Kind of a minor question, but I finally have burned through the last of around 30k feet of cable + install I got years ago and time to get some more for the first time in awhile. I've dealt with a lot of the typical, Commscope/Aba/Monoprice/Belden etc and never noticed any particular differences in tested performance via a Fluke or defect rates, everything these days seems pretty reliable. But some have been mildly more pleasant to deal with in minor ways when it comes to terminating it, how well inner strands are colored, how finicky various toolless systems are etc. I've seen the occasional shielded jack that conked out awhile later after passing tests at initial install which is always a touch irksome, but I have no real feeling for if that's expected from time to time or some companies have more reliable designs then others. It's a boring topic vs the typical but also something that does take up a certain amount of time and is foundational so just was a little curious if there were any strong opinions, or any magical easy termination systems people enjoy working with. "Eh, everything is fine, just make sure UL/ETC cert is valid if you actually have CMP/CMR spec'd" would be a fine answer too!
Anyone have any particular bulk ethernet cable/plugs/keystone brand they like?
- Thread starter xoa
- Start date
I've only ever used Suttle terminations and closures professionally. Even the tool-less jacks were reliable.
Never needed shielded twisted-pair and I haven't done anything beyond Cat5e, though.
Belden is what we got supplied with. As long as the conductors are pure copper and not CCA, brand should be a non-issue.
Never needed shielded twisted-pair and I haven't done anything beyond Cat5e, though.
Belden is what we got supplied with. As long as the conductors are pure copper and not CCA, brand should be a non-issue.
I've used the Cable Matters keystone Cat 6 jack over the past 10 years and never had any issues with them.
As for cable, just make sure you buy solid copper. None of that copper clad garbage.
As for cable, just make sure you buy solid copper. None of that copper clad garbage.
It’s admittedly been like 10 or so years since I did regular cable work, but I used to really like Legrand stuff. I might be a smidge biased because I got pretty good at punching down their shit really quick from using so much of it.
If I were buying stuff today that’s what I’d look at though, just because it always worked reliably years ago.
If I were buying stuff today that’s what I’d look at though, just because it always worked reliably years ago.
Thanks for the replies all! Shielded is a requirement and it doesn't look like Primex/Suttle deals with that though, otherwise looks quality. I've had some good experiences with Cable Matters shielded patch panels, adapters etc, but hadn't really considered them on the plug side, so will certainly take a look at that. I think mainly I just need to remember to pay attention to spec'd insulation diameter range and make sure there isn't a mismatch between connector and cable.
And yeah I avoid CCA in general, I'm sure it has its place but doesn't apply where I'm at. I'm pretty sure the majority of US cable makers at least are pure copper, though IIRC NY Cables does both copper and CCA so you needed to pay attention to the specs. Good reminder though.
And yeah I avoid CCA in general, I'm sure it has its place but doesn't apply where I'm at. I'm pretty sure the majority of US cable makers at least are pure copper, though IIRC NY Cables does both copper and CCA so you needed to pay attention to the specs. Good reminder though.
For all my shielded cable needs I've taken to just using Ubiquiti stuff. Cheap, easy to work with.
We had an unethical vendor use a bunch of CCA for a deployment across a handful of projects (and we didn't catch that - they billed us for Belden), and it has been an absolute nightmare. The wires are stiffer and have a habit of fracturing at terminations, so after about a year or so they were failing at both the jacks and the patch panels. Our environment is also a bit on the harsh side (some heat and humidity) and the aluminum was causing issue with corrosion - both plain corrosion in exposed bits of wire (at the jacks, mainly, but also any little nick in the wire grew into a failure point where copper would have probably survived for many years) as well as inducing galvanic corrosion in the jacks and punch-downs.
The company that installed it disappeared and it wasn't worth pursuing them in court and they would probably file bankruptcy anyway, so we ended up paying to have all of it torn out and done over with another contractor.
CCA is garbage that will cost you much more in the long run vs just spending the money up front on good cable. The bulk of the cost of any wiring project is the labor, after all, not the wire.
The company that installed it disappeared and it wasn't worth pursuing them in court and they would probably file bankruptcy anyway, so we ended up paying to have all of it torn out and done over with another contractor.
