What is crimping an Ethernet
cable?
Crimping an Ethernet cable is the process
of attaching connectors onto the ends of Ethernet cables. This process is also
called ‘RJ45 crimping’ because RJ45 is the name of the connectors that are used
for Ethernet cables, and they are what is being crimped.
Why?
Setting up networks involves setting up
long Ethernet cable connections between different devices. Instead of buying
premade Ethernet cables of varying lengths (e.g. 5ft, 10ft, 50ft, etc.), it’s
more practical to just have a big spool of cabling that we can roll out and cut
to the exact length we need.
Therefore we need to be able to attach RJ45
connectors to the ends of these cut cables so that we can actually plug them
in!
Crimping Kit
Here are some tools you should have in your
crimping kit!
RJ45 Crimping Tool
An RJ45 crimping tool is the most
essential tool. Although it’s technically possible to crimp Ethernet cables
without this specialized tool, it’s not very practical for crimping
lots of cables.
Its primary
utility is to do the actual ‘crimping’ part of compressing/crimping the tiny
gold pins in the RJ45 connector onto the Ethernet cables. It also has blades
that can be used to cut or strip wires.
Cable Stripper
Cable strippers are used to take off the
protecting shielding around cables and expose the inner wires. You can also do
the same thing with a simple blade or pair of scissors. The trickiest part
about stripping cables is trying to avoid cutting the inner wires!
RJ45 Connectors
RJ45 connectors are required for
crimping because they feature the 8 golden pins that get crimped onto the 8
wires of the Ethernet cable. They are what get plugged into Ethernet ports!
They also feature a latch/clip that locks the Ethernet cable into the port once
it is plugged in.
RJ45 Boots 
RJ45 boots can be optionally used to
protect the RJ45 connector. It provides insulation and prevents the cable from
being breaking easily. They have to put slipped onto the cable before you put
on the RJ45 connectors though!
RJ45 Cable Tester
RJ45 cable testers allow you to
guarantee that you did the job correctly!
They have two
pieces that separate from each other, and you plug each end of your crimped Ethernet
cable into the port on each piece. Then you turn it on and the cable tester
will test the connection for all 8 pins. If there are any missing lights on any
of the pins, it means that you messed up somewhere and have to restart!
How
to Crimp an Ethernet Cable
Assuming
you have a crimping kit and an Ethernet cable that needs to be crimped, here
are all the steps!
Step 0) Slip on the RJ45
boot (optional)
Step 1) Strip the cable
- Push the cable into the razor slot of the strip tool
and turn it around the cable to make an even cut around the sheath.
Careful not to nick the wires inside!
- Unwrap the blue foil shielding and plastic to
uncover the twisted wire pairs.
- Push the copper grounding wire to the side. (Ignore
the white string.)
Step 2) Organize the
wires
In this step, you’ll be taking the 8 colored wires inside the Ethernet cable and putting them into the correct ordering of colors.
This is the hardest part of crimping! The
wires are small and are hard to control. Take your time and make sure you do this
step correctly! Otherwise you might have to go back and restart.
Step 2.1) Untwist the wires
There should be 4
pairs of wires: green, brown, orange, and blue. Each pair has a solid-colored
wire and a striped-colored wire. Untwist these pairs and separate them into the
8 wires.
Step 2.2) Straighten out wires
After
untwisting the wires, they are probably still kinked and look like they want to
be twisted. In this step, you should carefully grab all the wires and try to
straighten them out by pulling on them. This will prevent the wires from moving
around later on.
WARNING Don’t break off
the wires!
Step 2.3) Lay out wires in
order
With your straightened out wires, put them into the
correct order! Make sure that the wires are all flat and in line with each
other.
The ordering for these wires is:
1.
Striped orange
2.
Solid orange
3.
Striped green
4.
Solid blue
5.
Striped blue
6.
Solid green
7.
Striped brown
8.
Solid brown
TIP After
laying them out in order, straighten them out again as a group! This will help
keep the wires together.
Step
2.4) Trim the wires]
Trim the wires evenly
to about 1/2 inch in length using scissors or the blade of your crimping tool.
You want to make sure you have enough room for the wires to reach the end of
the RJ45 connector. But also try to have room for the shielding of the cable to
be inserted into the connector too.
You can put the
wires side-by-side to the RJ45 connector to see how long you should cut it.
Look at the next step to see what the final product looks like.
If you don’t
have the shielding inside of the connector, it makes it easier for the wires to
snap off later, which is bad.
Make sure that
you cut the wires evenly!
Step
3) Slide wires into RJ45 connector
Carefully slide your
8 wires into the connector. Make sure that the clip is facing away from you! If
it is really hard to slide it into the connector, you probably didn’t
straighten out the wires enough in step 2.2 or 2.3.
Inserting the wires with the clip facing away from you is the standard. However, you could technically do it in ‘reverse’ and insert the wires with the clip facing you, as long as you do it on both ends of the cable. You shouldn’t do this in practice though because others would get confused when looking at your cable.
Step 4) Crimp it
Push the RJ45
connector into the slot of your crimping tool for RJ45 connectors. The slot
should be labeled something like “8P” for the 8-pin RJ45 connector that you’re
using.
In this
step, you’re doing the actual ‘crimping’ part and crimping/compressing/stabbing
the 8 golden pins on the RJ45 connector into the 8 colored wires.
Squeeze as hard
as you can! You need to make sure that all 8 pins are crimped.
Step 5) Test it
Slide the two pieces
of the tester apart and plug each of the cable ends into either piece. Turn the
switch to “On” or “Slow.” If it’s working, all 8 numbers should be flashing
green.
If any of
them are not showing green, it means something is wrong and you have to redo
it! The RJ45 connector can’t be reused once it’s crimped, so you should just
cut the end off and start back at step 1.
If
everything is green, then you’re done! If you had a cable boot, you can push
the boots onto the RJ45 connector now.
Post a Comment
If you have any doubts, please let me know