Making a Cat-7 Cable having both an RJ-45 Connector and a Keystone Jack

[@QuikTechSolutions]

Excellent video David. Terminating shielded cables is another ballgame unto itself. Very clear and detailed.

[@PE4Doers]

Thanks Tony. It did take me a while to get the first cable I tried creating a few months ago.

[@KathrinHausermann]

Brilliant trick with bending the cables ever so slightly :)) I learn a ton in every video you create :)) Thank you :))

[@PE4Doers]

Thanks Kathrin. "Necessity is the Mother of Invention"

[@woodysranch2690]

I am no expert on this, but I do have some suggestions. There are cable tools that have an adjustable cutters which will cut the jacket. Just put the cutter on the cable and spin it around to cut the jacket then pull it off. The position of the cutter is adjustable to avoid cutting the metal shiedling. I would cut the jacket back much further than you did to leave lots of wire to deal with. Will make it easier to thread into the small holes on either end and it doesnt matter because it is cut off anyway. I would avoid cable that does not have stripes on the white wire, that could be very confusing if they get mixed up. I know often you wont know this until you have already bought the cable. More than once I have put the plastic insert upside down into the jack. Since it has perforations to allow the gold connectors to touch the wire and penetrate he insulation, the connection failed. Easy to do for a beginner and the perforations are hard to see. Some connectors do not use the insert at all and some (probably Cat 6 only) allow the wire to protrude past the end of the connector so you can verify proper wire connection before crimping. My cable tester failed which cause no end of grief. One wire was not being tested and I thought I had a bad connection when it was the tester. Important to test the tester on a known good cable. Connectors can be disignated for solid cable, or stranded. Some are good for both types. A cable failure could result from using the wrong type. Be wary of cheap cable which could be CCA - Copper Clad Aluminum, an inferior cable. None of this might be applicable to Cat 7 cable which I have no experience with but thought I would mention it.

[@PE4Doers]

Thanks for all the great feedback and suggestions. This particular cable made it challenging for me the first time I used it. Now however, I really appreciate how well it does with iPerf3 - there is no loss or errors even on my long 180' run at 10G

[@Litt1leMe]

What's the braided for if it's not also being grounded? I was under the impression it needed to be wrapped around the outside of the cable.

[@PE4Doers]

It is meant to be crimped into a shielded connector. If you connector is not shielded then it could be wrapped around (but be careful it will not unwind, or simply cut off.

[@altan_duman]

What about Cat6a. Should I use cat7 or cat6 setting?

[@PE4Doers]

That depends on how long the cable is. I tend to use Cat-7 since it is perfect up to 100-feet for 10gb speeds. Cat-6 about 30-feet , and Cat-6A somewhere in between the other two.

[@JibunnoKage-cj2kz]

You said BLUE to ORANGE... THIS IS WRONG for 'B' standard... BLUE MUST BE NEXT TO GREEN-WHITE THEN BLUE, so the B standard is Left to Right... Orange White, Orange, Green-White, Blue, Blue-White, Green, Brown-White then Brown, if the lock tab is FACING DOWN. Of locking tab faces up then same color order RIGHT to LEFT.

[@PE4Doers]

Thank you very much for reaching out. I would double-check and put up a 'Pinned Comment' with the results.

[@timmark4190]

What’s the crimp tool?

[@PE4Doers]

The tool used to crimp the wires into the RJ-45 connector.

[@timmark4190]

@@PE4Doers May I know the model name pls

[@PE4Doers]

@@timmark4190 Here is one similar that Amazon sells: amzn.to/3HuYiT5 The one I have is no longer available

[@velocityacoustics]

Why all the effort making a cat 7 shielded cable? When 6A UTP cable can do 10 gig 328 feet? Unless you wanted shielded because you are in an environment with a lot of EMI, but looks like you are home, so you arent. CAT 7 is not recognized by the ANSI/TIA for north america. CAT 7 is ISO recognized for other parts of the world. Its all marketing, CAT 7 is not better then 6a. Even cat 6 will do 10 gig at 165 feet UTP

[@PE4Doers]

Honestly, it's just that I have decided to standardize on Cat-7 to give me the extra distance it provides - just in aces I need it. I will be using only Cat-7 going forward, since I have learned that be one generation ahead provide some buffer for the future.