How to make CAT-5 Cable / Network Wire - EASY with Pass Through Ethernet

[@JohnMassaglia]

Add me to the list of old-school people who have made many cables but have never heard of passthrough connectors. Thanks for this.

[@ein57ein]

Passthrough is the FUTURE!

[@jimbrewer5821]

Thanks Travis! Boy, that pass through looks way easier than jamming them in and so much easier to inspect/verify that you've got your wires in the correct order. Nice job. Now to go update my Christmas list. ;-)

[@margyjr]

Yes!!! Pass Thru is the way to go, I just started using them and they are so easy and trouble free! Thanks again for the great videos, they are much appreciated

[@digiblurDIY]

You are so welcome!

[@ngreed]

Great Video! I just recently started using Pass Through based on one of your other video's. Wow what a difference, I have made cat 5e cable for years the normal way, this is so much easier!

[@ronm6585]

Great video Travis, thank you. This beats the old way of trying to line the wires up straight.

[@digiblurDIY]

Thanks!

[@halsaresnowpaw522]

One important thing I have learned from working with pass-through connectors is to use a SHARP pair of wire cutters when preparing the cable. If the cutters are dull, you can get a little burr on the end of the wire that prevents it from passing through the connector.

[@shaunwhiteley3544]

I do love the pass through, I get a lot neater plug 😀. Cheers

[@MichaelBennett1]

Might want to rename this so it shows up in Ethernet making searches - How to wire up an IPCam or something similar. Great tutorial, very clear and well explained.

[@digiblurDIY]

The title and thumbnail is a joke/test for a bit. I will add it. Thanks!

[@MichaelBennett1]

digiblurDIY I see : )

[@digiblurDIY]

A few of us chatting on Discord one day about ridiculous thumbnails and titles on various videos out there. So I put away my OCD for a couple days and did one.

[@hkitservices]

Never knew about those passthrough, Will look for them next time ! Thanks

[@jamess1787]

These jacks not might fit properly in all of the different types of female jacks. Had issues with patch cables and similar that wouldn't mate properly all of the time, and would disconnect pairs 1&2/pins1&2... Stick with the old way if that works for you.

[@marcusone1]

Great video as usual. Some tips that I do a bit differently. With the passthrough I love to strip way more of the outer case than you do, as I find it easier to manipulate the wires and get them in order. Causes a bit more waste, but who cares about a couple inches more if it makes it easier/faster :) Also, most of the water tight connectors I have for my cameras (Dahua) allow you to pass through a connector (some don't so have to watch out). Either way, most times your passing the cable through a small whole so you need to make an end anyways.

[@digiblurDIY]

I can say going about 50% more is my usual thing when I did the older connectors but I also stripped the outer jacket with scissors and sometimes that wasn't a good idea.

[@andrewlhoover]

I haven't used the passthru ones yet but love the idea. I have about a 100 year supply of the standard connectors from when I used to install for a living.

[@digiblurDIY]

I have a bunch as well and figured I'd use them, but I keep picking up the pass through ones and say next time I'll use those.

[@pikepunk1]

Strip another inch of the sheath off and it makes it much easier to untwist and straighten the cable out. The cable is cheap as well, so no big loss. ALSO, if you find a building being re-cabled, you can usually get 20' cutoffs for free :). Most contractors just throw it out. Custom length (and tested) cables are the best cables.

[@digiblurDIY]

That is the one thing I'm not used to as I used to cut about double what this stripper cuts off when I just used scissors but of course I'd sometimes cut into the wires a little, so I guess there is a trade off. I've gotten used to the shorter wires now.

[@JesseG2573]

2 Things... Well 3. Another great tutorial 👍. I just ordered my wire stripper and cable yesterday 🎁 , AND, I spied that Annke cam🎥 🧐- I have 2 of those C800's up and really like them. I've got 2 CZ500's on the way. 🤬don't tell my wife.

[@digiblurDIY]

Yep, I mounted it up in a test coming up comparing some random cameras.

