How To Terminate A CAT5eCAT6 Ethernet Cable

How to Terminate
a CAT5e/CAT6
Ethernet Cable
Why using proper tools to terminate
your cables is important
Terminating an ethernet CAT5e or CAT6 cable is a useful skill for
anybody interested in networking and cabling. Having the proper
tools to do the job is essential for terminating the cable. Taking
short cuts can damage the cable and when you are using the cable
to power a wireless hub in a ceiling with Power over Ethernet (PoE)
you can damage ports in your network switch or your wireless hub.
Using a knife to cut the jacket off a cable is a bad idea because you
can cut into some wire pairs causing a short in the cable or increasing
Materials needed and the signal loss on the cable. One of your tools is a cable tester.
Testing your cable after the ends are terminated is always a final step
their use in manufacturing your own cables. A test can tell you if your cable
stands up to the standards set for CAT5e and CAT6 cables.
Before you begin you need to make sure
that the cable you are using is rated for
the CAT5e or CAT6 standards. The jacket
on the cable will have the rating printed
on it. Measure out the length of the cable
you need adding extra for crimping the
ends on and in case you need to cut the
end off due to errors in testing. Here are
the tools you will need:
• Jacket/sheath Cutter or wire stripper:

This tool will safely cut the jacket off
the wires inside without cutting the
wires. You will measure out about two
inches of the cable to cut the jacket off
by twisting the cutter around the cable.
This tool is often combined with the
RJ45 Crimping tool.
• RJ45 Modular Data plugs: These are

crimped over the wire ends for plugging
into a wall jack/switch port, or ethernet
card/connection on your device. Using the wire or sheath stripper
• RJ45 Crimping tool: This is needed to When using PoE or PoE+ from your switch to wireless router/hub your
crimp the RJ45 modular data plug onto cable must adhere to the standards of PoE or PoE+. These standards
the wire making a connection on each mandate that the cables connected to the switch ports and devices be
of the pins of the data plug. able to carry the voltage sent down from the switch to the device. If
your wire has a nick in it from using a knife to cut the sheath off the
• Wire Cutters: These are used for wires it can cause a drop in voltage to the device or if more than one
cutting the ends of the wires after wire is nicked voltage could be sent down a data wire to the device
placing them in the proper order. damaging the electronics on the device. Even if you are not using PoE,
the data signal strength from the switch to the device and back could
• Wire Boots: These are optional, a wrap
cause the switch to send multiple packets due to errors found on the
for the exposed wires.
cable during transmission.
• Ethernet Testing tool: Test your cable
before you use it. This will save you Your stripper may look a bit like the cable crimper or it may be a loop
time in finding problems connecting to that is place over the end. No matter which type you use you must
your network and money in replacing use minimal pressure to cut through the cable sheath. Measure out at
switch ports or devices/ethernet cards. least two inches of cable to strip off the sheath covering the wires.
How to terminate a CAT5e/CAT6 Ethernet Cable

Preparing the wire for crimping
Step 1:
Separate the wire pairs by untwisting each pair individually trying to keep
the pairs together to make it easier to find them. The wire pairs should be
untwisted all the way down to the end of the jacket to aide in the crimping
process.
Step 2:
Place the wires in the order specified below. The ends will become uneven
because some of the wires cross over other wires. The ends will be trimmed
before crimping.
• Orange-white
• Orange
• Green-white
• Blue
• Blue-white
• Green
• Brown-white
• Brown
The order here is very important for proper communications and proper
placement of power down the cable when using POE and POE+. Testing the
cable after crimping is completed will tell you if the wiring was done correctly.
The wiring configuration above is for a straight through configuration. For a
crossover cable configuration you can search for the correct configuration.
Generally the transmit pins go to the receive pins with the blue and brown
pairs going straight through to the same pins.
Step 4:
Grab the wires at the jacket keeping all of the wires in the same configuration
sliding your fingers up the wires flatening them out into a straight line. When
looking at the flat line of wires they should read the same from left to right
as the configuration above. If you are having a problem getting the wires
straightened out you can run them over a flat edged (not rounded) table
pressing them against the edge.
Step 5:
Use the wire cutters to trim the tips of the wires to make them even.
How to terminate a CAT5e/CAT6 Ethernet Cable

Crimping the wires into the RJ45 plug
If you are using boots on your wire ends place them on the ends
now before crimping the ends on. The boots make it harder to
accidentally unplug the cable from the connections.
Step 1:
Ensuring the wires are in the same order as in the last section,
push the wires into the RJ45 data plug until the ends go all the way
up into the top of the plug. The crimping process pushes sharp
connectors onto the wires breaking the coating to make contact
with the copper wire inside. These connectors are near the front of
the jack at the ends of the wires.
Step 2:
Pinch the jacket of the wires sliding it up into the back end of the
data plug by pinching two inches below the cut end of the jacket
with one hand and holding the data plug with the other. Slide the
hand pinching the wire up stretching the jacket until it slides further
into the data plug. If you push the jacket too far into the data plug
you might pull the wires back from the front of the data plug. Do
not push the jacket past the indentation on the data plug.
Step 3:
Insert the RJ45 data plug into the crimper then, using constant
pressure until the crimper clicks, release the crimper. You can do
this a couple of times to make sure the end is crimped onto the cable.
Terminating the other end of the cable

Follow the same steps from the previous two sections to
terminate the other end of the cable. Do not try to terminate
both ends at the same time because of the process of pushing
the jacket into the RJ45 data plug.
Testing your terminated cable

Testing your cable after crimping is important to make sure
that the communications between the end device and the
network are correct. There are a number of cable testing
products on the market today that can do the job for you
like the “Cable Prowler”, “Net Prowler”, and “Net Chaser” by
T3 Innovation. Cable testers will put your cable through all
of the tests to certify the cable to be used with CAT5e/CAT6
equipment including power over ethernet to safely power
wireless endpoints and other ethernet powered devices.
T3 Innovation
808 Calle Plano Contact Us: www.t3innovation.com
Camarillo, CA 93012 (805) 233-3390

How To Terminate A CAT5eCAT6 Ethernet Cable

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

How To Terminate A CAT5eCAT6 Ethernet Cable

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Description:

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

How To Terminate A CAT5eCAT6 Ethernet Cable

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

How to Terminate

• Jacket/sheath Cutter or wire stripper:

• RJ45 Modular Data plugs: These are

How to terminate a CAT5e/CAT6 Ethernet Cable

How to terminate a CAT5e/CAT6 Ethernet Cable

Terminating the other end of the cable

Testing your terminated cable

You might also like