This process should only take about 30 seconds or so. Keep a tight grip on the wires during this process.Įventually, you should be able to lighten your grip on the wires and they should mostly stay in order without wanting to veer off in different directions. Once you have the wires in order, join them closer together and then begin to work the wires back and forth to stiffen them. As you do so, lay the wires across the side of your index finger and squeeze them down with your thumb to hold them in place. Follow the chart above and put the wires in order according to the T-568A chart. Let’s put our eight wires in order and get them ready for crimping. So with that said, we’ll be using T-568A for this guide. Plus, it’s more common throughout the rest of the world (and phone lines are on their way out anyway). However, T-568A is becoming more popular and recommended. Most pre-made Ethernet cables you buy (including the ones linked to above) use T-568B. However, for any other normal Ethernet cable, both ends will have the same wiring sequence.Īs for which one to use when making your own Ethernet cables, it doesn’t really matter. T-568B is fairly common in the US because it’s compatible with older telephone gear and you can plug in a phone line to an Ethernet jack that uses T-568B. One end of the cable uses T-568A and the other end uses T-568B. Crossover cables are used to directly network two machines together without the need for a router. It’s mostly so that crossover Ethernet cables can exist. Once you expose the inner wires, you’ll notice that there are four pairs of wires twisted together, resulting in eight wires total. These pairs come in different colors, with one being a solid color and the other being a white wire with a stripe matching the solid color. Step Three: Untwist and Separate All the Wires You don’t need to do this if you’re careful enough with the crimping tool, but it’s an added precaution that you can take if you want. By pulling on the fiber strands to cut away more of the outer jacket and then cutting the inside wires just below where the possible nick might be, you eliminate any and all risk of a cable malfunction. Why do this, though? Because when you use your crimping tool to cut away the outer jacket, there’s always the chance that you’ll nick the inside wires ever so slightly. But the main reason those strands are there is so that you can pull them down to cut away even more of the outer jacket.

This gives the cable some added strength when you’re pulling on it so that the inside wires don’t receive all of the stress. You also might notice a set of very thin hair-like strands. After that, you can pull off the jacket to expose the smaller wires inside.

Crimp process monitor