Smackre

Need a cord ASAP. I mean like right now. It needs to be 135 ft long. the longest i got is 100. i was wondering if i took a 100 and a 50 and cut them and wire nutted them togeter would it work well? would it be a permant solution. Let me know what you guys think. id think it would work as long as u kept the connections good. Wirenut it and then tape it real well so none of them would ever come lose. But hell you never know.

also im looking for a computer application for testing cat5 lines. i know they make little thing you just plug in and test them. but i was thinking if i had a application i could just keep on my laptop it would be cheaper. and for the little i do with cables it would work nicely. Well let me know if u guys know of any.

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Craven Morehead

You can buy bulk Cat5 cable (from a large spool) at most good electronic shops. They also sell easy to attach plugs ofr the end. You might need a special tool for crimping, depends on the type you get. I'm not sure Cat5 is rate for over 100 ft. Maybe Cat5e, not sure. Someone here will know.

vanblah

You might get a spliced cable to work. I've had luck doing it in the past.

I wouldn't use wire-nuts though ... just use electrical tape on each wire and then tape the whole thing together.

For a permanent solution I'd go get a crimper, some CAT5 and some RJ45 keys at Home Depot.

Or go wireless ...

Final edit-- remember, twisted pair is twisted for a reason ... try to keep from straightening out the cables too much.

TheProf

I one had an issue where I needed to connect 2 cables.

Just went out and got a connecter for a few bucks. You just plug the cable into either end and you're done.

Looks like this:

Smackre

i tried that once TheProf didnt seem to work well. Maybe it was just a fluke.

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cyrnel

Was it an enet connector or a phone connector? It may have been a crossover adapter. There are several connectors that would appear to accept the enet cables while providing 130ft of nothing.

100M is the spec limit but it's affected by device implementation and cable "flaws". Wire nuts would be flaw-tastic, as would untwisted sections or big, nasty, exposed and wrapped pieces of the cable. They act as antenna and the straight sections destroy noise immunity. As mentioned, if you must, just splice as cleanly as possible keeping as much twist as possible.

<a href="http://www.swhowto.com/CAT5_Ch1.htm">Here's one of a bazillion how-to's.</a>

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pixelbend

Just go down to your local independent PC dealer. They can probably cut a cable to your specs. Probably be prertty cheap too.

Incidentally, the maximum cable length for Cat5 ethernet cable is 100 meters or 328 feet.

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ratbastid

Incidentally, re using your laptop as a cable tester, you may not need anything special. Does your laptop's ethernet port have an LED in it that lights up when the line is hot? If so, that's exactly the same hardware that's in the standalone tester.

If not... Well, try and pull a DHCP connection or route through a gateway to another machine, especially if the laptop's network config already works on this network though known-good cables. That'll tell you soon enough if the cable's any good.

Smackre

shrug it dont matter anymore. i just broke down and bought a cable tester and a crimper. i also bought 300ft of cable. so ill just half to rerun that 135ft spliced cable when it gets here. i read that guide on how to install the wall mounts and stuff. now im gonna go back threw and fix all mine. i untwisted 2-3 inches on them. guess i should read up on stuff b4 i jump into them. but i guess thats how u learn hehe. guess ill have alittle bit of work for next weekend hehe. about the only thing i did do right was the nice fancy wall mounted network boxes i installed on the walls. But i will tell you it sucks running wire in a 4' dirt cubby hole that has not been access in 10 years. ive never seen so many dam spiders. and its fuken so dam hot. i wish i could talk these people into wireless hehe.

Some reason my print server is acting weird. If it sits idal for a few hours it seems to not want to work. when i go to print it says print server connection failure. its a linksys print server. Not sure if it could be a bad connection on the keystone wall jack. because i did untwist 2' of cable which could cause problems.

I will say i am impressed by the "Netdisk" i installed. ive net NAS devises in the past and they seemed shabby. But this one is nice. Works Great and fast. A+++ for it.

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sailor

I thought Cat5 wasnt rated for runs longer than 100ft...

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portwineboy

Cat5 is rated to 100 meters, about 300 feet.

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DEI37

Yeah, just get one of those connector thingies shown above. Those work slick...I've used 'em before with no problems.

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bendsley

Lowes and Home Depot can cut Cat5E to your specs on length. Most hardware stores like that should also carry similar. As for 130ft, thats easy to do with Cat5E.

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PenguinsRock

I would also recommend a bulk cable. I bought a 100ft cable bulk and put the ends on it and it was 1/4 the price of a 100ft store bought cable.

Cuatela

Might be stupid to say, but what about Cat6? wouldn't that be better?

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pixelbend

Only if you have Gigabit NICs. Even then, out of a server/client environment, you'll have a hard time filling a 100Mbit (Cat5) pipe. Keep in mind that broadband internet ranges from 512k to 6 or 8 Mbits (and that's usually fiber).

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cyrnel

Whatever CAT, distance should not be a factor unless you run loops around an a/c compressor, parallel the household 110V, or really butcher the splice. I've run cheap equipment across 200M over unspliced cables. For modern chipsets the 100M spec is as much to do with collision avoidance timing, and if this is a switched or one-to-one connection the collisions will be minimal unless it's all local two-way file transfers.

If it's just a temporary can & string, use whatever you can make work wherever you can get it.
If installing, use the latest you can afford. (CAT6) Anyway, CAT5-6 pricing is a tossup unless the vendor is screwing with you. CAT6 is often cheaper.

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yotta

I've personaly had ethernet runs that were over 100M that gave me problems. Spec says the cable should carry the signal 100M. Cable can, of corse, exceede the spec.

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DEI37

If you have to have a run that long, wouldn't a hub at about 320' help that problem?

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