Prev: Seagate ST310014A master password?
Next: Anyone build their own PC driving "cockpit"?
From: VWWall on 16 Jan 2006 10:46
Dave Smith wrote:
> My dog chewed up a section of cat.5 cable from my router to a
> computer. Really. Now that we've eaten the dog, I have to repair the
> damage. The cable is routed through the ceiling of the house and I
> REALLY don't want to do that again, so I'm hoping I can just get
> another length of cable and splice it to the existing one. Is the
> color coding of the wires uniform? If so, can I just solder the wires
> together (insulated of course) or is there some reason that approach
> won't work. I know there are kits for putting new connectors on
> cables, but I'd rather not invest in one for a one time repair.

Easy! Firstly, Ethernet uses only two of the pairs in a CAT-5 cable.
These are usually the orange and green pairs, and these are the only
ones you need to repair.

Start by removing about six inches of the outer jacket from both ends of
the cable. Use a sharp knife, cutting out so as not to nick the inner
wires insulation. Cut two inches off one wire of the orange pair and
two inches of the other wire on the other end of the cable. Strip one
half inch of the insulation from each of the wire ends. Do the same to
the striped orange wires. Now twist the bare ends fo the two solid
orange wires together with pliers, tightly but not so tight as to risk
breaking the conductors. Now wrap the striped orange wires around the
solid orange wire to restore the twist, and twist the bare ends
together. The joints will be separated by about two inches, so they
can't touch. Now, do the same with the green pair, and you're done!

Try it out to make sure you've restored the correct pairs, and then
apply tape insulation to the four joints. Tape the whole cable together
for mechanical protection, laying the un-spliced wires along side. For
good measure you can wrap the whole thing with a layer or two of
aluminum foil for electrical shielding. Not needed, but might
discourage the dog! :-)

This probably introduces less "un-twisted" sections in the cable than
two plugs and a connector. I wouldn't solder the wires, twisted "wire
nuts" have been used in millions of electrical installation at far
higher voltages than this. Just make sure there is no mechanical stress
on the joints. This is better than the many "crimped" joints in added
connectors, especially with an untrained operator and poor crimping
tools, and the cost is zero.

Go for it! :-)

--
Virg Wall, P.E.
From: ISOHaven on 16 Jan 2006 14:35
Ugh, I am so sick of hearing people grip about splicing cables. That is
such a old garbage wives tale!!!

Take a look at the average cable run.

Point A is attached to a punch down. From the punch down you plug in a
cable and run that to your switch.
Point B is attached to some form of wall plate. From that plate you plug in
a cable and run that to you computer.

So from the switch to your computer you have 2 SPLICES!!!! There is
absolutely nothing wrong with a third splice. Hell, you could even argue
that the connectors going into your NIC and switch are splices themselves.
If you are that worried about it then cut your cable and attach one end to a
wall plate, then plug in the other end to the wall plate since that seems to
be "socially acceptable". Heaven forbid you actually connect the wires
together!

We moved a department about 200 feet and left the old cables. We just
spliced in extentions. All those machines run fine using gigabit
connections.

Do splices degrade the signal? Of course. But not enough to worry about.
Especialy if all your lines already have 2 splices in them.


From: thehick on 16 Jan 2006 16:11
"We moved a department about 200 feet and left the old cables. We
just spliced in extentions. All those machines run fine using
gigabit connections"
You sound like a hacker. Splices are a bad idea because they
get hidden in walls. Plates and other types of connections
are usually very visible. This is for long-term support reasons.
And I shudder when I hear someone say that their network
is good because it "works". It'll could work fine and still
be near failing. I like to hear that tests were run and they passed.

having said that, the OP is talking about a home network,
not a business. It doesn't matter!
....thehick

From: ISOHaven on 16 Jan 2006 16:45
This "department" was a subset of our graphics department. They transfer
many gigs per day. The only test I needed to run was transferring 1GB worth
of files before the move and after the move. The copy took the exact same
amount of time. I do not know what a PING alternative is on a MAC so I
didn't even go there.

Also, pop a single panel from the downstairs dropped ceiling and you have
access to all splices for that department.


<thehick(a)canada.com> wrote in message
news:1137445892.381372.97020(a)g47g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
> "We moved a department about 200 feet and left the old cables. We
> just spliced in extentions. All those machines run fine using
> gigabit connections"
> You sound like a hacker. Splices are a bad idea because they
> get hidden in walls. Plates and other types of connections
> are usually very visible. This is for long-term support reasons.
> And I shudder when I hear someone say that their network
> is good because it "works". It'll could work fine and still
> be near failing. I like to hear that tests were run and they passed.
>
> having said that, the OP is talking about a home network,
> not a business. It doesn't matter!
> ...thehick
>


From: kony on 16 Jan 2006 17:23
On 16 Jan 2006 13:11:32 -0800, thehick(a)canada.com wrote:

>"We moved a department about 200 feet and left the old cables. We
>just spliced in extentions. All those machines run fine using
>gigabit connections"
>You sound like a hacker. Splices are a bad idea because they
>get hidden in walls. Plates and other types of connections
>are usually very visible. This is for long-term support reasons.
>And I shudder when I hear someone say that their network
>is good because it "works". It'll could work fine and still
>be near failing. I like to hear that tests were run and they passed.
>
>having said that, the OP is talking about a home network,
>not a business. It doesn't matter!
>...thehick


You are correct that in a business environment it's probably
prodent to just pay someone to string a new cable. However,
if a makeshift cable were implemented and demonstrated to
work, tested to do so as any new cable would need be, too,
then the remaining issue is same as with a new cable, that
if in the future the link is going south that segment will
need tested again.
First  |  Prev  |  Next  |  Last
Pages: 1 2 3 4
Prev: Seagate ST310014A master password?
Next: Anyone build their own PC driving "cockpit"?