[@seth2389]

12:49 “Do that little twist” - la chubby checkers! Short and sweet video - been missing hearing from you!

[@digiblurDIY]

I'm trying to get back on track! That whole work work thing with extra hours is a drag!

[@Legendz167]

Question, does it really matter the order in which you put the wires? As long as it’s the same on both ends is all that should matter no? It should transfer the same correct?

[@digiblurDIY]

I'm pretty sure they have the order for a reason.

[@Legendz167]

@@digiblurDIY yeah but it makes sense in my mind unless the data that’s being transferred doesn’t like one color code over the other 🤷🏻‍♂️

[@Legendz167]

@@digiblurDIY nevermind, it’s a crosstalk and interference thing so that’s why it’s a must. I could had just googled it instead of bothering you. My bad

[@digiblurDIY]

Kind of what I figured too based on the different twist rates and such of each pair.

[@neilwrightson5660]

You should also mention that there are different crimps for solid core wire and stranded wire. It is about the number of piercings going through the single strand insulation.

[@digiblurDIY]

Very true! I have seen some failed wires due to this.

[@lindsayreid8347]

Where do I get the weatherprooof housings from that mate wth the lockable ones already moulded onti the cable from the camera. I don't mind the different colour but would like to know where to get them from - can't find them - maybe I'm not searching for the correct thing! Greatly enjoy the channel just a shame some stuff is not easily available in Europe! Seems ridiculous when much of it is made in China!

[@digiblurDIY]

All the outdoor cameras I have seen come with them. Even the cheapest of brands.

[@videolan]

@@digiblurDIY I know the camera comes with inbuilt lead but I want to make up my own lead to connect to the camera lead and want to buv a spare shell to put my male RJ45 in. Any ideas where to get one other than hikvision or the like?

[@pbolduc]

I forgot where I read it, but some people have had issues with PoE and the pass thru connectors. It may have been on the Ubiquiti forums. I have a bunch of those pass thru connects and they are great.

[@digiblurDIY]

I've had some running outdoors for 8 months or more now as well as a couple of the "hurricane cams" were done with pass throughs. I'll keep an eye out for it though.

[@pbolduc]

@@digiblurDIY It is probably fine. All I could find was a reply in a reddit thread where the person said some equipment says don't use, but I suspect that could be data center / enterprise type stuff.

[@gdaphunkiest]

I've used the pass thru with my unifi network, and only had a problem once, but I can't quite remember which piece of gear it was. To be fair though my old school crimper didn't cut too. I should probably pick one of those up. How do you like that Klein?

[@digiblurDIY]

Haven't had any issues with them and my last ones that had for years were the same brand and still work so stuck with it.

[@halsaresnowpaw522]

I have had more problems with the non-passthrough than I have had with the pass-through ones. I really don't see much difference in the two as far as how they work in crimping to the wires. Only problem with pass-through I have had is if you don't get the wires cut flush or the connector you are plugging into doesn't have enough open space behind the plug and causes the wires to short.

[@unmeshagarwala8156]

The tester doesn't check to see if you've got the twisted pairs done correctly, just whether there is continuity between like pins. I managed to make that mistake once and it took me a long time to figure out why transmission speeds were poor, so double and triple check the order of the wires against the standard.

[@digiblurDIY]

Had that issue once. It wouldn't go gigabit. Kept dropping back. Plugged my tester in and saw a pair messed up. Now it won't do the bandwidth test. You would need one of those certify style testers but those are out of my budget.

[@unmeshagarwala8156]

@@digiblurDIY In my case, I had made the same mistake at both ends so the continuity tester did not see a problem but the crosstalk between channels was messed up.

[@robbob88]

"No, not that kind of stripper!" lol 3.54

[@markloughtonUK]

Tip:. Use your phone to take a close up picture of the wires once they are in/through the connector and then zoom in to check the order before crimping :)

[@digiblurDIY]

Don't tell the young folks with good eyes our tricks! Works great for reading menus too in dimly lit restaurants. Phone adjusts the brightness/contrast and you can zoom too ;)

[@markloughtonUK]

@@digiblurDIY Very true. I used to have my young son read the menu out to me but now I have varifocals :)

[@kimlienhornbaker221]

why are t he wires colored do they need to match on other side ???? I don't know either we need someone to help us right

[@digiblurDIY]

You put them in the order.

