Wiring up RJ45 faceplates

[xiphias]

I'm getting fairly sick of wireless interferance and looking to stick some cat6 through the walls, but I'm not entirely sure how to do it. Is it just two faceplates and some cable between them, or will I need a set of crimps etc? Also, does the cable need to be wired straight or crossover? Any other info gratefully received

[Einion Yrth]

You'll be advised to get a punch down tool, can be done without, but makes it easier. Wire it straight through, if you need to xover do it between the faceplate and the PC, more flexible that way. Faceplates, well jacks really, really are a piece of p1ss by comparison with RJ45 plugs, which are a nasty fiddly job.

Edited by Einion Yrth on Thursday 8th June 11:29

[xiphias]

Good point about the xover! True about bt plugs, ours is 12 wires behind the face plate. I thought they just ran on cat3? Do I need to wire the cable in though, or are there face plates which have a female rj45 behind them?

[Plotloss]

You'll have to punch down the wire in the back of the faceplates to the 110 connector so get a 110 tool which are about £10

Its easy but if this is your first install I'd stick with Cat5e. CAT6 can be a funny beast as its right on the edge of what can feasbily be done with the wire so jacket length etc make a far bigger impact than they do with Cat5e.

Dont wire the horizontal wires as crossovers as its less flexible. Use a hub or a cross over patch twixt PC and wall.

[xiphias]

As long as cat5e guarantees gigabit (which it appears to), I'll be happy. The only last problem I face is faceplates - I'm looking for chrome to match the living room, but they seem to be at least £10 each - is this usual?

So:

2 x faceplates
2x backboxes
1x cat5e, uncrimped
1x punch tool

Seems like a lot to go through 15cm of wall!

[TheExcession]

CAT cabling and RJ45 stuff is pretty simple once you've done it a few times.

Take care not to bend the cable too sharply, don't walk on it, and practice doing a few RJ45 cable ends before you really get going.

Also take care stripping the outter sheath off the cable end. Depending on the quality of your strippers it can be easy to damage the copper cores of the individiual wires - leading to faulty connections.

Oh... and keep away from any nearby electric fences

[aldi]

Yes it's just two faceplates if your just doing one point to point connection, but if you're putting in a few around the house you don't tend to use a faceplate on the 'messy' end - a patch rail is more appropriate for putting a few connections close together where your switch is. Or you can be a complete chav and just put an rj45 end on the cables hanging out of the wall - much cheaper

[Einion Yrth]

aldi said:

Or you can be a complete chav and just put an rj45 end on the cables hanging out of the wall

Oi, who are you calling a complete chav? B*s**rd!

[xiphias]

I'd love to just drill a hole through and whack some cable through, unfortunatly the girlfriend would not be best impressed, as it's her house!

[CommanderJameson]

xiphias said:

As long as cat5e guarantees gigabit (which it appears to), I'll be happy. The only last problem I face is faceplates - I'm looking for chrome to match the living room, but they seem to be at least £10 each - is this usual?

So:

2 x faceplates
2x backboxes
1x cat5e, uncrimped
1x punch tool

Seems like a lot to go through 15cm of wall!

Watch the bend radius on cat5e - you can't hank it up like good old cat5. Keep the bend radius no smaller than 4x the cable diameter and you should be good.

[xiphias]

Just reminded me of another question I had. Are RJ11 and RJ45 faceplates the same, with different modules behind? I was looking to get a dual one and put both cat5 and bt in it.

Also - wheres the best place to by this kind of stuff? Ebuyer seems about 3x less the price of maplin..

[pentoman]

Sorry to hijack but.... if you have a house cat 5 wired is there some weird way it is done?

I am renting a place with a properly wired-in rj-45 wall socket, and loads of ethernet cables coming out of the wall in the basement. I assume one of them is the one for the socket in my bedroom.. but have tried them all with no such luck .

[BliarOut]

xiphias said:

Just reminded me of another question I had. Are RJ11 and RJ45 faceplates the same, with different modules behind? I was looking to get a dual one and put both cat5 and bt in it.

Also - wheres the best place to by this kind of stuff? Ebuyer seems about 3x less the price of maplin..

You mean like the Euromod modular faceplates?

www.allaboutelectrics.co.uk/?doc=11&cid=71

RJ11 plugs will fit quite happily in an RJ45 connector, it just uses the six centre pins. Personally I would run standard Cat5 runs and then use adapters.

[Plotloss]

xiphias said:

Just reminded me of another question I had. Are RJ11 and RJ45 faceplates the same, with different modules behind? I was looking to get a dual one and put both cat5 and bt in it.

Also - wheres the best place to by this kind of stuff? Ebuyer seems about 3x less the price of maplin..

RJ11 and RJ45 refer to the connector.

RJ11 is a 6 wire plug, RJ45 an 8 wire plug.

BT is something different again.

If you're laying wire run the telephony over CAT5 from a central point and use adaptors.

[xiphias]

All the cables usually just go to one central location, so one of them should be that socket. Any bright person would have colour coded when installing Mines a little different as I just plan to go through a wall (I'm in a flat - only two walls to go through from one side to the other). Try a process of elimination using a hub in basement and a laptop...