TR Forums

Hello.

I am running some solid conductor cat 6 cable throughout the house.

I am looking for some good quality rj45 modular connectors (good connection, easy to terminate and be nice if they have a cord crimp so the cord does not pull out of the plug).

I have some with no load bar and I really haven't had any luck with them, also there is zero documentation so they could be made for stranded cat5e who knows.

The network will be gigabit.

So has anyone here have any good recommendations?

Thanks

60 views and nothing?!?!
Bummer.

Unfortunately I don't have much to help you, but I have seen several friends make cables and crimp ends on and mess them up. When I ran cat 5e through my apartment I just used 25-50 foot premade cable and a switch in each room to keep it all hooked up.

We ordered some connectors similar to these at work:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 05W0196455
They haven't arrived yet, so no feedback on them. It does seem like they should help eliminate errors due to being able to see the correct colors coming out the front end.
Again, I haven't used them, but it seems like you'll need a flush cutter to trim the ends nicely. This cheap cutter from Harbor Freight has worked pretty well for me. And at under 3 bucks you can buy several.
http://www.harborfreight.com/micro-flus ... erralID=NA

I can say that we've been using the Panduit RJ45 plugs, both shielded and unsheilded for a few years with no problems. They probably aren't the cheapest, and I don't know if you can buy them in small quantities. Here's an option for 50....have bought from this place before:
http://store.stsi.com/sp688-c.html
http://store.stsi.com/mp588-l.html
I would have no problem using the Cat5 plug...good enough for gigabit. And replace if you ever really need to in the future. The good wire will still be in the walls.

Another comment: Do you have a GOOD ratcheting crimp tool? If not, that could be the root of your problems. I had a horrible time once using a plastic bodied cheap tool I had borrowed while out of town. Never again. Get something like this:
http://www.idealindustries.com/prodDeta ... &l3=30-696

Spent significant amounts of time in the industry both selling and working with telecom.

There aren't many 'brands' in the connector business that anyone would probably recognize besides maybe AMP, Foxconn, Molex, etc. This stuff is largely made in Far East factories and rebranded as needed.
I've seen the design slightly vary from bag to bag in the same shipment.

If you've got a Graybar (graybar.com) you can go check out what they have in stock and pick what you like.
Otherwise my old friends (disclaimer; I worked for an iteration of this company - which is why i feel good rec'ing them) at C&WT might have what you need.

http://www.discount-low-voltage.com/Con ... s/PLUG-597 Again, 'Dynacom' is just a manufactured brand identity - they seem to clone Leviton stuff pretty closely if you like it.
I worked with a wide assortment of like-branded gear and never had a problem in the field.

Eh, I've always used whatever generic RJ45 connectors/plugs I could find (both for Cat5 and Cat6) when making my own cables (for home and for other locations), never had any major issues, so I do not believe it matters which "brand names" manufacture them... You just have to use a good quality tools (I personally prefer Ideal tools for that) and practice a lot.

Easiest way to tell difference between Cat5e and Cat6 RJ45 ends is to look at the ends from the front. The individual contacts for the Cat6 ends will be staggered while 5e are in a straight row. It's not so much just a good end, but also get yourself a good crimp tool since you're crimping solids rather than stranded.

Thanks for the suggestions.

A bag of startech cat6 connectors came in today, and they have a load bar and staggered slots.
http://ca.startech.com/Cables/Network/N ... J45C6SOL50
I got them pricematched for 16 bucks
I never had a chance to test them yet. For my crimping tool, its an older belkin steel beast. http://img.ncix.com/images/23900_l.jpg

Panduit, wow never really thought of them, they make good quality stuff, I wonder if Thomas & Betts or Belden make them also?

Well I will see how these startech ones work and report back if they are any good, (for solid cat 6 wire)

Hi anotherengineer how did you get on with your choice of connector?

I got stuff from here:

http://www.monoprice.com/products/subde ... id=1051305

Got some cable and connectors and patch panels for a wiring project. The ones I got had that goofy thing you have to run them through. Pain in the butt. But hey, similar and they worked well enough.

