Ethernet.

RPGC Assistance Forums Technical Support Forum
#1

I became the proud owner of 300 feet of Cat5 ethernet cable, and I’m trying to find uses for it. I cut it in increments so I can use it, and gave 80 feet to my friend so he can find some use for it. I did all the connecting ‘heads’ myself, and it doesn’t seem to work properly.

He gets connectivity, but very minimal to the point it’s unusable. I read that the maximum length a cable of this category can be before it just can’t send it through the distance is about 150 feet.

With the assistance of some others, I made a conductivity ‘tester’, by hooking it through a lightbulb and powersource, and testing each individual wire in the cable to see if they were lined up right. For all instances (blue, blue-striped, orange, orange-striped, brown, brown striped, green, and green-striped) it had conducted electricty.

I can’t seem to find the problem and if anyone is an expert at this shit, think of somethings that could be the problem.

edit; I’ve done it before with other uses, but only of a maximum 5 feet per cables I’ve worked on. But for this instance it doesn’t seem to want to work.

#2

Rule of thumb in my ECE dept, dont cut ethernet. Just run it.

Or wire it directly around to inlets, not outputs.

#3

Well, I’m not sure what <A href=“http://www.incentre.net/incentre/frame/ethernet.html” target="_blank">standard</A> you’re using, but as long as you’ve matched up the colors on both ends, there shouldn’t be a problem. With the little experience in making ethernet cables I have, I can tell you the two biggest sources of trouble when making ethernet cables came from cutting the cable to the size you want, and crimping the RJ-45 jack onto the wire. It’s really easy to snap the wires on accident when you’re cutting the wire down to size. Even a small cut in the wire can cause the wire to completely stop working.

Also, when crimping the RJ-45 jack onto the cable, you have to make sure all the wires make it completely into the jack. Sometimes I’d cut the cable a little crooked and some wires would come out shorter than the rest, making a poor connection with the jack. Make sure you cut the cable straight and even, and that all the wires are completely in the the jack before and after you crimp it. Unfortunately, even crimping the jack onto the cable causes the wires to come loose as well, so make sure after you crimp that all the wires are still in place.

The good news is that there’s one solution for all these problems: Find the problem, then cut two inches or so off the end and recrimp the jack onto the cable. Good luck!

#4

Know what the funny thing is?

I read this exact same post, word for word, on a different forum.