Rewiring cables...

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brisk

Limp Gawd
Joined
Aug 5, 2004
Messages
219
Ah...this nightmare has finally came up.

I need to rewire our network setup which is a MESS.

Since the cables were done in-house by maintenance, they might have not followed the standard orange-blue-green-brown so I don't know how that would intefere...

I am trying to cut all the wires and re-connect them to a new patch panel.
(currently its just a direct connect)
should i watch our for anything?
or can i just patch them to the patch panel without much worries.

like i mentioned i am worried about the cable color scheme....

thanks in advance.
 
Cutting the cable while it is still plugged into a device at one end can fry the port of that device. If you just use a pair of wire cutters, the metal of the cutters can bridge the live wires of the cable.

If you must leave the devices plugged in at one end, cut each wire individually to avoid the issue.
 
Thanks for the reply.
so i can use a wire cutter like the one from the crimping tool and i should be ok?

also, should i worry about the color scheme they are configured?
 
brisk said:
Thanks for the reply.
so i can use a wire cutter like the one from the crimping tool and i should be ok?

also, should i worry about the color scheme they are configured?
Click to expand...
Crimping tools still use a metal cutter, so just go one wire at-a-time and disconnect the wire at both ends prior to cutting and re-tipping.

Just pick a color scheme and be consistent at each end of the wire. Probably best to keep that written down somewhere, too.
 
Pick a color scheme? Wire it to established standards Disconnect all equipment (Routers, switches, computers) before cutting the cables. Confirm / rewire the jack or cable at the other end of the run.
 
yea the problem is....the maintenance people didn't follow the color scheme to one...
so its all over...and have no clue where one connects to another.

so...can i just unplug from the switch and then cut one by one?
or do i have to unplug from the wall outlets too....

this is such a headache...casue they didn't follow one color scheme....
 
brisk said:
yea the problem is....the maintenance people didn't follow the color scheme to one...
so its all over...and have no clue where one connects to another.

so...can i just unplug from the switch and then cut one by one?
or do i have to unplug from the wall outlets too....

this is such a headache...casue they didn't follow one color scheme....
Click to expand...

The best/right way to do this would be to disconnect the cables at the switch, disconnect the cables at the far end, install the patch panel, punch down to a standard (probably T568B), install wall plates at the far end if not already in place, punch down wall plates to standard, label each port. You can buy patch cables for between the patch panel and the switch, and for between the wall plate and the device.

I would suggest you take it one cable at a time. Install the patch panel, but don't trim all the cables. Unplug the first cable and try to see where it goes. Once you have that done, you can follow the procedure above.

Your due diligence will be rewarded in the future when you are force to troubleshoot an issue or are adding more drops.
 
I'd suggest unplugging both ends to be certain you will not short out anything, and verifying functionality if it is a live line before moving on to the next wire.
 
An advanced cable tester that tells you the wire configuration would be wonderful in this situation.

Might want to consider buying one for this mess. It will reduce your time trying to figure things out so you have more time to actually re-wire the mess.
 
ooo...do you have a link for such a product???
that would be awesome...
 
How big of a network are you talking about here?

You may want to look at simply contracting this work out, since it will simply require lots of man hours and paying cheap electricians to do the job in bulk would be faster and easier than paying an IT Professional.

If that were not an option, I would consider simply leave the wiring scheme as is and make note of it. Obviously all new additions would be set using the WO/O/WG/Bl/WBl/G/WBr/Br setup.

MorfiusX's suggestion is how a professional would do it and if you want to go through with this, follow his suggestion. Maybe get a second or third person to help make the process faster.
 
just found out...the wall plates are all 586B seems like...
and just the cables from the patch panel to the switches are messed up in terms of color.

wow this puts a load off my back...
 
brisk said:
just found out...the wall plates are all 586B seems like...
and just the cables from the patch panel to the switches are messed up in terms of color.

wow this puts a load off my back...
Click to expand...

Are you sure they aren't wire T568A? Where they made by hand or purchased? Most people use the T568B standard, so it may look a little weird to see the A standard.

Either way, I would still recommend making sure everything is labeled. Order up a bunch of patch cables.
 
yup will order a bunch of patch cables.

im still wondering if i can just leave the computer connected on one end and just unhook it from the switch.....
 
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