussion
Yes, crimping is a word and no, it doesn't mean what you first thought of... (unless you do networks
)
I'm lucky enough to live in a cabled area, so get fantastic internet speeds, thanks to Mr Branson. There's a router downstairs and we run most devices of it via wifi.
The exception is my lad, who saved up and built himself a gaming PC. This is upstairs so, on the hottest day of the decade in 2013, I drilled, moved, pushed, swore, sweated and got a cable upstairs via our room and the loft.
Earlier this year, Virgin upgraded our service to 152mbits. Woo-hoo! Running speedtest on a wifi macbook gives 50mbits (not to be sniffed at, I know) but running it on a wired machine gives a reliable 162!
So I hatch a cunning plan. I'll put a switch in the loft and I'll cable my daughter's room, plus the kitchen, where the macbook lives, as does an HP Slate tablet, through which I stream all my music and TV, etc. There's a (now defunct) coax ariel socket which the electrician installed when the kitchen was refurbed some 6 years ago, and this cable goes to the loft.
So I order 50m of Cat 5 cable, some RJ45 connectors, a crimping tool and set to work.
To my (utter) amazement, pulling the cable through the house by duct taping it to the old ariel cable actually worked. Great, think I, I'll be done by teatime...
No, we wont. This is because we really struggled to get the wires into the right order to slip into the RJ45. And I mean really struggled... They wouldn't stay in the right order, they bent, they worked themselves into different lengths. I taught my boy new swear words...
Eventually, we get the b8stard thing in. We tested it by connecting his PC and we got...
10mbits. Yes, TEN.
Put the original cable back in, bang, 162mbits.
So, is some cable better than others? (Mine was £9 for 50m, Amazon) Are some RJ45s better? One guy on Youtube had RJ45s that let the wires out of the far end, so he could use really long untwisted wires and snip off the ends flush with the end of the connector. Are these available? Any tips from network guys?
Any help much appreciated!
)I'm lucky enough to live in a cabled area, so get fantastic internet speeds, thanks to Mr Branson. There's a router downstairs and we run most devices of it via wifi.
The exception is my lad, who saved up and built himself a gaming PC. This is upstairs so, on the hottest day of the decade in 2013, I drilled, moved, pushed, swore, sweated and got a cable upstairs via our room and the loft.
Earlier this year, Virgin upgraded our service to 152mbits. Woo-hoo! Running speedtest on a wifi macbook gives 50mbits (not to be sniffed at, I know) but running it on a wired machine gives a reliable 162!
So I hatch a cunning plan. I'll put a switch in the loft and I'll cable my daughter's room, plus the kitchen, where the macbook lives, as does an HP Slate tablet, through which I stream all my music and TV, etc. There's a (now defunct) coax ariel socket which the electrician installed when the kitchen was refurbed some 6 years ago, and this cable goes to the loft.
So I order 50m of Cat 5 cable, some RJ45 connectors, a crimping tool and set to work.
To my (utter) amazement, pulling the cable through the house by duct taping it to the old ariel cable actually worked. Great, think I, I'll be done by teatime...
No, we wont. This is because we really struggled to get the wires into the right order to slip into the RJ45. And I mean really struggled... They wouldn't stay in the right order, they bent, they worked themselves into different lengths. I taught my boy new swear words...
Eventually, we get the b8stard thing in. We tested it by connecting his PC and we got...
10mbits. Yes, TEN.
Put the original cable back in, bang, 162mbits.
So, is some cable better than others? (Mine was £9 for 50m, Amazon) Are some RJ45s better? One guy on Youtube had RJ45s that let the wires out of the far end, so he could use really long untwisted wires and snip off the ends flush with the end of the connector. Are these available? Any tips from network guys?
Any help much appreciated!
Is your cable CAT5 or CAT5e?
It seems as though it was quite cheap...
Oh, and crimping is easy with the right RJ45 plugs. One place I worked at - they bought the cheapest plugs they could find off Ebay, and they were a nightmare to crimp, and on some servers they were a very poor fit in the socket, so much so you only had to touch them and the connection would be severed...
Buy cable and plugs from Comms Express - you can't go wrong with them IMHO.
It seems as though it was quite cheap...
