If you need to run some network cable, you can hire someone or buy custom lengths of cable or you can make your own network cable. It is very simple to make your own network cable with a supply of cat5 crossover cable, a crimper and some RJ-45 plugs. If you can cut and crimp, you can do this. All of these items can be found at your local hardware or electronics supply store.
Simplify Your Life With Some Cat5 Crossover Cable:
Step 1: Create the right edge to your cable. When you buy the cat5 crossover cable, it might already have a straight edge but if not, just cut it so it as the edge you want. Then use your crimper to strip about one inch of the plastic covering off of your cat5 cables, you can also use cat5e cables. If you cut too far and nick one of the wires on the inside of the cable, just cut that part off and start fresh with a new spot about an inch down from where you had to cut.
Step 2: Underneath the plastic coating, you should have four pairs of wire, These should be in four colors. Each pair will have a striped and a solid wire around it. Unbundle each pair so now you have eight wires rather that just four pairs,
Step 3: Order your eight wires into the following color sequence: orange stripe, orange solid, green stripe, blue solid, blue stripe, green solid, brown stripe, brown solid. Is it very important that you order these wires correctly so keep working at it until you have the correct line up. This is a very common order for a network ethernet cable.
Step 4: Keeping the wires in this order, use your cutter to make a clean cut of all the wires. They need to be the same length.
Step 5: Thread your wires carefully into the RJ-45 plug. You need to make sure you maintain the color order when you thread them into your plug. Use the crimper to seal the wires inside the plug. Do not press too hard or you will crush the plug, use just the force needed to crimp the wires into place.
Step 6: Repeat everything you just did with the other end of the cat5 crossover cable.
Knowing how to make your own networking cable is more than just a way to save money. You can tailor your cables to the exact side you actually need rather than having what may feel like miles and miles of cables wrapping all around your desk or home.
A cat5 crossover cable is very durable and you can expect it to last between five and ten years.
Cat 5e cables can transmit up to 10/100/1000Mbps with a frequency of 100 MHz. These cables are used for networks as well as multiple lined phone networks. Some opt for cat6e cables that can transmit that same amount of data but with a frequency of 500 MHz.
The network cables you can make with the instructions here are general network cables. If you want to make a crossover cable from the cat5 crossover cable, you just need to change the color order of the wires. In the crossover cable option, the order would be striped green, solid green, striped orange, solid blue, striped blue, solid orange, striped brown, solid brown. The only difference is the order of the wires.
The best part of making your own cables is that you can customize the length for your needs. You no longer have to loop what can feel like miles and miles of cables running from your different devices to your router. This can save you money and time. Plus it looks a lot better than having all of the excess cabling you may currently have in your home or office.