It is extremely common for everyone to have a whole bunch of cables, especially those Ethernet cables around the computers, routers and access points. It is absolutely fine if you only have a couple devices or just use wireless gadgets. However, when you get multiple people in the house that use all kinds of devices, there will be a big mess of cables.
Using those Cat5E or Cat6 Ethernet cables from the Internet Service Providers is one of the main reasons for the clutter. The cables are mostly pre-cut into fixed length. This causes every cables’ connections to have excess length of wire clogging the area.
Therefore, crimping your own Ethernet cables can help a lot to tidy up your cable mess.
These are all the basic tools to crimp your ethernet cables. You will need some RJ-45 Connectors, a spool of Cat5E or Cat6 cables, a crimping tool, a pair of scissors and a wire stripper (optional). You can also choose to have some strain relief boots if you like.
You have to set all the tools on a brightly lit surface. Note that you can replace the wire stripper with a pair of scissors. Carefully cut the plastic on the tip of the cable, exposing the 8 wires.
Then, you will need to straighten out the wires, if you have twisted pairs in your Ethernet cable. You line the wires up in the correct order, white-orange on the left and solid brown on the right.
In the photos, my cables are red=orange, white=white-orange, light green=white-green, light blue=white-blue, and light brown=white=brown.
You can use the blade of the crimping tool to cut the wires’ end, making them easier to get in the connector.
After you put the wires in correct order, gently push the wires into the RJ-45 connector. Please ensure that all wires get into their respective slots in the connector. Check the order again before proceeding to the next steps.
You need to push all the wires to the very end of the metal contacts in the connector, or the cables will not work. Please be reminded that once you crimp the connector, you will not be able to reuse it for the next time.
Repeat the above procedures until you have enough length or number of cables. You can now customize your desired cable length to get rid of the unwanted cable mess. Start cleaning up your cables!
Tools Required:
- RJ-45 Connectors
- Cat5E or Cat6 cables
- a crimping tool
- a pair of scissors
- wire stripper (optional)
- strain relief boots (optional)
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