HOW TO MAKE YOUR OWN CAT 5 TWISTED-PAIR NETWORK CABLES

INTRODUCTION. The purpose of this article is to show you how to make the two kinds of cables
which can be used to network two or more computers together to form quick and simple home
or small office local area networks (LANs). These instructions can also be used to make patch
cables for networks with more complex infrastructure wiring.

The two most common unshielded twisted-pair (UTP) network standards are the10 Mhz 10BASE-T
Ethernet and the 100Mhz 100BASE-TX Fast Ethernet. The 100BASE-TX standard is quickly
becoming the predominant LAN standard. If you are starting from scratch, to build a small home
or office network, this is clearly the standard you should choose. This article will show you how
to make cables which will work with both standards.

LANS SIMPLIFIED. A LAN can be as simple as two

computers, each having a network interface card (NIC) or
network adapter and running network software, connected
together with a crossover cable.

The next step up would be a network consisting of three

or more computers and a hub. Each of the computers is
plugged into the hub with a straight-thru cable (the
crossover function is performed by the hub)

Greg Crawford January 2004

NETWORK CABLE AND CONNECTORS
There are several classifications of cable used for twisted-pair networks.
I'll skip right over them and state that I use and recommend Category 5
(or CAT 5) cable for all new installations. Likewise, there are several fire
code classifications for the outer insulation of CAT 5 cable. I use CMR
cable, or "riser cable," for most of the wiring I do. You should also be
aware of CMP or plenum cable (a plenum is used to distribute air in a
building). You may be required by local, state or national codes to use
the more expensive plenum-jacketed cable if it runs through suspended
ceilings, ducts, or other areas, if they are used to circulate air or act as
an air passage from one room to another. If in doubt, use plenum. CMR
cable is generally acceptable for all applications not requiring plenum
cable.

CAT 5 wire is available in reel-in-box packaging. This is very handy for

pulling the wire without putting twists in it. Without this kind of package
or a cable reel stand, pulling wire is a two-person job. Before the advent
of the reel-in-box, we used to put a reel of wire on a broom handle to
pull it. One person would hold the broom handle and the other would
pull and measure the cable. You will produce a tangled mess, if you pull
the wire off the end of the reel.

Stranded wire patch cables are often specified for cable segments running from a wall jack to a
PC and for patch panels. They are more flexible than solid core wire. However, the rational for
using it is that the constant flexing of patch cables may wear-out solid core cable--break it. I
don't think this is a real concern in the average small network. For example, I have one solid
core cable going to my work bench. It has probably flexed and average person's lifetime of
flexes from the many many times I have connected customer computers to my network. Also,
stranded cable is susceptible to degradation from moisture infiltration, may use an alternate
colour code, and should not be used for cables longer than 3 Meters (about 10 feet).

Most of the wiring I do simply connects computers directly to other computers or hubs. Solid
core cable is quite suitable for this purpose and for many home and small business networks. I
find it also quite acceptable for use as patch cables.

You might consider stranded wire patch cables if you have a notebook computer and you are
constantly moving around.

CAT 5 cable has four twisted pairs of wire for a total of eight individually insulated wires. Each
pair is colour coded with one wire having a solid colour (blue, orange, green, or brown) twisted
around a second wire with a white background and a stripe of the same colour.

The solid colours may have a white stripe in some cables. Cable colours are commonly described
using the background colour followed by the colour of the stripe; e.g., white-orange is a cable
with a white background and an orange stripe.

Greg Crawford January 2004

CONNECTORS. The straight through and cross-over patch cables
discussed in this article are terminated with CAT 5 RJ-45 modular plugs.
RJ-45 plugs are similar to those you'll see on the end of your telephone
cable except they have eight versus four or six contacts on the end of the
plug and they are about twice as big.

Make sure they are rated for CAT 5 wiring. (RJ means "Registered
Jack"). Also, there are RJ-45 plugs designed for both solid core wire and
stranded wire. Others are designed specifically for one kind of wire or
the other.