Are you crimping the cables that you're running through the house? If I was going to that much trouble I'd go the whole hog and fit wall boxes in the rooms and a patch panel where they all terminate, then buy pre made patch cables for both ends. I've always found crimping cables is too fiddly to do reliably for lots of cables, though maybe that's just me

Do you really need to crimp on ends. If possible use some nice Leviton Quickport Jacks (http://www.leviton.com/OA_HTML/SectionDisplay.jsp?section=39154&minisite=10251&page=1) with Faceplates or Surface Mount Boxes. Then get some good short cheap injection molded stranded cable patch cords from Monoprice. Will never have to worry about the connection, worst case you will just have to replace a patch cord.

cheesyking wrote:

Are you crimping the cables that you're running through the house? If I was going to that much trouble I'd go the whole hog and fit wall boxes in the rooms and a patch panel where they all terminate, then buy pre made patch cables for both ends. I've always found crimping cables is too fiddly to do reliably for lots of cables, though maybe that's just me

I agree with cheesy king. In your case you could either use a second hand patch panel, use plug ends, or crimp in cable ends.

If I was going to do my house I would use the nice white plugs in the room, and ugly cheaper plugs in the "server room" and the use regular pre-made cables to the switch and to the computer. Having done a small office building I can tell you the crimping your own cables is a PITA and in your fingertips.
Plugs and patch panels are much easier to wire up than crimping cables.

Wow been busy with the kids and home renos.

And yep, I am cutting out sections of the drywall, and running CAT6 to every room and bringing them back to a 16 port gig net switch, a big pain being a 2-storey home.

They are/will be in a box with brand new quad shield solid copper core made in USA RG6 coax. I have 3 hole keystone faceplates for most of the rooms, undecided whether to run a phone line or keep it empty for (future - fiber), since the cordless phones really eliminate the phone cord to each room.

The living room has a 6 slot keystone and box, 2-RG6 (TV & HTPC) and 4-cat6 (htpc, xbox, 2-future)

However I only have 1 room done so far, the wife's priorities out weight mine ;(

I even got a nice synology 712+ NAS and it hasn't even come out of the box since it came in 3 weeks ago. I wish I had more holidays.........work, it get in the way of everything

edit - "Having done a small office building I can tell you the crimping your own cables is a PITA and in your fingertips.
Plugs and patch panels are much easier to wire up than crimping cables."

YES I agree, I did one, and what a PITA, I should have gotten pre-made ones, and cut one end off for the punchdown keystones, live and learn I guess, good thing I only have 15 more to go :|

anotherengineer wrote:

edit - "Having done a small office building I can tell you the crimping your own cables is a PITA and in your fingertips.
Plugs and patch panels are much easier to wire up than crimping cables."

YES I agree, I did one, and what a PITA, I should have gotten pre-made ones, and cut one end off for the punchdown keystones, live and learn I guess, good thing I only have 15 more to go :|

Most pre made patch cables use multi core wires which you wouldn't want with punchdown.

Anyway it still makes much more sense to get a patch panel for the other end of those cables

New 24 port Cat5e ones start at $20 on ebay and I've never had any trouble running gigabit through them. Maybe you'd have issues if you were close to the 100m limit, but if you can afford a house that size what are you doing wiring it yourself

And above all just think of how cool it is to have your own proper little comms room for your server to live in.

anotherengineer wrote:

They are/will be in a box with brand new quad shield solid copper core made in USA RG6 coax. I have 3 hole keystone faceplates for most of the rooms, undecided whether to run a phone line or keep it empty for (future - fiber), since the cordless phones really eliminate the phone cord to each room.

I got a new house, it was pre-wired. I forget if it's CAT5 or CAT5e. However, each room has a jack with coax and two RJ45 connectors. There are two RJ45 colors for the jacks, grey and blue, and in the basement it goes to two boxes. One box is basically just a "plug everything in" with one jack that goes to the phone system and the other box is a punchdown for ethernet patching.

Since RJ11 fits in RJ45 sockets, I thought it was rather clever. If I want to re-task some of the "phone" jacks to be ethernet instead, I can just switch some cables around and I'm good to go. So I wouldn't bother running a regular "phone" cable and RJ11 jacks.

When I did mine, I just ran Cat5e. Handled gig fine. Must simpler. Using the crimpers that include the cutting was a good choice too.
http://homeservershow.com/an-adventure-in-wiring.html

Scrotos wrote:

anotherengineer wrote:

They are/will be in a box with brand new quad shield solid copper core made in USA RG6 coax. I have 3 hole keystone faceplates for most of the rooms, undecided whether to run a phone line or keep it empty for (future - fiber), since the cordless phones really eliminate the phone cord to each room.

I got a new house, it was pre-wired. I forget if it's CAT5 or CAT5e. However, each room has a jack with coax and two RJ45 connectors. There are two RJ45 colors for the jacks, grey and blue, and in the basement it goes to two boxes. One box is basically just a "plug everything in" with one jack that goes to the phone system and the other box is a punchdown for ethernet patching.

