Making CAT-5E cable

[FreshPrince]

Hi, I'm trying to make straight through ethernet cables out of CAT-5E patch.

How does the color scheme go from left to right?

Orange stripe, Orange, Green stripe, Blue, Blue stripe, Green, Brown stripe, Brown?

 

[sml]

http://duxcw.com/digest/Howto/network/cable/cable5.htm

 

[reicherb]

Yes, with the hook down and the end of the cable pointing away from you.

 

[skeletal29]

dam this is when you gonna start donating money when some one wants to make home made cat cable!

JK

 

[Porschedude]

I normally follow the convention, but I came to realization that some things don?t really matter. In the case of a ?straight? cable, it doesn?t make a difference what the color coding is, as long as either ends of the cable are wired the same. Pin 1 to Pin 1, Pin 2 to Pin 2?You could make your own cable with nothing but eight white wires and things would work just fine. The electrons don?t care what the color-coding is on the outside of the wire.

 

[nettech98]

[qThe electrons don?t care what the color-coding is on the outside of the wire.[/i] >>



That's true, but with eight white wires, you'll have a real tought time keeping the pairs going to the right pins.

Technically you only need 4 wires, but regardless of what colors you use 1 and 2 must be a twisted pair, as must 3 and 6 (4+5 and 7+8 are the other pairs).

Standards are set so everyone does things the same way. It's like wiring your house with the white wire being hot and black being neutral. It'll work just fine until you have to call in an electrician.

 

[ScottMac]

Porscedude: (Insert obnoxious noise here)...WRONG!!! Pair-ordering (getting the colors in the right order) DOES matter. You can scan the board here and get bunches of posts where someone couldn't get up to speed or distance...until they corrected their pair order.

It's not the colors per se; it's that the colors representing a specific pair withing the cable bundle....not all pairs are twisted the same (helps to reduce crosstalk, etc). The manufacturers, in trying to follow the SPECIFICATION, have to hit certain performance numbers. Since the SPECIFICATION is published, they have a decent idea of what pairs are going to be used for what (structured cabling is not JUST for data). They build the cables to the PSECIFICATION so that they will perform as required.

Next: Each pair is twisted to itself; the twisting reduces the noise in and out of the cable...a critical feature. If you were to create a cable with the pairs together (instead of pair two straddling pair one...like "bw,b - ow,o - gw,g - brw,br") then the signal traveling on the "ow,o" pair in the example would acutally be traveling across TWO pair (like "positive" on one wire of one pair(ow), and "negative" on another wire of another pair (g))....which shoots the crosstalk and power-sum specs right out the window (this is a "split pair" fault condition).

SO..in summary, you've reached a faulty conclusion, re-do all your connections or suffer accordingly. And I don't care what the other kid told you on the playground during recess, this won't reach 100 megabits with any normal length of cable. Using your logic, try swapping the power cables on your (or your parents) car....since electrical signals don't care about the colors....make sure your wear safety glasses/face shield to avoid flying debris and airbourne acid........

Happy new Year

Scott

 

[dexter333]

I think he was trying to say that the colors don't matter as long as the right pairs are twisted together and in the right order. It's like painting the colors on the cables going to a car's battery. They could be green and blue and work fine as long as the positive and negative cables are connected to the right terminals on the battery.

 

[JackMDS]

Picture here:

CAT5e - COLOR-CODE STANDARDS.

 

[Soybomb]

<< I think he was trying to say that the colors don't matter as long as the right pairs are twisted together and in the right order. It's like painting the colors on the cables going to a car's battery. They could be green and blue and work fine as long as the positive and negative cables are connected to the right terminals on the battery. >>


But thats not right. IE if you made a wire of all 4 solids then all 4 stripes, it isn't up to spec and won't be as likely to be as good a performer as far as speed or distance goes. The pairs have to be used in a specific order to take advantage of the twists and keep crosstalk down. Use either 568A or 568B wiring standards and you'll have the best performing cables. After you make a cable a few times you'll remember it and it wont even be an issue

 

[Nutz]

<< The pairs have to be used in a specific order to take advantage of the twists and keep crosstalk down. >>



Yup, that about sums up what I have to say on the matter. However, if its just for a short run and is not a critically needed patch, then yes pinning it out whatever way you want to wouldn't really matter as long as the right pairs at matcher correctly. In fact I've done this many times just to same time (when I was new at making cable). Just understand that its "not up to spec" (in not using to proper pairs) and when it doesn't work as expected you'll know why.

 

[ScottMac]

....But..it takes the same amount of effort to put the pairs in the right order as not....why not just do it correctly? You still have to strip the jacket, untwist & straighten the wires, put 'em in order...every step is the same....What's the big deal about just doing it according to way the system was designed to work the best?

Use the orange and green pairs, lead with the stripe..it's not like you have to remember the Webster's Dictionary.

I'm not understanding the issue here; stupidity or laziness beyond comprehension? I could almost believe plain ignorance, but once the correct spec is posted, that excuse goes away.

I s'pose it doesn't matter, it's your network, you can screw it up any way you want.

FWIW

Scott