ECE 5102

DATA COMMUNICATIONS

LABORATORY EXPERIMENT NO.5

PATCH CABLE CONSTRUCTION

Group #: 1
Member: Course & Year:
1. Baluya, Lorenz Christopher BS ECE-5

Checked by:
Lab. Personnel: Engr. Juicy C. Valdueza Date: October 8, 2018

Engr. Juicy Cordero-Valdueza/Instructor/Electronics Engineering Department/

College of Engineering/ Central Philippine University
 Experiment No. 5
PATCH CABLE CONSTRUCTION

INTRODUCTION:
In this laboratory you will study Basic construction of patch cables using Straight
Through and Crossover.

BASIC THEORY:

Patch Cable
An electronic cable used to connect electronic devices to enable the transmission
of data between them. There are a number of different patch cables,
including microphone, headphone extension, RCA connectors, Ethernet, and fiber optic.
However, when the term patch cable is used, most often it refers to short cables used in a
patch panel.
Patch cables can be as short as three inches or longer that a hundred feet. Cat5,
Cat5e, and Cat6 Ethernet cables are common examples, used to connect computers
together in a network as well as network servers.

Straight-Through Wired Cables

Straight-Through refers to cables that have the pin assignments on each end of the
cable. In other words Pin 1 connector A goes to Pin 1 on connector B, Pin 2 to Pin 2 ect.
Straight-Through wired cables are most commonly used to connect a host to client. When
we talk about cat5e patch cables, the Straight-Through wired cat5e patch cable is used to
connect computers, printers and other network client devices to the router switch or hub
(the host device in this instance).

Engr. Juicy Cordero-Valdueza/Instructor/Electronics Engineering Department

College of Engineering/ Central Philippine University
Crossover Wired Cables

Crossover wired cables (commonly called crossover cables) are very much like
Straight-Through cables with the exception that TX and RX lines are crossed (they are at
oposite positions on either end of the cable. Using the 568-B standard as an example
below you will see that Pin 1 on connector A goes to Pin 3 on connector B. Pin 2 on
connector A goes to Pin 6 on connector B ect. Crossover cables are most commonly used
to connect two hosts directly. Examples would be connecting a computer directly to
another computer, connecting a switch directly to another switch, or connecting a router
to a router.

REFERENCES:
https://www.computercablestore.com/straight-through-crossover-and-rollover-wiring
https://www.computerhope.com/jargon/p/patchcab.htm
LEARNING OUTCOMES:
When you complete this experiment, you will be able to:
1. To be able to construct and crimp patch cables using two different techniques:
straight through and crossover.
2. To test the patch cables that it is properly crimped and followed the color coding
based on the technique used.
EQUIPMENT AND MATERIALS:
1. Category 5 or Category 6 cable
2. RJ45
3. Crimping tool
4. Cable Tester

Engr. Juicy Cordero-Valdueza/Instructor/Electronics Engineering Department

College of Engineering/ Central Philippine University
PROCEDURE with RESULTS:
1. Prepare all the said materials and equipments
2. Cut the cable to the length needed.
3. Strip back the cable jacket approximately 1 inch.
Use the cutter provided with the crimping tool or strip by hand.
Be careful not to nick the individual wires.
4. Un-twist each of the 4 pairs and straighten each wire as much as possible between
the fingers.

5. Use the 568-B wiring scheme on both ends for a standard patch cable.

For a crossover type cable use the 568-B scheme on one end and the 568A on the other
end.

Engr. Juicy Cordero-Valdueza/Instructor/Electronics Engineering Department

College of Engineering/ Central Philippine University
 6. Bring all of the wires together as closely as possible.
Hold the grouped (and sorted) wires together tightly between the thumb, and the
forefinger.
Cut all of the wires at a perfect 90 degree angle from the cable,
1/2 inch from the end of the cable jacket.
Use a sharp cutting tool so as not to "squash" the wire ends.

7. With the connector pins facing up, carefully insert the wires into the connector.
Apply a moderate amount of force in order to properly seat the wires against the
contacts in the connector.