Oh, and crimping is easy with the right RJ45 plugs. One place I worked at - they bought the cheapest plugs they could find off Ebay, and they were a nightmare to crimp, and on some servers they were a very poor fit in the socket, so much so you only had to touch them and the connection would be severed...
Buy cable and plugs from Comms Express - you can't go wrong with them IMHO.
Wikipedia said:
Category 5 vs. 5e
To support Gigabit Ethernet, a higher performance version of cat 5, enhanced cat 5 or cat 5e has been added to the standards. Cat 5e adds new performance requirements to permit higher speed network operation.[14][15]
The category 5e specification improves upon the category 5 specification by tightening some crosstalk specifications and introducing new crosstalk specifications that were not present in the original category 5 specification. The bandwidth of category 5 and 5e is the same – 100 MHz.
The differences between category 5 and category 5e are in their transmission performance. Category 5e components are most suitable for a high-speed Gigabit Ethernet. While category 5 components may function to some degree in a Gigabit Ethernet, they perform below standard during high-data transfer scenarios.
To support Gigabit Ethernet, a higher performance version of cat 5, enhanced cat 5 or cat 5e has been added to the standards. Cat 5e adds new performance requirements to permit higher speed network operation.[14][15]
The category 5e specification improves upon the category 5 specification by tightening some crosstalk specifications and introducing new crosstalk specifications that were not present in the original category 5 specification. The bandwidth of category 5 and 5e is the same – 100 MHz.
The differences between category 5 and category 5e are in their transmission performance. Category 5e components are most suitable for a high-speed Gigabit Ethernet. While category 5 components may function to some degree in a Gigabit Ethernet, they perform below standard during high-data transfer scenarios.
Use decent cat5e, don't untwist any more than you have to, and don't use the really cheap crimping tools & plugs. Also check that you are using stranded cable with stranded plugs or solid with solid. Also, if possible, make sure it's not running alongside a load of power cable or lighting dimmers or something.
As for being hard, it's just a bit fiddly. Practise makes perfect!
As for being hard, it's just a bit fiddly. Practise makes perfect!
No matter what, crimping network cables is a total PITA. You don't mention if you have a cable tester (something like this http://www.amazon.co.uk/ETHERNET-NETWORK-CAT5E-CAB... - not expensive but absolutely essential if you're making up your own cables. I don't make up many so I'm not very good at it, so consequently only get a hitrate of about 25% good connections - without the tester it'd be a right pain to check each cable.
deckster said:
No matter what, crimping network cables is a total PITA. You don't mention if you have a cable tester (something like this http://www.amazon.co.uk/ETHERNET-NETWORK-CAT5E-CAB... - not expensive but absolutely essential if you're making up your own cables. I don't make up many so I'm not very good at it, so consequently only get a hitrate of about 25% good connections - without the tester it'd be a right pain to check each cable.
What he said. Get a cheap tester and be prepared to use a lot of plugs.I've only done this once, when I cabled up the student house one of my daughters had - but shouldn't the cables go into terminal boxes with punch-down blocks? So you should never have to terminate the plugs as they'd be on pre-made patch cables.
Another snag with using "infrastructure" cable direct into equipment is that it's not meant to be flexible and if a conductor breaks you'll have all the hassle of replacing the whole cable.
Another snag with using "infrastructure" cable direct into equipment is that it's not meant to be flexible and if a conductor breaks you'll have all the hassle of replacing the whole cable.
The only plugs I will personally use are the EZ Wire ones where you thread the cables through the connector. That way you can get things nice and tight and confirm the order of the cables before finally crimping. They cost a bit more but you have less issues and therefore less wastage.
You dont need a special tool to terminate them - you can chop the cables off the connector with a scalpel.
You dont need a special tool to terminate them - you can chop the cables off the connector with a scalpel.
Cut about 1cm of outer sheath back, most crimp tools have a bit on them to do this to the right length with though it's not always obvious unless you know what you're looking for. It's sometimes just a bit where you can push the wire through to a stop then rotate it against the edge of the blade.
Fan all 8 wires out and straighten them as much as poss, cut the thread off. It's easier with solid core wire as it keeps it's shape, I don't remember the last time I didn't get a solid wire done first time, stranded is a pain in the arse and 50/50.
Clasp them between your thumb and forefinger of your right hand using your left to pull them into the right order
Untwist the pair a bit more if they don't want to go but only to the minimum you have to.