CCA is garbage that will cost you much more in the long run vs just spending the money up front on good cable. The bulk of the cost of any wiring project is the labor, after all, not the wire.
I’ve learned to hate Siemon for their jacks and faceplates.
Just about anything else is better.
The little plastic bits just fall apart after a few years of service, so the terminated jacks inevitably fall into the faceplates when a cable is inserted.
Just about anything else is better.
The little plastic bits just fall apart after a few years of service, so the terminated jacks inevitably fall into the faceplates when a cable is inserted.
One thing I saw a few months ago from our cabling vendor is pass-through RJ-45 connectors. It looks soo much easier than standard connectors.
Grabbing the first example google provided...
https://www.truecable.com/products/...Vs-s10UAC3CA1Va4ErUMs_gbBXS86tgMaAuMFEALw_wcB
Grabbing the first example google provided...
https://www.truecable.com/products/...Vs-s10UAC3CA1Va4ErUMs_gbBXS86tgMaAuMFEALw_wcB
Yep, those have been a thing for a while now. They are a bit easier, though it's not much of a difference once you've done enough terminations to know about where to cut off the wire for a standard fitting. But for those who do them intermittently, I can definitely see the appeal.
Biggest advantage to me would be being able to confirm the wiring order. Doesn't happen often, but I can't be the only one that's been burned by wires moving around on them.
Downside of them is that the blade that cuts the wires at the end must always be PERFECTLY sharp. If not, the copper ends can flatten out enough to short with an adjacent wire, AND there can be just enough badly-cut wire sticking out (even if only a fraction of a mm) to prevent the plug from inserting all the way into some jacks. I've had it happen more than once, with different techs and at different sites.
I strongly prefer to use the right tool for the right job - solid-core wiring to be punched down into a jack or patch panel, then use a mass-produced patch cable to connect the jack to equipment. Even decent patch cables are $1-5 each - there really is no point in making them for most jobs, and crimping is more of a PITA than punching down anyway, and less reliable.
I hate it when male plugs are crimped directly onto solid core wiring because inevitably the tech uses a "normal" plug meant for stranded wire (which is 99% of them) instead of the special ones designed for solid-core wiring (that are still crap, BTW), and then they inevitably start failing after being unplugged and moved a couple times. I see this all the time for WAPs. The right way to do it is to punch the wire into a jack, clip the jack onto a biscuit, label the biscuit, and clip the biscuit to a wire hanger, then I can use a flexible patch cable to get down to the WAP. Morons insist on just crimping the plug on, and then I have to bend and contort the stiff wire to feed in to the AP or some wall-mounted timeclock where the Ethernet port is a right angle and hope the strain doesn't pull the copper strands out of the plug over time because they are smooth and have nothing for the plug's contacts to grip.
IMHO, a competent tech can make even crappy wires/plugs/jacks reliable and serviceable (while swearing the whole time), while a thumb-fingered idiot can take the best wiring system in the world and turn into so much expensive junk, and screw up your walls/ceilings in the process.
I strongly prefer to use the right tool for the right job - solid-core wiring to be punched down into a jack or patch panel, then use a mass-produced patch cable to connect the jack to equipment. Even decent patch cables are $1-5 each - there really is no point in making them for most jobs, and crimping is more of a PITA than punching down anyway, and less reliable.
I hate it when male plugs are crimped directly onto solid core wiring because inevitably the tech uses a "normal" plug meant for stranded wire (which is 99% of them) instead of the special ones designed for solid-core wiring (that are still crap, BTW), and then they inevitably start failing after being unplugged and moved a couple times. I see this all the time for WAPs. The right way to do it is to punch the wire into a jack, clip the jack onto a biscuit, label the biscuit, and clip the biscuit to a wire hanger, then I can use a flexible patch cable to get down to the WAP. Morons insist on just crimping the plug on, and then I have to bend and contort the stiff wire to feed in to the AP or some wall-mounted timeclock where the Ethernet port is a right angle and hope the strain doesn't pull the copper strands out of the plug over time because they are smooth and have nothing for the plug's contacts to grip.
IMHO, a competent tech can make even crappy wires/plugs/jacks reliable and serviceable (while swearing the whole time), while a thumb-fingered idiot can take the best wiring system in the world and turn into so much expensive junk, and screw up your walls/ceilings in the process.