[@lelandclayton5462]

Passthrough connectors are the devil. Reason I say that is AT&T doesn't supply the correct crimp tool so when a ATT Tech decides to change the B-Side cables I run in a house to A-Side there is enough wire still passing through that either shorts out the connection or the RJ45 can't seat correctly. Typically B-Side is used for commercial but it's getting to be a normal thing to see in residential. I honestly don't see a difference and some people would freak out if they saw me terminate a CAT5e/CAT6/CAT6a cable.

[@hienngo6730]

One other hint for the outdoor, weather-sealed connectors that I picked up from ipcamtalk: use a dielectric grease inside the connector and cable head. Even with the gaskets and seals put in place, moisture can still sometimes find its way into the connector cause rust and connection issues. The type of crimp-on cat 5/6 connector that I've used are ones with an insert: www.monoprice.com/manual/How%20to%20-%20crimp%20RJ45%20w%20inserts.pdf I've never used pass-through cables before, but they definitely seem to be very quick and convenient.

[@digiblurDIY]

Not a bad idea at all! Reminds me of the direct burial gel filled cables.

[@lmamakos]

There's a style of CAT-6 certified connections that I got from Monoprice that has a small plastic insert thing to organize the individual wires. When pushed into the connector, it ends up right under the pins when they are crimped. This lets you easily organize the wires and convince yourself they're in the correct (568A :-) order. You trim the wires off where they protrude through the insert before inserting into the connector body for crimping. This eliminates the wires ends sticking out of the end of the RJ48 plug when you're done.. See www.monoprice.com/product?p_id=7266 for the connector and downloads.monoprice.com/files/manuals/7266_Manual_090327.pdf for details on the insert that's used. There's a generic video there too, but no stripper jokes, so you can skip it. Also, if it was me, I would think LONG and HARD about purchasing and installing CAT6 cable if you're never, ever going to need performance beyond what CAT5e can provide. Like when doing a run to a camera. The CAT6 cable is more expensive, and worse, less flexible and more bulky and a real pain in the ass to pull as compared to CAT5, CAT5e cables. Thanks for the video!

[@digiblurDIY]

Not sure if I cut that part as I tend to ramble a bit on videos and make them twice as long as they should but I fully agree! I see people running CAT-6 to cameras when they don't have interference issues to deal with they just figure it is better when they don't realize that the vast majority of cameras handshake at 100mbit and then data rates are 10mbit or less on them. The big thing they should worry about is using solid copper cables and not CCA.

[@jamess1787]

I'm watching the video because I'm not an old guy. But pass through, no thanks!

[@digiblurDIY]

What's the downside to pass through?

[@jamess1787]

@@digiblurDIY had issues with some jacks not fitting properly, maybe Klein doesn't have that problem. Had a few different mfg of female jacks that would connect, but any horizontal movement of the cable would disconnect first 2 pins, breaking the link. Really frustrating. Sticking with normal terminations solved that problem. PoE and shorting out is also a concern with dull blades and sloppy cuts.

[@lelandclayton5462]

@@jamess1787 I agree 100%. I just strip a good 2 inches off, straighten out the conductors then put them in order followed by trimming off the excess. Professional every time.

[@richardu6947]

Love the channel, but this was painful to watch. Just strip 3-4 inches, straighten each wire, cut off the last 1/2" (cause that never gets straight), feed the wires in one at a time (after a wire goes in, bend the end a bit to hold it in place while you work with the others). So much faster with no need to "massage" your wires.

[@digiblurDIY]

I do usually cut them a little longer to make it easier but rolled with the measured striper length for others to get a standard measure. I have tried that method with one at a time but didn't end up well.

[@richardu6947]

Make sure you aren't putting Cat5 cable in a Cat6 plug.