Be sure you buy plugs appropriate for the wire you are going to use. I use
plugs designed to accommodate both kinds of wire

NETWORK CABLE TOOLS

Modular Plug Crimp Tool. You will need a modular
crimp tool. This one is very similar to the one I
have been using for many years for all kinds of
telephone cable work and it works just fine for
Ethernet cables.

You don't need a lot of bells and whistles, just a

tool which will securely crimp RJ-45 connectors.
Even though the crimper has cutters which can be
used to cut the cable and individual wires, and
possibly stripping the outer jacket, I find that the
following tools are better for stripping and cutting
the cable...

Universal UTP Stripping Tool (Eclipse). I recently

bought one of these tools and it works slick, and it
makes a much neater cut. I recommend that you
purchase one if you will be making many cables.

Diagonal Cutters ("4 to 6"). It is easier to use

diagonal cutters ("diags" or "dikes") to cut the
cable off at the reel and to fine tune the cable
ends during assembly. Also, if you don't have a
stripper, you can strip the cable by using a small
knife (X-acto, utility, etc.) To carefully slice the
outer jacket longitudinally and use the diags to
cut it off around the circumference.

Greg Crawford January 2004

A LITTLE THEORY

Now, bear with me, you need to understand some

of this stuff...

The 10BASE-T and 100BASE-TX Ethernets consist of

two transmission lines. Each transmission line is a
pair of twisted wires. One pair receives data
signals and the other pair transmits data signals.

A balanced line driver or transmitter is at one end

of one of these lines and a line receiver is at the
other end.

Pulses of energy travel down the transmission line at about the speed of light (186,000
miles/second). The principal components of one of these pulses of energy are the voltage
potential between wires and current flowing near the surface of the wires.

This energy can also be considered as residing in the magnetic field which surrounds the wires
and the electric field between the wires. In other words, an electromagnetic wave which is
guided by, and travels down the wires.

The main concern is the transient magnetic fields which surround the wires and the magnetic
fields generated externally by the other transmission lines in the cable, other network cables,
electric motors, fluorescent lights, telephone and electric lines, lightning, etc. This is known as
noise. Magnetic fields induce their own pulses in a transmission line which may literally bury
the Ethernet pulses, the conveyor of the information being sent down the line.

The twisted-pair Ethernet employs two principle means for combating noise. The first is the use
of balanced transmitters and receivers. A signal pulse actually consists of two simultaneous
pulses relative to ground: a negative pulse on one line and a positive pulse on the other. The
receiver detects the total difference between these two pulses. Since a pulse of noise (shown in
red in the diagram) usually produces pulses of the same polarity on both lines one pulse is
essentially cancelled by out the other at the receiver.

Also, the magnetic field surrounding one wire from a signal pulse is a mirror of the one on the
other wire. At a very short distance from the two wires the magnetic fields are opposite and
have a tendency to cancel the effect of each other out. This reduces the line's impact on the
other pair of wires and the rest of the world.

The second and the primary means of reducing crosstalk--the term crosstalk came from the
ability to (over) hear conversations on other lines on your phone--between the pairs in the
cable, is the double helix configuration produced by twisting the wires together. This
configuration produces symmetrical (identical) noise signals in each wire. Ideally, their
difference, as detected at the receiver, is zero. In actuality it is much reduced.

Greg Crawford January 2004

COLOR-CODE STANDARDS
Again, please bear with me... Let's start with simple pin-out diagrams of the two types of UTP
Ethernet cables and watch how committees can make a can of worms out of them. Here are the
diagrams:

Note that the TX (transmitter) pins are connected to corresponding RX (receiver) pins, plus to
plus and minus to minus. And that you must use a crossover cable to connect units with
identical interfaces. If you use a straight-through cable, one of the two units must, in effect,
perform the cross-over function.

