I have some FTP cable given to me to install the cabling in my new home. If I do not need the full shielding benefits of the cable, can I still use it with ordinary RJ45 sockets and pehaps ignore the earthing connections (and the earth wire in the cable)?
I installed a dozen 50-foot, shielded CAT5 cables with pre-installed, molded, shielded RJ-45 connectors sold by IBM. They work fine both mechanically and electrically in conventional RJ45 sockets. In my installation they are used mostly for DC analog signals but I see no obvious reduction in ethernet speed in those that I pressed into service for ethernet comms. The stiffness of the wire compared to unshielded CAT5 may or may not be a disadvantage.
HTH ... Marc Marc_F_Hult
Only ground it at one end or the other, not both. This way you wont create any ground hum loops due to different ground impedances at the ends (no two ground points in a house are at exactly the same impedance unless its a power strip or something close). When ground impedances are off, current will flow in the shield and induce hum in the core wires, this is commonly called a "ground hum loop". Wired intercom installers know this all too well. Musicians know it too, thats why sound equipment will often have a "ground lift" switch at one end of the cable so that interconnects can still be shielded and grounded without hum, by effectively breaking the shield at one end with the lift switch preventing current flow.
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