How to compress the Internet cable correctly

When conducting a local network in apartments and private homes, there is often a problem with crimping the network cable. Sometimes even with all the necessary tools, you can not perform this operation correctly. And all because the network cable RJ-45 has its own characteristics, which are necessarily taken into account when carrying out such work. And today we will consider how to properly compress the Internet cable with your own hands. To do this, you will need to prepare certain tools and carefully read the instructions given.

Features of network elements

Most often RJ-45, which is used when connecting a computer to a local network, is called a twisted pair. This cable is 4 or 8 small wires, interconnected in pairs. Each of them has its own dense shell. Why twisted pair? It's very simple - this kind of cable structure allows to reduce interference when passing electrical signals. By the way, if it is an Internet connection with a speed of up to 100 Mbps, only two twisted pairs, that is, four wires, can be used to conduct electrical signals. However, to build more high-speed gigabit networks it is necessary to use cables with 4 pairs. Experts argue that the use of such conductors in the future will become more common. But so far in most homes where cable Internet is provided, RJ-45 with four wires is used.

Crimping methods

There are two methods of crimping the mains wire:

• Straight.
• Cross.

Schemes for both you can see in the photo below. As we see, with the direct version, both ends of the cable have the same arrangement of conductors in the connector. Cross mode also means crimping the pair on different sides of the cable. In this case, a different order of connecting the conductors is used.

Which method do you use to connect your home network? It's very simple - a direct method is used when one computer connects to the Internet. Cross-over is applied only when it becomes necessary to connect two computers to each other. That is, having one laptop or PC at home, it is better to use a direct method of connecting the cable.

How to crimp an Internet cable at home? Cooking tools

In fact, you can deal with the twisted pair with your own hands, even if you do not have a lot of knowledge about local networks. As for the tools, they can be bought in any computer store in the city, and for a small price. So, what we need to buy:

• 1.5-2 meters of RJ-45 cable.
• Special connectors.
• Caps.
• Scalpel or side cutters.
• LAN tester.
• Well, and most importantly - a tool that will compress the cable "twisted pair" in a few seconds. He's called a crimper. It can be purchased at a price of 500 to 2 thousand rubles, depending on the modification, as well as the number of functions performed. With it, we can fix the connectors and crimp the cable. Outwardly, this device is a mechanism such as pliers.

How can I compress the Internet cable "4 wires"? Getting Started

Having prepared all the necessary materials and tools, you can start working. Before you compress the Internet cable, you must first remove the layer of external insulation from it. As for length, for connection it is enough to remove 2,5-3 centimeter of wire insulation. You can remove a thick plastic shell both with a knife and with the help of the crimper itself. Now almost all crimping tools have a special blade for removing an extra layer of insulation from a twisted pair. After that, a thin nylon thread will be visible near the wires - it can be safely cut off.

By the way, when stripping the cable, the length of the twisted pair must not be more than 1.25 centimeters. To be more convenient, it is advisable to use special "mites", which have knives with a stop.

How to crimp the Internet cable now? We untangle two twisted pairs of conductors and align them for the following operations. After preparation, you can start the crimping procedure. It is done strictly according to the scheme.

Note that before processing the twisted pair with a crimper, it must be as flat as possible, and the wires must be parallel to each other. If necessary, you can shorten the explorer in two times. This is done with the help of a blade on the crimper.

Working with a crimper

Next comes the most important part of the work. So, we put on the connector and gently squeeze it with a crimper. To do this, enter the conductors in the network cable connector RJ-45. It is important to remember that all colors must match, that is, white is connected strictly to white, blue to blue and so on. But here it is necessary to note one small point. Before you compress the Internet cable, note that the network will work even if different wire colors were connected to the connector. True, this applies only to several types of elements. For example, instead of blue, you can connect white-blue, instead of orange - orange-blue, etc.

Also, make sure that the conductor has precisely entered the retracted hole on the connector. Otherwise, the transfer of data, and accordingly, the operation of the Internet on the PC will be impossible. After making sure the colors are correct and the conductors are positioned, take the crimper and squeeze the network cable. This is done like this: the cable and connector are inserted into the device and the handles are compressed on the last. Note that this element has several holes for different types of wires (4P2S, RJ-12 and many others), namely three. Specifically for the RJ-45 cable this hole is in the middle.

Checking the results of work

But on this question, how to squeeze a 4-wire cable for the Internet with their own hands, is not yet fully resolved. Next, we have to verify the correctness of the work done. This is done not by a "method of poking", but with the help of a special device - a LAN tester. How to use this tool? First, plug the cable connectors into the tester. Next, the device is connected to the power. If the tester does not detect any errors, all the indicators on it will light up one by one, one by one. If you notice that the instrument "missed" one of the wires (one indicator did not light up), then there is a loose contact in the socket. In this case, the network cable undergoes a repeated crimping procedure and is again tested.

What if the crimp did not solve the problem?

In this case, the problem may be hiding in the connector. It happens that at the entrance veins can twist in it, and then it is simply impossible to guarantee the tightness of the connection of the contacts. Try replacing the connector with another one. In most cases this helps when connecting to a local network.

Conclusion

Everything, at this stage, our cable is ready for use. Similarly, as described above, we process the second end of the wire. After that, you can safely bring it to the computer. The main thing here is not to forget the order of connecting the conductors. So, we figured out how to compress the Internet cable with our own hands. As you can see, the whole procedure is very simple and understandable, and takes only a few minutes.