Since RJ11 fits in RJ45 sockets, I thought it was rather clever. If I want to re-task some of the "phone" jacks to be ethernet instead, I can just switch some cables around and I'm good to go. So I wouldn't bother running a regular "phone" cable and RJ11 jacks.

Agreed. Go ahead and run all the wires as RJ45 to the patch panel, then only plug into the switch the one's you need at any given time.

Usacomp2k3 wrote:

http://homeservershow.com/an-adventure-in-wiring.html

That's how it's supposed to be done.

Usacomp2k3 wrote:

Using the crimpers that include the cutting was a good choice too.

Do you mean one of these: http://www.cable-trader.co.uk/items/3-in-1-idc-impact-punch-down-tool-with-autotrim ? They are my favourite tool of all time and a thousand times better than the crappy plastic things you sometimes get free with a socket from DIY stores. A must for any cabling job.

One of those little plastic clip on cable strippers is another really handy tool to have http://www.linx-com.com/products/copper/tools/cable-stripper-cutter.html. I got a really cheap one of those free with a cabling kit and it's the only thing from it that I still use.

I've never used them myself, but I think it would be hard to beat Monoprice on, erm, price.

Anyone try any of those?

All of my runs were patch-panel -> Keystone, so I didn't terminate any with normal connectors. The plastic doohickey that came with the patch panel worked fine. All purchased from monoprice, of course.

I'm about to start doing this on the new house we bought this summer. Been way too hot for attic work since we bought it.

videobits wrote:

We ordered some connectors similar to these at work:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 05W0196455
They haven't arrived yet, so no feedback on them. It does seem like they should help eliminate errors due to being able to see the correct colors coming out the front end.

After seeing your post I did some research into the EZ-RJ45 connector and have to agree they look like the ultimate modular connector.

One company I talked to said they are designed to crimp both solid and stranded wire and have sold over 2 million units. I like the way they simplify things by allowing you to easily thread the wires through the connector and out the front. There are two advantages, one you can check the colour coding is correct before crimping and secondly make better terminations by pulling the connector down over the cable jacket and seating it tightly in the rear of the connector. Reducing the distance between the wire twists and contacts improves performance.

Pretty sweet.

Usacomp2k3 wrote:

When I did mine, I just ran Cat5e. Handled gig fine. Must simpler. Using the crimpers that include the cutting was a good choice too.
http://homeservershow.com/an-adventure-in-wiring.html

You have a serious body hair issue...

JohnC wrote:

Usacomp2k3 wrote:

When I did mine, I just ran Cat5e. Handled gig fine. Must simpler. Using the crimpers that include the cutting was a good choice too.
http://homeservershow.com/an-adventure-in-wiring.html

You have a serious body hair issue...

Any good network guy will tell ya...that's insulation.

Have you by any chance looked at Digikey (.com). I've delt with them for over a decade and had good luck. They have specs for most of their connectors and sell in small quantities. If you use their filters, I think you will find connectors, jackets with strain reliefs (colored) and crimp tools although there are good, cheaper tools avialable then theirs. Newark (.com) is also pretty good, but my experience is that they don't ship quite as fast. But I'm not quite as fast either as you can tell by the timelyness of this post.

Cranky_Old_Man wrote:

Have you by any chance looked at Digikey (.com). I've delt with them for over a decade and had good luck. They have specs for most of their connectors and sell in small quantities. If you use their filters, I think you will find connectors, jackets with strain reliefs (colored) and crimp tools although there are good, cheaper tools avialable then theirs. Newark (.com) is also pretty good, but my experience is that they don't ship quite as fast. But I'm not quite as fast either as you can tell by the timelyness of this post.

I think that you will find that any of us here who remember Heathkit or know which end of a soldering iron hurts have DigiKey's catalog as a bookmark/favorite. With RatShack gone, it's the only place.

Amazingly, the shack still exists in my hometown and my college town. Although I rarely find the random parts I need there, and I can't imagine why I would buy a cell phone there. Frys seems like the best local place for this stuff, but the nearest one to college is an hour away. I mostly buy parts on digikey, amazon, and ebay sellers in HK (if it's something like LEDs or resistors and I'm willing to wait 3 weeks), and just deal with not having it right away.

Mouser is a very good source for bits 'n' pieces too, though their web site isn't as easy to use as Digi-Key's.

I upgraded a bunch of caps in my Lepai TA2020 amp (I swear, I've spent as much on parts now as I spent on the actual amp upfront), and bought from both because neither individually had all the parts I needed in stock. It all worked out quite nicely there. And the amp is that much better as a result. Nice Tripath chip, but the cheapo stock caps are known to hold it back.