# Shorting out Data Jacks



## chewy (May 9, 2010)

Is it bad for the switches? I have always heard that it is. 

Ive been shocked about 8 times this week with sweaty arms on data jacks and there was a misscommunication with the boy de patching the wrong panel and I cut off live jacks.


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## halfamp (Jul 16, 2012)

Always better safe than sorry. Definitely not good for POE switches, and I've also heard the same for standard switches


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## triden (Jun 13, 2012)

Most switches have short circuit protection. The cheaper ones will blow ports though.


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## TOOL_5150 (Aug 27, 2007)

Ive never had any problems cutting cables connected to cisco switches, though, its not something I prefer to do.


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## Edrick (Jun 6, 2010)

Could you do it? Sure
Should you do it? No
Do people do it? Yes
Will it damage something? Maybe


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## stuiec (Sep 25, 2010)

What happens if you plug a tone generator into a jack thats still patched into a switch? I was told not to, but the reason was, "just in case it does some damage".


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## mikeh32 (Feb 16, 2009)

You can blow out a cisco switch by doing it, but its a lot more rare as they are "smart" switches.


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## chewy (May 9, 2010)

stuiec said:


> What happens if you plug a tone generator into a jack thats still patched into a switch? I was told not to, but the reason was, "just in case it does some damage".


I have seen that stuff one up but my Fluke 
Intellitone can tone patched lines. Our DTX plays an annoying alarm if you do it but hasn't seemed to hurt it at all.


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## chewy (May 9, 2010)

mikeh32 said:


> You can blow out a cisco switch by doing it, but its a lot more rare as they are "smart" switches.


Oh these are all Cisco, haven't had any phone calls yet but probably to be avoided never the less.


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## TOOL_5150 (Aug 27, 2007)

Edrick said:


> Could you do it? Sure
> Should you do it? No
> Do people do it? Yes
> Will it damage something? Maybe


This is the best 4 part answer for this subject. Basically.. hardware these days for the most part has short circuit protection, along with a lot of our test equipment, but still its not advisable to cut into live data lines.


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## chewy (May 9, 2010)

TOOL_5150 said:


> This is the best 4 part answer for this subject. Basically.. hardware these days for the most part has short circuit protection, along with a lot of our test equipment, but still its not advisable to cut into live data lines.


Truth be told its the last thing I'm really worried about in a cabinet full of switches that have loose power cords :laughing:


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## BBQ (Nov 16, 2010)

chewy said:


> Ive been shocked about 8 times this week with sweaty arms on data jacks and there was a misscommunication with the boy de patching the wrong panel and I cut off live jacks.


Data or POTs lines?

Isn't data about 4 or 5 VDC?


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## Ty Wrapp (Aug 24, 2011)

I've seen a phone key system blow when 1 jack wire was cut and shorted. When in doubt, snip 1 conductor at a time to avoid a short.


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## chewy (May 9, 2010)

Sorry guys had a total night shiftb rain fart, these are RJ45s that go back to the PABX, we do RJ45 to RJ45 and then punch down 100prs for every cabinet on the floors onto an RJ45 panel so the outlets can be either data from a switch in the cabinet or patched onto the copper backbone straight up to the PABX to be phones. 
Im not too familar with PABX is shorting that out going to cause problems?


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## chewy (May 9, 2010)

BBQ said:


> Isn't data about 4 or 5 VDC?


Im not sure, its a bit of a sting but nowhere near an electric fences bite.


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## Ty Wrapp (Aug 24, 2011)

chewy said:


> Im not too familar with PABX is shorting that out going to cause problems?


It's a possibility !


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## Dawizman (Mar 10, 2012)

I've seen blown ports on the old nortel systems after somebody cut the wrong cable


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## Cat5Installer (Jul 19, 2009)

BBQ said:


> Isn't data about 4 or 5 VDC?


Yeah, something like that. But if it's a POE switch you might find 48 vdc.

When it's not a POE switch i don't worry too much about shorting. I snip away! lol. But I go to great lengths to keep from shorting PBX lines. 

I got bit pretty hard once by ring voltage while working on a NID in the rain. That sucked.


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