Hold the grouped (and sorted) wires together tightly, between the thumb, and
forefinger.
Cut all of the wires at a sharp angle from the cable.
Use a sharp cutting tool so as not to "squash" the wire ends.

Cut off the excess wire ends with a straight cut about 0.25" past the load bar.
With the connector pins facing up, slide the load bar assembly into the connector.
Insure that the wires are firmly seated to the end of the connector.
The brown pair wires should be on the right side.

Engr. Juicy Cordero-Valdueza/Instructor/Electronics Engineering Department

College of Engineering/ Central Philippine University
8. Observe the tip of the connector to confirm that all the wires are fully inserted.
The end of each wire you should be in full view.
There should be enough of the cable jacket inside the connector to crimp against.
Tip: Slide the load bar forward as necessary to provide the ideal placement.

9. Place the connector into the crimp tool, and squeeze hard so that the handle reaches its
full swing.

Repeat the process on the other end using the desired wiring scheme.
Be sure to slide the snag less boots snugly over the connectors when finished.

10. Always use a cable tester to check for continuity, opens and shorts.

Straight-Through Crossover

Engr. Juicy Cordero-Valdueza/Instructor/Electronics Engineering Department

College of Engineering/ Central Philippine University
OBSERVATION:

In this experiment, at first I thought it would be easy to crimp the cable but it took
me 3 hours to perform this experiment. It was difficult to arrange the colors and based it
on the color coding. It was my first time to do it. Stripping the cable took me a lot of time
because of we only have one crimping tool.

First technique to be performed was the straight thru. The color coding that was
based above. The colors were arrange the same on both ends. After I had arranged the
color, I cut it evenly approximately 1 inch and based the length on the RJ45. My first try
was a failure. The connections were disarrange as I insert it on the RJ45 that was read by
the tester. So I cut it and did again from the beginning of the procedure. I became more
careful and accurate. I took extra effort as a crimp the cable because the crimping tool
was hard to compress and test it again and made it correctly.

Then, we performed the crossover. The color coding was based also above and
the color coding are different on both ends and that is why it is called crossover. The
connections are being crossed. Same procedures were applied but the color coding was
only different. After I learned from my mistake, I took only 20 minutes to crimp it and
tested it. The connections were good.

Engr. Juicy Cordero-Valdueza/Instructor/Electronics Engineering Department

College of Engineering/ Central Philippine University
CONCLUSION:

This experiment taught us to crimp cable using different techniques. It was very
useful because it has different purposes and this will help us be ready when we are in the
industry. Once there is a broken cable we could fix it and there was no LAN cables we
could create for them. At first it would take us more time and effort but once we mastered
it. We could construct it within 10 minutes only.

Ethernet cables can be wired as straight through or crossover. The straight

through is the most common type and is used to connect computers to hubs or switches.
They are most likely what you will find when you go to your local computer store and
buy a patch cable. Crossover cable is more commonly used to connect a computer to a
computer and may be a little harder to find since they aren’t used nearly as much as
straight through cable.

A straight through cable is a type of twisted pair cable that is used in local area
networks to connect a computer to a network hub such as a router. This type of cable is
also sometimes called a patch cable and is an alternative to wireless connections where
one or more computers access a router through a wireless signal.

An Ethernet crossover cable is a type of Ethernet cable used to connect computing

devices together directly. The internal wiring of Ethernet crossover cables reverses the
transmit and receive signals. It is most often used to connect two devices of the same type
like two computers or two switches to each other.

Straight through and crossover cables are wired differently from each other. One
easy way to tell what you have is to look at the order of the colored wires inside the RJ45
connector. If the order of the wires is the same on both ends, then you have a straight
through cable. If not, then it’s most likely a crossover cable or was wired wrong. At
present, the straight through cable is much more popular than crossover cable and is
widely used by people.

Engr. Juicy Cordero-Valdueza/Instructor/Electronics Engineering Department

College of Engineering/ Central Philippine University