Cat 5 Cable

To wire a CAT 5 cable the things you require are a CAT 5 cable, crimpers, cutters to cut the wires if required and RJ45 connectors. You may also need a cable tester and a stripper to strip the wire.

The Cable The cables are provided by any computer store. Bulk cable can be of many types. But the basic two categories are braided cable and the solid cable. Solid cable is normally used for longer distances and fixed location. Braided cables are more flexible than solid cables and are normally used for shorter distances. There is another category of cable called plenum cable which travels through ceilings or below the floors.

In all there are eight wires inside the cable covered by a sheath or a jacket. The wires follow a particular color code with four colors-blue, brown, green and orange. Each wire twisted with another forms four pairs. Each pair contains a wire with solid color and another with the white stripes of same color. The wires are twisted together to prevent unwanted noise and interference.

There are certain standards to be followed in order to get a better performance. There are two wiring standards, T568A and T568B. The only difference is in the arrangement of pair colors. For straight cabling you can use both T568A and T568B but for crossover cabling only T568B is suggested.

There is a modular connector called RJ45. This connector comes in different forms depending upon the type of wire used (braided or solid). The braided wires are normally pierced and in case of solid wires, there are some finger like structures that pierce the insulation and the wire is grasped from both the sides. When you are buying a connector make sure that you are buying the right one as they look exactly the same.

There are basically two types of cables- the straight through cable used to connect hub or a switch and the crossover cable for a peer-to-peer connection.

To wire the cables we need to follow these simple steps:

* Strip off the cable sheath. * Untwist the wires but not beyond the exposed point otherwise it may create problems. * Arrange the wires according to the color scheme. * Cut down the wires to required size or shape. * Fit the wires inside the RJ45 end in proper order. The sheath should extend up to the RJ45 end and placed properly through crimp. * Be sure that the wires ends up in proper order extending up to the front of the RJ45. * Cut down the cable length. Try to keep the cable length as short as possible for a better performance. * Test for proper connectivity of the cable using cable tester.