Lengthen Cat5e cables

jpcolin

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Mar 15, 2015
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Hi,

I'm in the proces of rebuilding my home network, and put a new rack(cabinet) but not at the same place it used to be.
Some cable are long enought, but other are going to mis 2-3m, what is the best way to lengthen them?

I found plug cable couplers and punch couplers. any differences in quality?
should i take Cat5e or better cat6?
Is there another (better) option? I would like something that is CERTIFIED.

PS1:Replacing the cables is not an option.
PS: I need Gigabit speed.

thanks
 
Last edited:
Just stretch them!;)

Not sure you'll get any solution certified, once the spiral and twist rates are disturbed (as in an RJ45 plug or one of those splice box type things) you'll lose any certification the cable had.

That said, for home, and gigabit and providing you're using at least cat5 cable (cat5e preferred), depending on the length of the runs, you should be fine.

I've seen some shoddy get-ups over the years and they don't have problems.

That said, I've also seen over 100m runs of Cat3 cable and they wonder why they are having random intermittent VOIP issues:eek::eek:
 
do you think there is any difference between plug cable coupler and punch couplers?
I think the twist rate disturbation is shorter with punch coupler isn't it?
 
Honestly, you're better off pulling a new length.

Trying to patch the cable isn't worth the time and effort. All you wind up with is an unreliable cable.
 
Use the existing as a pull string for a new run. Shouldn't take you a couple of hours, if that. Then next time, leave 10ft+ (if not 30ft) spooled up in ceiling, or somewhere so you don't have this problem again.
 
just get some wirenuts

it'll be fine..

or just strip all the wires, twist them together, and put some electrical tape around them


[/when a phone guy gives network advice]
 
Dear lord just use cat5e cable couplers. They work just fine as long as total length is within specs.
 
just get some wirenuts

it'll be fine..

or just strip all the wires, twist them together, and put some electrical tape around them


[/when a phone guy gives network advice]


Oh god. I can't count how many times I've had to fix station wire in basements because grandpa electrical taped them all together. And 30 years of people walking on the floor above has loosened up the connections.
 
I had to do this to about 30 cables in one of our buildings because one of the switches was installed in a closet back in the day.

There was no way I was going to rerun that many cables. A lot of them were pretty long runs and the stuff up in the ceiling was/is a huge mess.

I ended up using shielded RJ45 couplers to connect the old runs to the new runs I made from that closet to the server room. It has been at least 2 years and I have not had a single problem with any of them.

You just have to make sure that the cables get clicked in to the couplers all the way.

I bought the shielded couplers from monoprice.com
 
Oh god. I can't count how many times I've had to fix station wire in basements because grandpa electrical taped them all together. And 30 years of people walking on the floor above has loosened up the connections.

HAHA! You should have seen the old phone room and the secondary phone closet where I work.

The person that was in charge of it quit, and I had to figure out everything from scratch. The wiring was a huge mess and for the first 6 months or so I would dread every time I had to go there to fix stuff and/or change an extension to a different office.

Some of the wiring came in and went to one punchdown panel and then was jumpered to a second punch down panel. A lot of the wire was rapped around so many things it was nigh impossible to trace.

And tracing wires to office was a huge undertaking as almost nothing was labeled, and a lot of the stuff that was labeled was incorrect. And a tone generator didn't work on a lot of the runs.

I will never, ever work on a system like that again.
 
Honestly, you're better off pulling a new length.

Trying to patch the cable isn't worth the time and effort. All you wind up with is an unreliable cable.

Like i said this is not an option, to many turn in the concerte, if it failes i lose the cables...
I don't want to take the risk.
solder or twist is not a good option IMHO

So i guess i'll try shielded couplers and see what happens.
 
Like i said this is not an option, to many turn in the concerte, if it failes i lose the cables...
I don't want to take the risk.
solder or twist is not a good option IMHO

So i guess i'll try shielded couplers and see what happens.

Wait so you cannot pull through your conduit due to too many turns??? Who planned that conduit? :eek:
 
Wait so you cannot pull through your conduit due to too many turns??? Who planned that conduit? :eek:

Partly me, but you have to know when it's not a new build, you have so much to take into account, that you're often happy to be able to route 4 utp cables to your living room...
 
Female to female RJ45 adapters?

C5C45FFE_LR.jpg
 
as a network engineer... i would say you need to punch it down either at a block or on a biscuit jack. As a cheap ass, i would say you can probably get away with a cable splice.
 
The couplers are probably the best bet. Make sure the splices are all accessible though, treat it like it's an electrical junction box.
 
If you use couplers do not leave them hanging, mount them to something.
When couplers fail if they work initially it is almost always mechanical from them hanging.
I have drilled holes in some scrap wood spaced just wider than the couplers and zip tied the couplers to the board then mounted the board to the wall and to this day it is still in pace with zero issue 10+ years down the road.
 
If you use couplers do not leave them hanging, mount them to something.
When couplers fail if they work initially it is almost always mechanical from them hanging.
I have drilled holes in some scrap wood spaced just wider than the couplers and zip tied the couplers to the board then mounted the board to the wall and to this day it is still in pace with zero issue 10+ years down the road.
Thank you for the tips! It's stuff like this that makes this place awesome. :cool:
 
I guess that's why we spend so many hours on forums ;-)
there is much more in a community's head that my head alone ;-)
Absolutely! It's amazing how much one can learn from just reading forums. The world's knowledge is there, written by people like you and me. :cool:
 
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