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Tracing network RJ45 / RJ11 cable from user desk to patch panel backend. Can you use a cable with a single wire for a mono jack cable?

Home networking explained • • • • • Knowing how to make your own networking cable is an important, handy skill for a few reasons. First, network cables that you buy at the store are generally grossly overpriced: a 7-foot-long cable can run you $20, almost $3 per foot. Foxit Reader Vs Pdf Xchange Viewer. Secondly, it's hard to find a ready-made cable that's just the perfect length; most of the time it's either too long or too short. When you make your own, the cable will be exactly the length you want, and if it's not, well, you can make another one or adjust it. You can also make other hardware parts for the network, including network wall ports and patch panels. As you will see after reading this post, this is a skill that's not only easy to learn, but it doesn't cost much, either.

All the tools you need cost less than $40. Parts, such as patch cable and connectors, are also very affordable. The biggest return on this investment, however, is that you may find making and wiring your own network hardware actually fun, and it gives you complete control of your home network. A well-designed wired home network is also the best in terms of performance, since -- for right now, anyway -- cabling is much faster and more reliable than a Wi-Fi signal. If you want to do serious streaming and data sharing within the local network, running network cables is the way to go.

Now, let's start with the cable itself. This is more than you need to make or adjust the length of a network cable.

Note that I cut off one of the connectors from the ready-made cable; there's a bag full of connector heads that are eagerly waiting to be the replacement. Dong Ngo/CNET 1. Making your own network cable A network cable basically consists of a patch cable and two network connectors (formally known as RJ45 modular plugs) attached to each of its ends.

The job of making your own cable is attaching these connectors to a patch cable. Note: By network cable, I mean the CAT5e cable, which is the most popular type of networking cable that can handle gigabit connections. The newer network standard, CAT6, however, has exactly the same wiring (with the same tools), but requires CAT6-compatible parts.

What you need: A crimping/cutting/stripping tool: This the most important tool; it helps cut, strip, and crimp patch cable. Rza Birth Of A Prince Zip. It costs just about $15.

I personally use the. Patch cable: You can buy this in bulk; it costs anywhere between $40 and $100 for 1,000 feet. Inspector Montalbano S02e01.

Shorter length costs less, accordingly. You can also turn an existing network cable into a patch cable by cutting off one or both of its network connector heads. This is typical when you want to make a cable shorter or want to replace a broken network connector. RJ45 modular plugs: These network connector heads are very cheap; you can get 100 pieces for just a few dollars online. Here are the steps to make your own network cable. Remember, the wiring scheme is the hardest part (click to enlarge). Dong Ngo/CNET The steps: • Use the tool to strip the patch cable's jacket about 1.5 inch from one end; you'll find eight color-coded wires (twisted into four pairs) that you'll need to arrange in a particular scheme.

(In my experience, it's easier to spread these wires out and put them in the right scheme when you strip more than 1.5 inches of jacket. Later on you can cut the wires shorter if need be.) This scheme, from left, is: white/orange >solid orange >white/green >solid blue >white/blue >solid green >white/brown >solid brown. Remembering this order is the hardest part of making the cable. Note that the wiring scheme above reflects the popular 568B wiring standard, which is recommended. You can also use the less popular 568A wiring standard ( white/green >solid green >white/orange >solid blue >white/blue >solid orange >white/brown >solid brown). There's no difference in terms of performance between these two wiring standards, and you can also use both of these wiring standards on one cable (one for each end) to make it a crossover cable used to connect two Ethernet-ready devices directly to each other.