When conducting a local network in apartments and private houses, quite often there is a problem with crimping the network cable. Sometimes, even with all the necessary tools, this operation cannot be completed correctly. And all because the RJ-45 network cable has its own characteristics, which must be taken into account when carrying out such work.
And today we will consider how to crimp the Internet cable with our own hands. For this, it will be necessary to prepare certain tools and carefully read the instructions presented.
Features of network elements
Most often, RJ-45, which is used when connecting a computer to a local network, is called a twisted pair cable. This cable is 4 or 8 small wires interconnected in pairs. Each of them has its own dense shell. Why twisted pair? Everything is very simple - a similar cable structure allows you to reduce interference with the passage of electrical signals. By the way, if this is an Internet connection with a speed of up to 100 Mbps, it is enough to use only two twisted pairs, that is, four wires, for conducting electrical signals. However, to build faster gigabit networks, you have to use cables with 4 pairs. Experts argue that the use of such conductors in the future will become more common. But so far, in most houses where cable Internet is available, RJ-45 with four wires is used.
Crimping Methods
There are two methods for crimping the network wire:
Schemes for both you can see in the photo below.
As we see, with the direct version, both ends of the cable have the same arrangement of conductors in the connector. The cross method involves crimping a pair on different sides of the cable. In this case, a different order of connecting the conductors is used.
What method to use to connect a home network? Everything is very simple - a direct method is used when one computer is connected to the Internet. Crosswise is only used when there is a need to connect two computers to each other. That is, having one laptop or PC at home, it is better to use the direct way to connect the cable.
How to compress the Internet cable at home? Cooking Tools
In fact, you can cope with a twisted pair with your own hands, even if you do not have a great idea about local area networks. As for the tools, they can be bought at any computer store in the city, and for a small price. So, what we need to purchase:
- 1.5-2 meters RJ-45 cable.
- Special connectors.
- Caps.
- Scalpel or side cutter.
- LAN tester.
- Well and most importantly - a tool that will allow you to compress the cable "twisted pair" in a few seconds. It’s called a crimper. It can be purchased at a price of 500 to 2 thousand rubles, depending on the modification, as well as the number of functions performed. With it, we can fix the connectors and crimp the cable. Externally, this apparatus is a pliers type mechanism.
How to compress the 4-core Internet cable? Getting to work
Having prepared all the necessary materials and tools, you can get to work. Before crimping the Internet cable, you must first remove the external insulation layer from it. As for the length, to connect it is enough to remove 2.5-3 centimeters of wire insulation. You can remove a thick plastic shell with a knife or with the help of a crimper. Now almost all crimping tools have a special blade to remove the extra layer of insulation from the twisted pair. After that, a thin kapron thread will be visible near the wires - it can be safely cut off.
By the way, when stripping the cable, the length of the twisted pair untwisted should not be higher than 1.25 centimeters. To make it more convenient, it is advisable to use special "pincers" that have knives with a limiter.
How to compress the Internet cable now? We untangle two twisted pairs of conductors and align them for the following operations. After preparation, you can proceed to the crimping procedure. It is done strictly according to the scheme.
Please note that before processing the twisted pair with a crimper, it should be as even as possible, and the wires should be parallel to each other. If necessary, you can shorten the conductor twice in order. This is done using a blade on the crimper.
Work with crimper
Next is the most critical part of the work. So, we put on the connector and gently crimp it with a crimper. To do this, we introduce the conductors into the RJ-45 network cable connector. It is important to remember that all colors must match each other, that is, white connects strictly to white, blue to blue and so on.
But here it is necessary to note one small point. Before you crimp the Internet cable, note that the network will work even if different shades of wires were connected to the connector. True, this applies only to a few types of elements. For example, instead of blue, you can connect white-blue, instead of orange - orange-blue, etc.
Also make sure that the conductor fits exactly into the designated hole on the connector. Otherwise, the transfer of data, and, accordingly, the operation of the Internet on a PC will be impossible. After making sure that the colors and the location of the conductors are correct, we take a crimper and crimp the network cable. This is done as follows: the cable and connector are inserted into the device and the handles are compressed on the latter. Please note that this element has several holes for different types of wires (4P2C, RJ-12 and many others), namely three. Specifically for the RJ-45 cable, this hole is in the middle.
Checking the results of work
But on this question, how to crimp a 4-wire cable for the Internet with your own hands, has not yet been completely resolved. Next, we have to check the correctness of the work performed. This is done not by the “poke method”, but by using a special device - a LAN tester. How to use this tool? You must first insert the cable connectors into the tester. Next, the device is connected to power. If the tester does not detect any errors, all indicators on it will light up alternately, one after another. If you noticed that the tool “missed” one of the conductors (one indicator did not light up), then there is a loose contact in the socket. In this case, the network cable undergoes a repeated crimping procedure and is tested again.
What to do if repeated crimping did not solve the problem?
In this case, the problem may be hidden in the connector. It happens that at the entrance, the wires can twist in it, and then it is simply impossible to guarantee the tightness of the connection of the contacts. Try replacing the connector with another. In most cases, this helps when connecting to a local network.
Conclusion
Everything, at this stage, our cable is ready to work. Similarly to the case described above, we process the second end of the wire. After that, you can safely bring it to the computer. The main thing here is not to forget the order of connecting the conductors.
So, we found out how to crimp the Internet cable with our own hands. As you can see, the whole procedure is very simple and straightforward, and it only takes a few minutes in time.