# Cat5E Plenum Cable



## chewy (May 9, 2010)

You did buy it from lowes, haha. 

I generally dont fit off RJ45 onto cable unless its temporary, I use certified stranded patch leads.


----------



## mikeh32 (Feb 16, 2009)

you probably had **** ends, or cat6 ends. 

I had that issue when i had crappy rj45


----------



## don_resqcapt19 (Jul 18, 2010)

I often use the Belden 1583A Cat5e plenum and you do have to look close at the wire colors when you terminate it. I think that the outer jacket strips off easier than the non-plenum types. Just lightly score the jacket and snap it off.


----------



## Ty Wrapp (Aug 24, 2011)

chewy said:


> You did buy it from lowes, haha.
> 
> I generally dont fit off RJ45 onto cable unless its temporary, I use certified stranded patch leads.


Terminate the Cat5 on a jack, then use a patch cord.

Those snips (scissors) that everyone makes fun of work great for stripping Cat5 .


----------



## A Little Short (Nov 11, 2010)

mikeh32 said:


> you probably had **** ends, or cat6 ends.
> 
> I had that issue when i had crappy rj45


They were Ideal RJ45 Cat5E ends. I had just made up 6 patch cables with non-plenum cable and had no trouble putting the ends on. It was just the plenum cable that gave me a fit.


----------



## A Little Short (Nov 11, 2010)

Ty Wrapp said:


> Terminate the Cat5 on a jack, then use a patch cord.
> 
> Those snips (scissors) that everyone makes fun of work great for stripping Cat5 .


I couldn't use a jack, had to go straight to the equipment per the job specs.


----------



## Stuff (Oct 14, 2012)

Simple question: You were using ends designed for solid wire, right?


----------



## A Little Short (Nov 11, 2010)

Stuff said:


> Simple question: You were using ends designed for solid wire, right?


Yep!


----------



## sarness (Sep 14, 2010)

Strip it, fan it out, cut it long, fit plug on, you'll find some wires moved, take plug off, verify order, re-trim wire ends, reinstall plug, terminate. 

I hardly ever put them on always prefer jack and patch. 

They make plugs that have fanning strips, or ones that the wires go all the way through.


----------



## LARMGUY (Aug 22, 2010)

sarness said:


> Strip it, fan it out, cut it long, fit plug on, you'll find some wires moved, take plug off, verify order, re-trim wire ends, reinstall plug, terminate.
> 
> I hardly ever put them on always prefer jack and patch.


THIS! ^^^

I have found after I have pulled and twisted and pulled and sorted then cut and trimmed to length, I have to test fit then pull the wires back out and trim again because some have more tension on them than others and they will retract or relax and again become uneven causing me to trim them to length again, some, up to three times. Once they have all evened out, then I add the RJ and crimp. 



> They make plugs that have fanning strips, or ones that the wires go all the way through.


 You have to match your tools to what style / manufacturer the RJ's are. I have both. I also have an RJ crimper that has never given me a good crimped RJ45. I keep it to remind me what not to buy.


----------



## A Little Short (Nov 11, 2010)

sarness said:


> Strip it, fan it out, cut it long, fit plug on, you'll find some wires moved, take plug off, verify order, re-trim wire ends, reinstall plug, terminate.
> 
> I hardly ever put them on always prefer jack and patch.
> 
> They make plugs that have fanning strips, or ones that the wires go all the way through.


That's what I finally ended up doing. Instead of trying to just strip off enough of the jacket to fit the connector, I stripped off about 1-1/2", straightened all the wires out, trimmed them off some, then dry fitted the connector on. After I was satisfied they were going in the correct slot, I trimmed them to the size needed. Then I put on/took off the connector several times until I was sure they were landing right, then I crimped them.

Of course this didn't occur to me until I had wasted both time and connectors!

On the plus side, this was a T&M job!:thumbsup:


----------



## chewy (May 9, 2010)

Ty Wrapp said:


> Terminate the Cat5 on a jack, then use a patch cord.


Electricians generally do not understand "structured cabling". Yet would lose their **** if someone ran extension leads through a building and charged for it, haha.


----------



## dawgs (Dec 1, 2007)

chewy said:


> Electricians generally do not understand "structured cabling". Yet would lose their **** if someone ran extension leads through a building and charged for it, haha.


We do structured cabling all the time. It's not really rocket science. I agree the low volt guys are pretty good at it, most of my electricians know how to term it.


----------



## minichopper6hp (Apr 19, 2014)

Dont see what all the fuss is about. When it comes down to it, buy the correct tools and it will make your life a lot easier.

Sent from my LGMS769 using Tapatalk


----------



## electricmanscott (Feb 11, 2010)

Operator error.


----------



## Jlarson (Jun 28, 2009)

Tell them their specs suck ass hole. 



We might only do 50 RJ45 crimps in a month, most of those being washdown plugs. Other it's punch and patch for us as much as possible.


----------

