Cabling Questions

[narzy]

First how true is this statement?

Solid vs. stranded cable.
Solid-conductor cable is designed for backbone and horizontal cable runs. Use it for runs between two wiring closets or from the wiring closet to a wallplate. Solid cable shouldn?t be bent, flexed, or twisted repeatedly. Its attenuation is lower than that of stranded-conductor cable.

Stranded cable is for use in shorter runs between network interface cards (NICs) and wallplates or between concentrators and patch panels, hubs, and other rackmounted equipment. Stranded-conductor cable is much more flexible than solid-core cable. However, attenuation is higher in stranded-conductor cable, so the total length of stranded cable in your system should be kept to a minimum to reduce signal degradation.

I tend to believe it is a hunk of crap but I've been wrong in the past...Generally I tend to like working with stranded cable better and find solid core to be a PITA...but if it truly makes a big difference I'm willing to work with it...

I plan on having a rather large wiring job come up in the near future, I've done it in the past but it has been a while. I plan on using Cat 6 (I'd love to also run fiber but unless bulk fiber is twice as much as cat 6 or less I just don't see that happening...)

What is your favorite wire to work with brand wise? I don't mind paying a bit more if it means it is going to last longer / be better to work with then the cheap stuff...

TIA,

Tim

 

[Czar]

The electricians at work who do all the closet to closet cabling use solid cables, when they are doing cabling from the fake roof down to the flooer they use normal cables and they refuse to use solids because they are so hard to work with. So if they still use solids for the closet to closet connections even if they hate working with it that must mean there is some truth in that quote

 

[nightowl]

The solid versus stranded explanation is very much true and part of the various Category specifications. The specifications call for up to 10M of stranded cable and that leaves 90M from the patch panel to wall plate. Once the horizontal (solid) cable is in place it is not going moved very little if at all. While many times you are moving patch cables around which is why they are stranded.

Also, I would always run fiber between wiring closets as that gives you the best investment protection for higher speeds in the future.

 

[narzy]

great info thanks, where can I price bulk fiber (say 200 ft?) and do you guys have any favorite brands of wire you like to use?

 

[ScottMac]

Your OP is accurate.

THe recommendation for fiber between closets is also good. If the closets are 100M or less, you should also run data Up with teh fiber, as well as UTP designated and terminated for voice and utility functions. Not everything can be carried on fiber (at least without conversion of some sort. which could be more expensive than nessary ...)

Good Luck

Scott

 

[RadiclDreamer]

I personally prefer the solid copper vs the twisted, to me its MUCH easier to deal with. But for long runs fiber is really the way to go.

 

[Kelemvor]

Also isn't it hard to Punch Down stranded cable since all the little strands can fray out? Versus a solid cable you just punch it down to the backside of the wall plate and pop in the connectors? That's another benefit...

But the main thing is that solid cable can break so patch cords are stranded because they get used and abused, wrapped up, folded up, stuff in drawers, etc...

 

[ScottMac]

**IF** you manage to successfully punch-down stranded cabling, it's a really crummy connection.

You would suffer deep and serious frustration trying to figure out where the problem is (and rightfully so for being stupid) ... slowness, off-and-on (bouncing) connection ...

FWIW

Scott

 

[MrBlahh]

I'm curious, how is stranded cable easier to work with? I don't even see how you'd punch them down in the jacks. Plus the solid cable tends to tangle up real easy when you're dealing with hundreds of cables, I can't even imagine how bad the stranded stuff would be to work with in these situations.


-Brian

 

[ScottMac]

Well, sometimes people don't know the difference and just get it by accident. Sometimes it's cheaper, so people buy it because "How bad could it be?" or "There's no difference, I'll save the seventy-five cents"

The other (fairly common) thing is folks using solid-core for jumpers. They work OK, but if they get moved around much, either the cable breaks or (because of the poor termination and the wrong choice of rj mod plugs) the cable and / or jacket gets pulled out of the plug (i.e., no strain relief).

Most folks don't know that there's (at least) four major types of Mod plugs (solid- fla, solid round, stranded flat cable, stranded round cable) so they buy the cheapest (wrong) kind and have a good time trying to make 'em work.

Then there's the folks that don't know that the mod plugs have to (should) match the Category rating of the cable. Again, they get the cheapest, which are typically not rated at all (voice grade).

There's lots of mistakes to be made. People don't care. They want to save a buck, and as long as **SOMETHING** goes through the wire (even though they aren't running at "full speed"), they're happy and figure they did a good job.

For a home user, no big deal. Barb' wire is good enough ... who cares. If someone does that for a business or for money, they should be strung up and hoss-whipped, made to watch political debate re-runs for days on-end.

That's my .02

Scott

 

[narzy]

so long ago when I did the office in solid core I done good unknowingly...that's a relief.

 

[ScottMac]

Yeah, feels good to screw up in the right direction, don't it?? :beer: