RJ45 connector question

My crimper also cuts & strips the cable. When you put the connector on the cable, observe that the wires are lined up properly, and reach the end of the connector.

Also make sure that your crimper properly crimps the connector. Some cheap ones don't.

Wen you say you "untwist the wires and arrange them properly", are you following either of the T568A or T568B wiring standards? If not, that may be your problem.

As far as getting all the wires even, I strip off more than the 1/2", and after everything is untwisted and aligned properly, I cut the wires with a cutter where the cutting edge is perpendicular to the, and the entire length of the cutting edges remain equidistant from each other. (I'm sure this tool has a name, but I don't know what it is).

In practice, I use Leviton EZ-RJ45 connectors and corresponding crimp tool. The wires go all the way through the connector, and the tool cuts them off during crimping. I'm sure others make similar tools and connectors.

With all that said, I rarely crimp UTP connectors, opting for pre-made patch cables instead. They are much more economical and reliable. I only crimp when patch cables aren't an option.

Oh-oh. Crimpers are for experts, not beginners. Why do you think they're so expensive? In general, there are three key areas for using crimpers correctly:

1) Wiring pattern -- T-568A or T-568B are not intuitive 2) Correct selection of plugs 3) Correct technique including crimpting force.

To answer your question, when I have to crimp on RJ45s (a task I try hard to avoid), I carefully cut the jacket with a special jacket cutter so as to not nick the pair insulation about 4" from the end. Untrist and dress conductors into correct pattern and twist orientation. Make guillotine cut with crimper blade 12-14 mm from end-of jacket, depending on plug design. Insert plug, check for full insertion and double check pattern. Crimp smoothly with sufficient force to set teeth 0.4mm below comb, yet teeth must not bottom.

Really, your best option is to return the crimpers, buy factory patchcords and run solid between jacks. Looks nicer, lasts better and is more reliable.

-- Robert

But not as "fun". ;-)

At least here in yurop (data points for .nl and .de, don't know about the rest) you can buy el-cheapo DIY crimpers for 10 EUR. Last time I did that, however, it was a nightmare. Took some creative bending and twisting of the tool and plug (including inserting from the other side) to get it to press all leads sufficiently into the cable. Before unscrewing and removing the mini-blade it wouldn't even completely close at all.

If you're not aware of that and double-check, you'd end up with two to three strands on one side N/C.

After that I used another one of the same general make that was already bent out of shape before I got there. I think I got about one half-decent crimp out of it (used for a serial extender with RJ45 type plugs) before it gave way and had to be discarded.

No more el-cheapo crimptools for me.

[snip]

I'll second that. Nothing like finding out patchcables to workstations are in fact foil-shielded by noticing the foil sticking out of the crimps. Maybe they'll be solid, too. And then the crimps turn out to be in an original xmas tree pattern. No wonder ``the net was slow''. Joy.

Sounds like a conspiracy by the venerable and ancient Guild of Network Wirers to ensure themselves lots of business! :)

-- Robert

Hey

At

there used to be some pretty cool videos on how to crimp and terminate various connections.

Besides a crimper, a cable jacket stripper and a solid pair of scissors come in handy. I usually score (scratch) about 5cm of jacket and break it off. Undo the twist, straighten the connectors and aligned them according to T568-A or T568-B colour scheme as required. With the scissors i trim off the conductors at some 13mm away from the jacket and crimp.

However, I prefer to use pre-fab multistrand patch cables.

Brendon

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