Do you know about Keystone Jacks / Couplers?

[chazzy2501]

I'd just been looking at some of the new CAT6 stuff we had put in, I was surprised it used a coupler, this I thought was neat and the rabbit hole..

 

Did you know that the Keystone is a standard! And you can get more than just RJ45... USBC, HDMI, USBA, and they all snap into the same hole... AAAAND you can get them as wall plates. 

 

Who's been hiding these from me!

 

 

 

 

[Davit2005]

Very handy, I use them at home. Got a few 48 port switches with a patch panel above and below with some thin 12" ethernet cables, thick cables for APs. So easy and flexible to reconfigure a patch port if need be and very easy to pull out a switch as use multiple vlans at home, no need to label cables 🙂

Edited August 14 by Davit2005

[FN-GM]

I use them for my patch panel at home. Much easier from terminations. All my face plates aren't keystone as I got jacks to match the power and light switches.

[DalekSec]

Currently have 400 of them ready to go in a new build, fully CAT6A wiring! 

[dmj]

Doesn't using the RJ45 coupler mean you then need much more expensive stranded cable in the walls?

Thought the whole idea of punchdown was for single core and that had better signal/noise over stranded - or can you get male RJ45 for single core now ?

[dmj]

2 minutes ago, dmj said:

Doesn't using the RJ45 coupler mean you then need much more expensive stranded cable in the walls?

Thought the whole idea of punchdown was for single core and that had better signal/noise over stranded - or can you get male RJ45 for single core now ?

answered my own question: 

https://www.kenable.co.uk/idc-punch-down-to-rj45-plug-for-cat6-solid-ethernet-cable-connector-4-pack-012938?srsltid=AfmBOop7f4JCooG0fCN3ZTph8CLhll0xaAHq9khBOcApdzdD6efjIT7ORRo

[MatthewL]

IMO a cable should be terminated to a patch panel and punched down and a socket or patch panel at the other end.  Less to go wrong.

I'm not a fan of having RJ45 ends on the end of a cable should be terminated and short patch cable used but I know this cannot always be done.

 

Couplers should only be used where really needed, I have used these recently to put a fix into a broken cable that was run outside, far earlier than replacing the cable then entire length.

[MisterTechMan]

It's also worth pointing these out:

Buy Excel Cat6 Plus Surface Mount Box 1 Port to 4 Port Versions White

 

Just used 40 of them on a project, great for having a network point above a ceiling tile