Creating A Cat5e Network Cable

 

After quite recent work of installing cable in office and home environments, I have got quite familiar with the procedure of wiring. At the moment I have only had the opportunity to install CAT5e cable and not the newer standard CAT6.

My most recent job was to replace all the plugs on the RJ45 cables in a home environment, in this day and age it is just quicker and easier to purchase a new cable and replace the old one. In this case I have to replace the plugs because the cabling is wired into the infrastructure of the house.

When wiring cable the most common tools that you will require is a Crimp Tool, Cable Tester, RJ45 Plugs. This is the basic requirement; in much larger scale jobs you may require such tools as cable certifiers to check the cable against the current standards.

I now will explain how a CAT5e cable is made and what types of configuration can be used, they are two types of ways you can wire a CAT5e cable:

1.       Crossover Cable – Simple as two computers, each having a network interface card (NIC) or network adapter and running network software.

2.       Straight-Thru Cable - Network consisting of three or more computers and a hub.  Each of the computers is plugged into the hub (the crossover function is performed by the hub)

Each configuration is dependable on your needs, in my case the cable will be connected from a computer to a hub. Straight-Thru cable would be my requirement.

The first step would be to prepare the cable, make sure the cable is laid before you attempt to fit the plugs. This makes it a lot easier when laying the cable in tight spaces; make sure the cable is in a suitable place where there is no chance of the cable being damaged by the weather and other things.

Cutting the cable is an easy job however it is every easy to cut too much and to cut the insulation of the main cable. When cutting the cable you only need to strip the main insulation, not the insulation of the individual wires.

he insulation of the individual wires will be cut in the crimping process; the copper contacts of the RJ45 plug will cut the insulation and make a contact.

Once the cable is cut you will need to align the cables in the correct order to ensure that the cable will function correctly.

Make sure you have the correct configuration of cable for a straight through cable. For the cable to insert correctly you will need to be sure that the cables are cut at the same length, if this is not done the cable will not fit into the plug.

Once the cable is straight, it will be able to push in the plug and will not lose the order of the wires. Once that is completed you will need to crimp the cable.

The crimping process is the easiest step, the cable end goes into the crimper and then it is pressed to make contact with the cables.

Figure 2

After the cable is crimped it is basically done, however just to make sure you have done the job correctly you can plug the cable into a network tester / analyser. This will determine a link and test for any open circuits etc...

 

Links that I have found useful:

http://www.cablesplususa.com/rj45-utp-guide.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category_5_cable