Two wires colour-code standards apply: EIA/TIA 568A and EIA/TIA 568B. The codes are
commonly depicted with RJ-45 jacks as follows:

If we apply the 586A colour code and show all eight wires, our pin-out looks like this:

Note that pins 4, 5, 7, and 8 and the blue and brown pairs are not used in either standard. Quite
contrary to what you may read elsewhere, these pins and wires are not used or required to
implement 100BASE-TX duplexing--they are just plain wasted.

Greg Crawford January 2004

However, the actual cables are not physically that simple. In the diagrams, the orange pair of
wires are not adjacent. The blue pair is upside-down. The right ends match RJ-45 jacks and the
left ends do not. If, for example, we invert the left side of the 586A "straight"-thru cable to
match a 586A jack--put one 180° twist in the entire cable from end-to-end--and twist together
and rearrange the appropriate pairs, we get the following can-of-worms:

This further emphasizes, I hope, the

importance of the word "twist" in making
network cables which will work. You
cannot use an flat-untwisted telephone
cable for a network cable. Furthermore,
you must use a pair of twisted wires to
connect a set of transmitter pins to their
corresponding receiver pins. You cannot
use a wire from one pair and another
wire from a different pair.

Keeping the above principles in mind, we can simplify the diagram for a 568A straight-thru cable
by untwisting the wires, except the 180° twist in the entire cable, and bending the ends
upward. Likewise, if we exchange the green and orange pairs in the 568A diagram we will get a
simplified diagram for a 568B straight-thru cable. If we cross the green and orange pairs in the
568A diagram we will arrive at a simplified diagram for a crossover cable. All three are shown
below.

Greg Crawford January 2004

LET'S MAKE IT SIMPLER

There are only two unique cable ends in the

preceding diagrams. They correspond to the
568A and 568B RJ-45 jacks and are shown to
the right.

Again, the wires with coloured backgrounds

may have white stripes and may be donated
that way in diagrams found elsewhere.

For example, the green wire may be labelled

Green-White--I don't bother. The background
colour is always specified first.

Now, all you need to remember, to properly

configure the cables, are the diagrams for the
two cable ends and the following rules:

· A straight-thru cable has identical ends.

· A crossover cable has different ends.

It makes no functional difference which standard you use for a straight-thru cable. You can
start a crossover cable with either standard as long as the other end is the other standard. It
makes no functional difference which end is which. Despite what you may have read elsewhere,
a 568A patch cable will work in a network with 568B wiring and 568B patch cable will work in a
568A network. The electrons couldn't care less.

My preference is to use the 568A standard for straight-thru cables and to start crossover cables
with a 568A end. That way all I have to remember is the diagram for the 568A end, that a
straight-thru cable has two of them, and that the green and orange pairs are swapped at the
other end of a crossover cable.

Greg Crawford January 2004

LET'S MAKE SOME CABLES

1. Pull the cable off the reel to the desired length and cut. I have a box of cable at one end of
my shop and a mark on the floor 10' away. For cable lengths which are a fraction of ten feet, I
eye-ball the length as I pull the cable out of the box (also, my feet are about one foot long).

For longer cables, I pull it out to the ten foot mark and go back to the box and pull the
remaining fraction or another ten feet. If you are pulling cables through walls, a hole in the
floor, etc., it easier to attach the RJ-45 plugs after the cable is pulled. The total length of wire
segments between a PC and a hub or between two PC's cannot exceed 100 Meters (328 feet or
about the length of a football field) for 100BASE-TX and 300 Meters for 10BASE-T.

2. Strip one end of the cable with the stripper or a knife and diags. If you
are using the stripper, place the cable in the groove on the blade (left) side
of the stripper and align the end of the cable with the right side of the
stripper. This will strip about 1/2" of the jacket off the cable. Turn the
stripper about 1 1/4 turns and pull. If you turn it more, you will probably
nick the wires. If you are using a knife and diags, carefully slit the cable
for about an inch or so and neatly trim around the circumference of the
cable with diags to remove the jacket.

3. Inspect the wires for nicks. Cut off the end and start over if you see any. You may have to
adjust the blade with the screw at the front stripper. Cable diameters and jacket thicknesses
vary.

