Ask The Admin

Save money: How to make your own Ethernet patch cord.
This simple, no nonsense guide, will teach you how to make a good Ethernet patch cord at a fraction of the price it would cost you to buy it pre-manufactured.

You'll need:

An RJ-45 Crimp tool with wire stripper (12$ at tigerdirect.com)
A box of RJ-45 Connectors (7.99 for 50 at tigerdirect.com)
A box of 500 ft. of Cat5e cable (Approximately 50/70$)

Or, even better, a complete kit with all of these accessories already included.

Cables To Go

500 ft. CAT5e Grey UTP,
50 RJ45 Micron Connectors
RJ45 Crimp Tool with built-in wire stripper
All of this for 59$ You can also shop around to see if you can find a better price.

First, start by pulling off the desired cable length from your box. Don't pull out 400 feet, the maximum length for a cat5 cable is approximately 300 ft. , after this, the performance degrades quickly. When you are satisfied with the length, cut the cable with your crimp tool or a cutter.

Remove 1 inch of sheath from both ends. Use the wire stripper that's integrated with your crimp tool. Be careful! You must not cut the little wires inside! If you do, cut off your cable on the side where you messed up, and start again.

You should now see 4 pairs of wires sticking out from the blue jacket. Each wire of a solid color is twisted with another one that is striped white and [insert color here]

Separate the 4 wires and untwist them. Now arrange the wires following this simple schema. (Edit: Some users are using T-568B for straight cables. A or B, it doesn't really matter, both brings you the same result). A straight cable is made to connect a device to a switch, hub or router. A Crossover cable is for connecting 2 computers directly to one another.

When you are satisfied with the result, cut the 8 wires leaving about half an inch of them sticking out of the blue jacket. Be sure that all the ends form a straight line; they have to be even if you want them to fit properly in the RJ-45 connector.

Finally, insert the 8 wires in the RJ-45 plug, making sure that the clip is facing down. Push the wires into the connector. The wires must touch the end of each little corridor. If they don't, remove them, rearrange them, and try again. Be careful when you do this, the wires may end up in the wrong position if you are not careful. Inspect your connector to see if the wires are in the correct order, and if they are, stick the RJ-45 jack in the crimp tool, and crimp it as hard as you can.

A 10 ft. cat5e patch cord can cost you up to 7$ in a store. If you make your own cable, each of them should cost you around 1.20$. Good deal huh?

_AskTheAdmiN_from GeeksAreSexy