RJ45 Solid and Stranded type connectors

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kingzzz69

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#75513 19-Jan-2011 14:42

Hi, looking at getting some RJ45 connectors for house wiring and see on trademe( http://www.trademe.co.nz/Computers/Networking-modems/Other/auction-347054104.htm) that there are connectors listed to work with both solid and stranded wire types. Are these anygood? Or should I just get the respective type for the wires I'm going to use. The house is already wired with solid core cables but I plan on also making some external patch leads in the future so having 1 type of connector sort of simplifies things.

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#428932 19-Jan-2011 19:01

Don't know about the ones on Trademe but we buy ours at work from here. As long as you use the correct type for the correct cable there should be no problems..
http://www.cables.co.nz/

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Old3eyes

raytaylor

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#428952 19-Jan-2011 20:25

Its bull crap marketing.
An RJ45 connector is always solid.

The difference is in the cable you use. Solid will send a signal up to 100m between the network switch and node.
Stranded is of a lower quality cable and used for runs shorter than 20m. You also never use stranded in structured cabling within your walls.

If the pins in the plug were made of strands of copper, you wouldnt be able to crimp it onto the cable. It needs solid copper pins so that it pierces the wire (stranded or solid) and stays on the end of the cable.

Ray Taylor

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kingzzz69

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#429016 19-Jan-2011 22:46

raytaylor: Its bull crap marketing.
An RJ45 connector is always solid.

The difference is in the cable you use. Solid will send a signal up to 100m between the network switch and node.
Stranded is of a lower quality cable and used for runs shorter than 20m. You also never use stranded in structured cabling within your walls.

If the pins in the plug were made of strands of copper, you wouldnt be able to crimp it onto the cable. It needs solid copper pins so that it pierces the wire (stranded or solid) and stays on the end of the cable.

I know that, but there are different types of pins in the connectors used for solid or stranded wire

raytaylor

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#429050 20-Jan-2011 04:01

Really?
I always thought it was just a U shaped base to the pin that just pierces the plastic cover on each wire and makes contact with the copper within.

Ray Taylor

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sbiddle

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#429052 20-Jan-2011 06:07

raytaylor: Really?
I always thought it was just a U shaped base to the pin that just pierces the plastic cover on each wire and makes contact with the copper within.

Nope. They are different designs to grab both stranded and solid cable and it's essential you use the correct ones for a proper fit.

I've never used plugs that do both as they're normally waaaay to expensive.

old3eyes

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#429068 20-Jan-2011 08:32

raytaylor: Its bull crap marketing.
An RJ45 connector is always solid.

Not true. CAT 5 and 6 cable is solid. LAN patch cards are multistrand. Try and crimp a solid RJ45 plug to a LAN patch cord and see how reliable it is.. Use the correct plug for the correct cable..

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kingzzz69

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#429205 20-Jan-2011 14:28

guess I will get the both types then. is 0.46c for cat5 and 0.8c for cat6 solid cable type connectors about the right price?

smarsden

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#429211 20-Jan-2011 14:35

I just did a search and found the following site, with a useful pic about a third of the way down showing the difference between the two connector types, which helps explain why you shouldn't use a stranded connector on a solid cable:

https://www.brucetambling.com/wiki/Studio1100:Cat_5

raytaylor

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#429243 20-Jan-2011 16:08

Wow ok that link above makes sense :-)

Ray Taylor

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old3eyes

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#429295 20-Jan-2011 18:58

I can never understand why they developed the "type B" connector. Makes no sense as they had a "type A" connector.

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Old3eyes

kingzzz69

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#429298 20-Jan-2011 19:07

took a punt and decided to grab those ones from trademe, lets see what they are like.

type B has some legacy compatibility with some of the old AT&T networks from what i read somewhere. But as long as both ends are the same, it doesn't really matter.

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sbiddle

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#429304 20-Jan-2011 19:22

kingzzz69: guess I will get the both types then. is 0.46c for cat5 and 0.8c for cat6 solid cable type connectors about the right price?

It's a bit on the steep side. You can buy a box of 100 of the same Tyco RJ45's for about NZ$17.50 incl shipping from DealExtreme, or under NZ$10 if you want cheaper ones.

webwat

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#429650 21-Jan-2011 20:27

smarsden: I just did a search and found the following site, with a useful pic about a third of the way down showing the difference between the two connector types, which helps explain why you shouldn't use a stranded connector on a solid cable:

https://www.brucetambling.com/wiki/Studio1100:Cat_5

Thats interesting, didn't know 3-prong pins were for both solid and stranded. However the auther of that page doesn't know the difference between the TIA/EIA 568B cabling standard, and the T568A and T568B pin-outs defined within that standard, being pinouts that allow for crossovers etc. Apparently T568B is common in American structured cabling networks.

I have to say, short patch cables are so cheap you may not need to use stranded plugs much except to make a phone lead, which need the flat plug anyway (another variation)...

Time to find a new industry!

kingzzz69

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#430601 24-Jan-2011 14:50

Those connectors arrived from trademe, 3 prongs with 2 of them slightly offset to straddle the cable. So at least I know they are good for solid cables. Bit of a tight fit for Cat6 though and a bit difficult to slide in. May need to get specific Cat6 ones if these prove too troublesome

RunningMan

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#430603 24-Jan-2011 14:54

I think the Cat6 ones are designed for a slightly thicker wire gauge, so that's probably why they are tight.

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