4. Spread and arrange the pairs roughly in the order of the desired cable end.

5. Untwist the pairs and arrange the wires in the order of the
desired cable end. Flatten the end between your thumb and
forefinger. Trim the ends of the wires so they are even with one
another. It is very important that the unstripped (untwisted) end
be slightly less than 1/2" long.

If it is longer than 1/2" it will be out-of-spec and susceptible to

crosstalk. If it less than slightly less than 1/2" it will not be
properly clinched when RJ-45 plug is crimped on..

Flatten again. There should be little or no space between the

wires.

6. Hold the RJ-45 plug with the clip facing down or away from
you. Push the wire firmly into the plug. Now, inspect the darn
thing... before crimping and wasting the plug! Looking through the
bottom of the plug, the wire on the far left side will have a white
background. The wires should alternate light and dark from left to
right. The furthest right wire is brown. The wires should all end
evenly at the front of the plug. The jacket should end just about
where you see it in the diagram--right on the line. Aren't you glad
you didn't crimp the plug?

Greg Crawford January 2004

ALL ABOUT CRIMPING

7. Hold the wire near the RJ-45 plug with the clip down and firmly push it into the left side of
the front of the crimper (it will only go in one way).

Hold the wire in place squeeze the crimper handles quite firmly. This is what will happen:

(Crimp it once.) The crimper pushes two plungers down on the RJ-45 plug. One forces what
amounts to a cleverly designed plastic plug/wedge onto the cable jacket and very firmly clinches
it.

The other seats the "pins," each with two teeth at its end, through the insulation and into the
conductors of their respective wires.

8. Test the crimp... If done properly an average person will not be able to pull the plug off the
cable with his or her bare hands. And that quite simply, besides lower cost, is the primary
advantage of twisted-pair cables over the older thinwire, coaxial cables.

In fact, I would say the RJ-45 and ease of its installation is the main reason coaxial cable is no
longer widely used for small Ethernets.

But, don't pull that hard on the plug. It could stretch the cable and change its characteristics.
Look at the side of the plug and see if it looks like the diagram and give it a fairly firm tug to
make sure it is crimped well.

9. Prepare the other end of the cable so it has the desired end and crimp.

10. If both ends of the cable are within reach, hold them next to each other and with RJ-45
clips facing away. Look through the bottom of the plugs. If the plugs are wired correctly, and
they are identical, it is a straight-thru cable. If they are wired correctly and they are different,
it is a crossover cable

11. If you have an operational network, test the cable. Copy some large files.

12. If the cable doesn't work, inspect the ends again and make sure you have the right cable and
that it is plugged into the correct units for the type of cable. Try power-cycling (cold booting)
the involved computers.

13. If you have many straight-thru cables and a crossover cable in your system, you should
consider labelling the crossover cable or using a different coloured cable for the crossover cable
so you don't mix them up.

I do not recommend implementing the crossover function, as recommended elsewhere, with two
RJ-45 jacks, appropriately wired back to back, and two straight-thru cables. This method costs
noticeably more, introduces more than the necessary number of components and connections,
increases the complexity and time of assembly, and decreases reliability.
Greg Crawford January 2004
CABLING RULES

1. Try to avoid running cables parallel to power cables.

2. Do not bend cables to less than four times the diameter of the cable.

3. If you bundle a group of cables together with cable ties (zip ties), do not over-cinch them.
It's okay to snug them together firmly; but don't tighten them so much that you deform the
cables.

4. Keep cables away from devices which can introduce noise into them. Here's a short list: copy
machines, electric heaters, speakers, printers, TV sets, fluorescent lights, copiers, welding
machines, microwave ovens, telephones, fans, elevators motors, electric ovens, dryers, washing
machines, and shop equipment.

5. Avoid stretching UTP cables (the force should not exceed 25 LBS).

6. Do not run UTP cable outside of a building. It presents a very dangerous lightning hazard!

7. Do not use a stapler to secure UTP cables. Use telephone wire hangers which are available at
most hardware stores

Greg Crawford January 2004