Can I splice Cat 5e cable?

[Mark42]

I have a setup where cat 5e cable runs from room A to room B where the router is. I am moving the router to room C. Can I cut the "A to B" cable in the middle and run two new extensions to room C so that both room A and B are now connected to room C? <br /><br />I was thinking of:<br /><br />1) Simply (and carefully) soldering the 8 wires to make a splice. Seal each solder joint with shrink tube. Maintain the twisted pairs twist. <br /><br />2) Install an "end box" on each end and connect with short jumper.<br /><br />3) Continue to search for a "junction box" to make the connection.<br /><br />What is the proper way to splice Cat 5e?

 

[jsfinn]

Re: Can I splice Cat 5e cable?

Mark, I've always heard to not do it...that being said, I've done it before by punching it down to an insert that you would put in a wall plate and it worked fine.. It kind of sounds like it would work for your situation too...just use patch cables to hook everything into your router from your wall plate inserts. That's how it would be done if you were running the cable in the wall anyways.<br /><br />How long of a cable do you need, in total?

 

[Mark42]

Re: Can I splice Cat 5e cable?

Both cables would not be over 150 ft or so. It would be much easier to cut/splice the existing cable than to have to run 2 new cables from rooms A and B into room C. <br /><br />I have both the wall plate female ends and "ice cube" clear plastic male ends. I don't have a crimper for the male end and they are expensive. About $45 or so at the home centers. I will probably end up buying the crimper and making the "splice" using the connecters.<br /><br />If I could find a punch block with 8 connections, I would use that.

 

[mattttt25]

Re: Can I splice Cat 5e cable?

how about this?<br /><br /> http://www.lanshack.com/product1.asp?SID=10&Product_ID=102

 

[jsfinn]

Re: Can I splice Cat 5e cable?

Mark - This is a long shot, but it just so happens I'm headed up to South Jersey in a couple of hours and happen to have a crimper. Where in NJ are you?

 

[Paul Moir]

Re: Can I splice Cat 5e cable?

I have successsfully used simple telephony female couplers before - nothing special, probably Cat-1. I think Radio shack even has Catagory 5 rated ones pretty cheap. The "Ice Cube" connector is called RJ-45. (a telephone sized "Ice Cube" is RJ-11).<br /><br />If you want a crimper, call around to the local independant computer stores. Many carry really nice crimpers for 1/3 or so what the home stores sell em for.<br /><br />EDIT: I had assumed the connectors were already on the wires, but it appears that this is not so. I don't think it would be any problem to solder, so long as you don't leave any sharp edges, etc, that create reflections.

 

[crab bait]

Re: Can I splice Cat 5e cable?

go to radio shack.. they have neet splicers.. even cheap crimpers..

 

[Mark42]

Re: Can I splice Cat 5e cable?

jsfinn,<br /><br />I'm in Roseland (north Jersey). A bit far to run for the crimper to South Jersey. But I thank you for the offer. That is really nice. I did find that Radio Shack has a decent looking one on their website for $33.00. I'll probably pick that up on the way home. Then crimp on a male end and attach a female block end that that should do it. Plus it gives me the option of switching around the layouts in the future.<br /><br />Edit:<br />BTW all this re-routing wires is because I'm finally getting set up in the new office space in the basement. Moving a lot of equipment from family room down there, including a new broadband router. Even though I dont have broadband, the router has dial up modem support too, and I have to make do with the service I have. Hopefully in the next week or so my boss will give the OK to start working at home one or two days a week and save the 80 mile round trip commute to the office!

 

[BoatBuoy]

Re: Can I splice Cat 5e cable?

Sounds like a perfect time to go wireless.

 

[Wimperdink]

Re: Can I splice Cat 5e cable?

Do Not Splice or bridge category-5E cable at any point. There should never be multiple appearances of category 5E cable.<br /><br />this found in <br /> http://www.lanshack.com/cat5e-tutorial.asp <br /><br />scroll down ¼ of the way for the do's and dont's section<br /><br />that being said... I think I'd be sure to solder and heat shrink for the best available connection as opposed to crimping.<br /><br />I've completely wired a house for a network so each room had their phone jack type connections to the room with the router and I soldered everything. It all worked great.

 

[Wimperdink]

Re: Can I splice Cat 5e cable?

Do Not Splice or bridge category-5E cable at any point. There should never be multiple appearances of category 5E cable.<br /><br />this found in <br /> http://www.lanshack.com/cat5e-tutorial.asp <br /><br />scroll down ¼ of the way for the do's and dont's section<br /><br />that being said... I think I'd be sure to solder and heat shrink for the best available connection as opposed to crimping.<br /><br />I've completely wired a house for a network so each room had their phone jack type connections to the room with the router and I soldered everything. It all worked great.

 

[Xcusme]

Re: Can I splice Cat 5e cable?

