Cables & Crimping - What am I doing wrong?

[BentleyMiller86]

Hi all,

 

At one of my sites the LA have half installed a new network wall point for a computer, they have laid the cable but wont terminate it, its not technically in my remit but I have tried to terminate the cable (unsuccessfully) as a favour, The cable isn't going in to a patch point, one end is going directly in to a 10/100/1000 Switch (Terminated with an RJ45) and the other is connecting to the rear of the port in the wall, I have used T568B wiring on both ends of the cable but I am unable to get any of the pairs to test at all, I haven't done any cabling for a long time so I tool this as an opportunity to "refresh" my skills, I'm I doing something blatantly wrong?

 

Thanks

[snagrat]

You sure the two ends are from the same cable?

 

Don't know what tool you are using to test but normally at least one cable should be connected!

 

Are you crimping the RJ45 correctly and your end are right up inside the plug right to the end?

[timbo343]

Have you got a multimeter? Connect a pair together and put a continuity test on it. This will.make sure you have the correct cable.

[BentleyMiller86]

It's 100% the correct cable, there's only two that have been laid and they left them with a million miles of extra length coiled up on the floor in the patch room :/ , I'm just using a normal cable tester which works as I have tested it with a working port

 

I gather 568B on both ends of the cable is correct then?

 

Thanks!

[timbo343]

568B is the common standard.

 

Have you got 2 network sockets that you can quickly stick on and test? This would be the quickest way. Then pull the socket off and put a RJ45 on the end.

 

You could not be pushing the ends of the cable in far enough of the RJ45 module.

[BentleyMiller86]

To be fair the modules supplied are pants, I have ordered some new ones that I am going to try, I just wondered if I was missing something obvious, good tip of putting a socket on each end of the cable! I will test the cable when I'm next onsite

 

Thanks!

[speckytecky]

I might be a million miles off target with this answer but my suggestion would be eyesight. I wear varifocals and have regular eye tests but I know that if it comes to terminating a cable end it's time to call for the 20 20 vision and steady hand of my buddy the site manager.

 

Hi all,

 

At one of my sites the LA have half installed a new network wall point for a computer, they have laid the cable but wont terminate it, its not technically in my remit but I have tried to terminate the cable (unsuccessfully) as a favour, The cable isn't going in to a patch point, one end is going directly in to a 10/100/1000 Switch (Terminated with an RJ45) and the other is connecting to the rear of the port in the wall, I have used T568B wiring on both ends of the cable but I am unable to get any of the pairs to test at all, I haven't done any cabling for a long time so I tool this as an opportunity to "refresh" my skills, I'm I doing something blatantly wrong?

 

Thanks

[BentleyMiller86]

Yeh it's a pain even with 20/20 vision! I had my eyes laserd last year so I know that's not the issue

[Michael]

Sorry to change the subject, but I wouldn't even entertain the idea of terminating myself if someone else installs the cabling.

 

If there's an issue, they'll just redirect the problem back to yourself (in terms of warranty).

 

Any network cabling should be installed, terminated and tested by the same provider and the results e-mailed to you (from a Fluke tester).

 

This is certainly the case with an electrician - they install the cabling and terminate socket and consumer unit end for you, then sign it off as working. Data cabling should be treated exactly the same.

[Fazza]

Any network cabling should be installed, terminated and tested by the same provider and the results e-mailed to you (from a Fluke tester).

 

If you have a large budget and plenty of spare cash then this is great! If like us money is tight and you simply cant afford to do that then you get your electrician to simply run the cable and then you terminate both ends yourself thus saving lots of money that can be spent on fixing/replacing computers instead.

[Michael]

But you would be paying something for them to run the cable in the first place. Professionals terminating cables for a living would take a matter of minutes to terminate and test a cable.

[Fazza]

But you would be paying something for them to run the cable in the first place.

 

Correct, we pay an electrician less money than what a professional cabler charges.

 

Professionals terminating cables for a living would take a matter of minutes to terminate and test a cable.

 

Also correct and as above, they charge more for their skills.

 

In our experience most electricians don't see what the issue is with having inches of the twisted pairs untwisted is - they see the twisted pairs as being there just to hinder punching them down! Having just 1 inch of the pairs untwisted can give you a loss of as much as 20% so on a 1Gbps socket you'd only get up to 800Mbps hence why we terminate them ourselves with literally 1 or 2 mi limiters maximum untwisted so we get full bandwidth. Our time is already paid for so although technically the TCO is about the same, less money comes out of our expenditure so we have more money to buy hardware etc.

[geezersoft]

How much spare cable at the module end?

[AlanD]

In my experience external contractors for cabling can be very hit and miss. Sometimes you get someone good - but I have had contractors use Cat5 sockets with Cat6 cable (caused us no end of problems a year later when cables started coming off connections in the back of sockets - which was when I realised what they had done). And whether good or bad they charge an absolute fortune for each connection completed - almost certainly more per hour than you get paid. Its worth insisting on proper documentation of testing with something like a fluke tester which is at least some guarantee that a reasonable job has been done if you do contract it out.

[snagrat]

In my experience external contractors for cabling can be very hit and miss. Sometimes you get someone good - but I have had contractors use Cat5 sockets with Cat6 cable (caused us no end of problems a year later when cables started coming off connections in the back of sockets - which was when I realised what they had done). And whether good or bad they charge an absolute fortune for each connection completed - almost certainly more per hour than you get paid. Its worth insisting on proper documentation of testing with something like a fluke tester which is at least some guarantee that a reasonable job has been done if you do contract it out.

 

Nothing wrong with using Cat5e ends with Cat6 cable but it will only run at Cat5e performance.

 

The connection is exactly the same so if it is falling out the back I would be questioning the quality of connector, not the workmanship

[geezersoft]

Put RJ45 on both ends and test cable. If cable is good you are probably looking at an issue with the module.