Need help wiring a cat6 network at home

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Hey Guys,

I've just installed a run of Cat6 cable from my upstairs study to our living room for my media center pc because the wireless lan I had before was too slow. However I'm having trouble getting it working. I bought two single outlet cat6 faceplates but never having wired an ethernet outlet before I thought I'd ask for some advice as to whether I've done it correctly.

Basically, the outlet comes with two banks of four connections looking similar to this
jack.jpg


I have simply pushed the 4 pairs of wires into the appropriate connector. Is that all I needed to do? If so I must have done it wrong because I'm gettin 'Network Cable Unplugged' :)

Any advice?
 
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Are the cables making contact with the gold coloured connections at the bottom of the connector? Also, are you sure that both ends are wired up correctly?

1 - Orange/white
2 - Orange
3 - Green/white
4 - Blue
5 - Blue/white
6 - Green
7 - Brown/white
8 - Brown
 
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No i didn't use a punchdown tool, I just pushed the cables into the sockets so it's possible that the connections aren't being made correctly. Where might I get one from?

I also used stranded wire because I wasn't able to get any solid core. Is this going to cause me problems?
 
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Eeek.

No wonder it's not working.

The idea of IDC terminals is that you push the wire in with a punchdown tool, it splices the insulation and cuts off the excess.
 
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I didn't know that and there were no instructions with it so thanks for the info. Any idea where I might get one from and any problem with the cable being stranded?
 
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You could just use a flat blade screwdriver to push the wires down into the connectors. Make sure that you push them right in though.

It'll be much easier with a punchdown tool which I think you can get from B&Q.

Stranded over solid core cable shouldn't be a problem but I can see the connection not being as strong because the IDC connector won't have a single strand to grip onto.
 
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Let us know how you get on. I just bought a load of cat6 network/telecoms cabling & faceplates this afternoon with a view to wiring it all up sometime over the few days.
The guy at the counter who sold me the cat6 cable advised me to get the solid variety as he said it would be much easier to connect to the outlets. It was cheap enough at around £2.50 for 8 metres so if you have to change to solid it shouldn't break your bank.

No competitor talk please!
 
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FishPolice said:
It was cheap enough at around £2.50 for 8 metres so if you have to change to solid it shouldn't break your bank.

It's not the money that's the problem, it's the pulling up of floorboard and re-routing through wall channels etc :) Anyway, I've ordered a Punchdown tool so I'll see how I get on with the stranded first
 
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I tried bodging a CAT5 faceplate with a flat head screwdriver once. Waste of time - punchdown tool is money well spent (well, it is if work buys it for you :D)
 
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If you are wiring quite a few faceplates, a LAN tester can come in handy. I had to wire 40 double port faceplates in a new building last week to a patch panel. When you get tired, its quite easily to mix the colours up. :)

Its hard to beat a Krone tool for the job.
 
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I stand by my flathead tbh. That's all a Krone tool is :p but with a fancy clicky bit that cuts the excess conductor off.
But yeah tone tester would be useful as it'll tell you whether you've wired it up ok. More expensive ones will tell you which pairs aren't working or crosswired or higher impedance which basically means not crimped/punched hard enough.
 
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I just did the same and stripped the ends of the wires off (despite using the punchdown tool). I'm new to this and the instructions in the pack were rubbish.

Not done the other end yet - should it still work or will I have problems? Had to make sure the pairs were twisted together right up to the last point as well.

I hope it works as it's plastered behind the wall and I've got not excess cable to play with. :(
 
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:rolleyes: don't ever plaster over a cable. Least of all an unfinished run. You should run the cable down a pipe to the back box that way it can be removed with little hassle.

you stripped the ends of the wires off?? how..or why? what were you doing :s
 
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Skilldibop said:
:rolleyes: don't ever plaster over a cable. Least of all an unfinished run. You should run the cable down a pipe to the back box that way it can be removed with little hassle.

you stripped the ends of the wires off?? how..or why? what were you doing :s

Yes - now after reading this thread I have realised I was a total network cabling noob :rolleyes: I had a home networking kit, as stated the instructions were poor to say the least. It didn't say the punchdown tool caused the clips to make connection when the wire was pushed down.

I did do a search on the web as I thought that I shouldn't have to strip the wires, but nothing I found said otherwise.

I stripped them with wire strippers. :)

Oh well. If it doesn't work I'll get a set of Solwise PL-85PE Homeplug Ethernet Adaptors. :)

LOL @ Scream ;)
 
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Well I got the punchdown tool today and still no success. Hopefully I will be able to borrow a LAN tester tomorrow to help figure out where the problem is.

I do have one (probably stupid) question though. The outlets I've installed are connected to a switch at one end and a PC at the other. The cable between the two outlets is wired straight through (ie no crossover). I shouldn't need crossover cables between the PC and the outlet and the outlet and the switch should I?
 
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OK so I got hold of a LAN tester today and I still can't get this thing working. I've been and fetched some solid core cat6 cable to replace my stranded cable and also fetched two more outlet sockets and it still doesn't work.

Basically, it seems that if I don't strip the ends of the cable (i.e. punch it into the socket with the sleeving still on each core) it doesn't make the connection. But if I strip the sleeving on the cores they won't stay in the connectors.

Can one of you pros give any advice here as to the correct way to do it?
 
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