Soldering Cat5e cable, bad idea. Each pair of the Cat5 cable has a different length twist to provide less crosstalk between the pairs. Soldering these connections will decrease the bandwidth of the entire cable. Mattttt25's link above is one solution . You'll have to crimp RJ45 plugs to the cables, as you know.<br /><br />Another solution is to buy a 5 port switch (not a hub). Connect room A and room B to the switch. Run a single Cat5 from the switch to your computer room (office). Terminate the end of the cable to a Keystone jack and single gang wall plate. Use a patch cable from the wall plate to your router.<br /><br />At the office end, you could just run the Cat5 cable directly to the router (terminate the cable with a RJ45 plug). This would eliminate another connection at a wall plate. If you do go with the keystone jacks, you'll need a punchdown tool (110 type bit). I personally use a Krone brand tool. You might want to do a Google search for Computer Shows New Jersey. You can usually buy networking tools like crimpers and punchdown tools cheap. Around here, a RJ45 crimper goes for $10 bucks.<br /><br />As long as you keep any one run of Cat5e under 300 feet, you should be good to go.<br /><br />FYI: Only 4 wires (2 pair)of the Cat5 are used for the network connection. Pins 1,2,3,6.<br /><br />There are 2 color wiring standards for wiring the plugs, 586A and 586B. Look here Link <br /><br />When you put the RJ45 plugs on the cut ends of the room A and B, be sure they are all using the same color code.<br />TIP: A patch cable has EITHER 586A or 586B ON EACH END. A crossover cable has 586A on one end and 586B on the other. That's why I'm telling you to make sure of what you have now before you crimp the ends. Without checking, you have a 50/50 chance of getting it right. If you get it wrong, you'll be making crossover cables and not the patch cables, that you need. One last thought on the RJ45 plugs, don't have more than 1/2" untwisted wire for any pairs going into the plugs before you crimp them down. The twist of the wires is critical to maintain the bandwidth. <br /><br />There , that should get you started....

 

[ndemge]

Re: Can I splice Cat 5e cable?

no splicing, can't run multiple computers off the same wire, your sending an inteligent signal, not like a phone.<br /><br /><br />Seperate home runs from A and B to the router in C<br /><br />If your asking if you can lengthen the one wire, I would crimp an end on, use a coupler to another cat 5 cable, make sure you stick with 568 wiring standard.<br /><br /><br />Your Thought of putting a RJ45 box on each end and use a patch cable between will also work. This all assumes were not talking crazy distances.<br /><br />If your running 10base instead of 100baseT, it will be much more tollorant of odd wiring.

 

[rodbolt]

Re: Can I splice Cat 5e cable?

poor deprived ones<br /> a wire nut and some black tape will work great. works on boat wiring too.

 

[RustyC]

Re: Can I splice Cat 5e cable?

Mark have you thought about installing a small ethernet switch? Staples sells them for a cheap as $25.00. This way you could add the new line and not have to cut any cables.<br /><br />Rusty

 

[timfromfc]

Re: Can I splice Cat 5e cable?

Splicing - Bad!<br />Switch - Good!<br />Wireless - Better!<br /><br />Xcusme is right about Ethernet only needing 4 of the 8 wires. You can use the other 4 for another connection.

 

[Mark42]

Re: Can I splice Cat 5e cable?

I ended up cutting the cable between rooms A and B, crimping on RJ45 male ends to both sides of the cut cable and to the ends of the new cables. Then two RJ45 to RJ45 connectors connect the old to new. The new cables are run to the office terminated with a wall plate with 2 keystone jacks. <br /><br />I was surprised that all 6 connections, (4 crip on rj45 plugs and 2 keystone punch down jacks) totalling 48 individual wire connections, worked right the first time! I was amazed that the RJ45 crimps were good seeing as these were the first RJ45 crimps I had ever done. And I didn't even mess up the wire scheme. I had to double check to see if I had used 368A or 368B wire scheme and it was 368B. <br /><br />The router lights indicate that the connections are running at 100 Mbps so I guess there is no noise or cross talk affecting the speeds. <br /><br />Thanks for all the links and info. It really made things easier.

 

[BoatBuoy]

Re: Can I splice Cat 5e cable?

Broadband router on dial-up? That can't be very satisfactory. Kinda like an air dam on a Geo Metro.

 

[Mark42]

Re: Can I splice Cat 5e cable?

LOL! Good analogy. Yeah, dial-up and satellite are my only choices right now. No cable service or DSL where I live. Satellite is too expensive and not fast enough to justify the price for me. It also doesn't do VPN very well either and I need VPN. <br /><br />Yep, we are dial-up. I just put in the modem router to replace the ICS setup so the kids will not have to go to my office to log onto my PC to get internet connection for the PC in the family room. <br /><br />Surprisingly, the performance hit is negligible with two users surfing or chatting. Its only when one starts a download that performance sucks for the other user.

 

[ndemge]

Re: Can I splice Cat 5e cable?

Mark.. one other option is a poor man's ISDN line,<br /><br />run 2 modems, 2 phone lines, and get "dual modem" service from an ISP. I did this for a year or so before I got ISDN, worked great.<br /><br />have had dsl the last 2 years now.