How To Make Category5/Cat5e or Category6/Cat6 Patch Cable

1. How To Make
Category5/Cat5e or
Category6/Cat6 Patch Cable

3. Before we start making a cat5e/Cat6 patch cable, need to cut a stranded length of
Cat5e/Cat6. After cutting the length you should make sure to measurement.
Nothing is worse than the patch cable you just built being an inch too short for your
application. After cutting the desired length we will start building our patch cable by
shedding back about 1 inch of the jacket
After striping make sure that the depth of your stripper is set deep enough to cut
the jacket but not so deep that it nicks the conductors of cable. If you do nick the
conductors while stripping the cable, the cable may work fine at first, but after time
the conductors will break, or even worse, begin to short out.

4. Now that we have the jacket stripped back we'll want to separate and straighten the pairs. We'll
start by pulling the first pair and the last pair to their respective sides (Orange to the left and
Brown to the right). Untwist these pairs making sure not to untwist the cat5e/cat6 plenum cable
any further than you've stripped back the jacket. Now we'll split the green pair. Pull the
white/green conductor to the left and the green conductor to the right. This leaves you with the
blue pair in the middle. Untwist the blue taking care to ensure that the white/blue conductor is
on the left and the blue conductor on the right.
Note: Normally, it would be unmentionable to untwist the Cat5e/Cat6 pairs, except when
building patch cables. It would be almost impossible to insert the conductors into the proper
connector locations without untwisting. (Keep in mind you want to keep as much of the twist of
each pair intact in order to meet performance standards.)

5. Now that we've separated and straightened the pairs we need to arrange the
conductors in the proper order according to which wiring standard you are using. For
this example we will be wiring via the 568-B standard (most common in patch
cables). Please consult the pin-out for the proper color codes. After you have the
wires arranged, place them tightly together as show in the picture to the right. Once
this is done, verify that the wires are still in the proper order and continue to step 4.

6. Now we need to trim the conductors down to fit into the RJ45 connector. While trimming, make
sure you make a nice clean cut at a 90 degree angle about 1/2 of an inch from the end of the
jacket. If you fail to make a straight cut, some of the conductors may not reach the connector
contacts. If you cut the conductors too short, again they will not make contact. If you leave the
conductors too long, when crimping the connector, the jacketing will not be gripped leaving the
strain on the conductors. This is not a good situation! For proper trimming, hold the wires
securely just at the end of the jacket as shown in the picture to the left. Be sure to keep the
conductors in the proper order.

7. Our Cat5e patch cable is almost done. While still holding the cable firmly, we now need to place
the conductors into their proper location in the RJ45 Cat5e/cat6 Modular Connector. Hold the
RJ45 modular plug with the contacts facing up (towards you) and carefully insert the conductors
in their proper locations. Apply a moderate amount of force in order to properly seat the wires
against the contacts in the connector. When the wires have been correctly inserted into the
RJ45 modular connector, observe the tip. As illustrated in the picture to the left you should be
able to see the end of each conductor, indicating that the conductors were fully inserted. Also,
take note of the colors. All whites should be on the top and all the colored conductors on the
bottom. Once this is achieved, continue to Step 6.
Update 10/03/2007:
Many customers have reported that they find Cat5e/cat6 Connectors with load bars much
easier to use during the termination process. The load bar is used to align the conductors into
the proper order and hold them in place during insertion.

8. Carefully insert the assembly which you have just completed into a modular crimping tool,
taking care to verify the conductors stay fully inserted. When crimping the connector, use the
full stroke of the crimp tool so that the contacts properly "bite" into the conductors. After you
have completed the crimp, take time to look at the connector and make sure all the pins were
crimped and that they made good contact with the conductors.

9. If you are building a straight through (standard) Cat5e/cat6 patch cable, terminate the opposite
end by repeating this process from step one. If this will be a cat 5/ cat6 crossover cables, return
to step one and continue; however, terminate the other end of the cable using the wiring
scheme that you did not use for the first end. Terminating one end with 568-B and the other
with 568-A creates a crossover cable. If it is a straight through cable you are making, simply use
the same wiring scheme for both ends.

10. That's it! Use a tester to test for continuity and your diy Cat5/Cat6 patch cable is
complete.
Note: If the cat6/cat5e plenum cable does not test positive for continuity cut the
connector off and start over, or buy one of our pre-made or custom length patch
cords.