Wiggle up and down a couple of times while keeping them clasped, seems to help keep them lined up when you let go.
Insert & crimp
10 meg = first 2 wires working
100 meg = 1,2,3,6 working
1 gig = all working
Fan all 8 wires out and straighten them as much as poss, cut the thread off. It's easier with solid core wire as it keeps it's shape, I don't remember the last time I didn't get a solid wire done first time, stranded is a pain in the arse and 50/50.
Clasp them between your thumb and forefinger of your right hand using your left to pull them into the right order
Untwist the pair a bit more if they don't want to go but only to the minimum you have to.
Wiggle up and down a couple of times while keeping them clasped, seems to help keep them lined up when you let go.
Insert & crimp
10 meg = first 2 wires working
100 meg = 1,2,3,6 working
1 gig = all working
Tonsko said:
What I tend to do is unwind a goodly length, more than you need, order them correctly and press them flat between your finger and thumb. Then get wire cutters and trim off the excess so that the shielding will sit inside the RJ45, then ease them into the plug. Crimp and done.
This is the only way to do it 
WinstonWolf said:
Tonsko said:
What I tend to do is unwind a goodly length, more than you need, order them correctly and press them flat between your finger and thumb. Then get wire cutters and trim off the excess so that the shielding will sit inside the RJ45, then ease them into the plug. Crimp and done.
This is the only way to do it Well, I haven't broken anything, punched anyone or lost my rag. Thanks to PH, we've done it!
You know the phrase "buy cheap, buy twice"? Well, as was posted here, we had some cheapo kit. So, a trip to Maplins (PC World don't sell components anymore) introduced us to the lost art of really good service!
Bought some decent cable, decent crimp tool, new connectors (with handy cable guides), a faceplate and a punch down tool.
Back home, sorted a tester(as advised above) and off we went.
There was a genuine punch the air moment, some dad/son bonding, going on when the tester reported the first one we made was good. This was only bettered when we plugged it into the switch (Gigabit - I checked!) and a machine made 160+ on speedtest.net
We've now cabled the gaming PC upstairs, the laptop in my daughter's room and (to my intense delight) the HP Slate in the kitchen. What was a defunct co-ax socket now sports a new faceplate the wired connection works! I'm hoping this will eliminate the odd dropout on Spotify and the (frequent) dropouts on BBC Radio Iplayer, which all my Android devices have taken to doing.
Tomorrow, we'll be tidying tne cables and labelling them. Already had a couple of head scratch moments in the loft - which cable is this...? We'll then have a go at pulling a final cable through the old ariel route to get a another wired connection into the kitchen for the communal macbook.
We've learnt loads and it's been (eventually) very satisfying. Son can still play Dark Souls at 160Mbits and Daughter can play Minecraft without complaining about the poor wifi signal. Happy Days!
Off to wash the fibreglass down with a beer - thanks very much for all the tips. Much obliged!
You know the phrase "buy cheap, buy twice"? Well, as was posted here, we had some cheapo kit. So, a trip to Maplins (PC World don't sell components anymore) introduced us to the lost art of really good service!
Bought some decent cable, decent crimp tool, new connectors (with handy cable guides), a faceplate and a punch down tool.
Back home, sorted a tester(as advised above) and off we went.
There was a genuine punch the air moment, some dad/son bonding, going on when the tester reported the first one we made was good. This was only bettered when we plugged it into the switch (Gigabit - I checked!) and a machine made 160+ on speedtest.net
We've now cabled the gaming PC upstairs, the laptop in my daughter's room and (to my intense delight) the HP Slate in the kitchen. What was a defunct co-ax socket now sports a new faceplate the wired connection works! I'm hoping this will eliminate the odd dropout on Spotify and the (frequent) dropouts on BBC Radio Iplayer, which all my Android devices have taken to doing.
Tomorrow, we'll be tidying tne cables and labelling them. Already had a couple of head scratch moments in the loft - which cable is this...? We'll then have a go at pulling a final cable through the old ariel route to get a another wired connection into the kitchen for the communal macbook.
We've learnt loads and it's been (eventually) very satisfying. Son can still play Dark Souls at 160Mbits and Daughter can play Minecraft without complaining about the poor wifi signal. Happy Days!
Off to wash the fibreglass down with a beer - thanks very much for all the tips. Much obliged!
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