What am I missing? Cat5e Content

I finally got rid of the speaker wire that hasn't been hooked up for a decade that goes across my house. I replaced it with a run of Cat5e to move my router closer to the TV and Xbox, where a hardline will make things so much better than WiFi.

Being impatient, and DM being unreliable as far as timing goes, I picked up the DataShark Network Toolkit from Homie Depot yesterday thinking I could just crimp some ends on and be done. I got the wires all nice and separated, and put into the appropriate order, stick them in the end of the RJ45 ports that it came with, and crimp down with the crimping tool.

Here's where the problem comes in. I can't physically push the crimper together any tighter, and yes, I have the jack going into the tool the right way. But the wires just pop right out. I've gone through almost all 10 of the RJ45 jacks it came with, and each time, it's the same thing. That's not to say the crimper gets stuck, it closes like it should, makes a nice click when it pushes in the pins, and looks right, but the slightest tip or touch to the connector and it just falls right off.

Is the crimping tool just crap? Or am I missing something stupid?

I've tried leaving only the tips of the wires sticking out of the insulation, and using long leads, but comparing a crimped to a not crimped, it looks like I need much fatter wire than Cat5e, which is the whole reason I bought the tool.

Heck, do they make a pushdown tool for the male plugs like they do the female ports? That would almost be easier, even working in such a tight space.

And yes, it would have been cheaper to buy 50ft of Cat5 with ends, but that would require drilling bigger holes to get the RJ45 though, and this cat 5 was free.

Show me a picture of your ends and tool. T568B is the more common pattern.

Dumb question. Are you feeding the end through the correct side of the crimper? RJ45 Ends have a piece that clamps the cable internally. See the small rectangle near the bottom in this pic?

As usual, I post about something then get it figured out. At least, the ends are staying on the cable. Really need to shove those wires into the connector, which I guess I was failing at. Gotta do the other end and test it, but I think I got it.

Maybe I should start leaving my "am I an idiot" threads on the editing page for a little bit before I post them, seems like just writing everything out points me at where I'm screwing up.

Here's one end actually right. I wasn't shoving the wires far enough in to catch the pins at the end of the plug facepalm

Well, almost, haven't tested it yet. Gonna go do the other end and see what happens.

I bought a crimper tool kit on amazon with a cable tester included and RJ45 ends. The whole thing was like ten bucks. The tester has been a real time saver. Make a cable, plug in the tester pieces, oh, look, that one didn't work. Put a new end on and try again. And, yes, you really have to push those things in. I push them in, get a magnifying glass and inspect to make sure they are all in the right place and all the way in, then crimp.

Well, hard line from modem to Xbox is a fail, but at least the ends are staying on. I'll have to get another pack and keep practicing, or see if they have a tester at HF or HD.

You can check continuity with a basic multimeter.

This: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00WJ1RY3Y

The tester thingie is super cheap. The switches are barely there, etc., but for ten bucks, you get a stripper, tester, crimper and 100 ends, cheaper than 100 ends at lowes-depot. And it is all usable. I do have a better crimper and a better stripper, but I have done cables with that ten buck set.

Stay the course. A typical World of Tanks update downloaded via wifi on the Xbox used to take days. After getting the ethernet to the Xbox, it's a matter of minutes.

I've got the same tester that the doctor linked to above and it's great for basic cable testing. If you make your own network cables, you need on of those.

Went back to Depot, was going to get a tester, because as I needed the cable run today so I could hide loose wires from the baby when she comes back tomorrow. Wound up buying 25 RJ45 ends and a 50ft cable and just drilled out the holes already in existance. Easy button.

But now I have lots of ends so I can practice making patch cables. I'll get that cheap tester from Amazon though since I'm not in a hurry for it. $35 for the crimp on toolkit wasn't terrible, but another 30 for a tester really turned me off, when I saw the 50ft cable for $18.

The Xbox and the smart TV are much happier now with hard lines, and my WiFi is much better throughout the house. Moved the router behind the TV instead of beside the modem, which was under a furnace duct. For a 10 year old router, I'm surprised how much better speed I have moving it away from the heating duct, though it still needs to be upgraded to 802.11 AC to really take advantage of the speed with my laptop and I'm sure my next phone.

Edit: I'm already liking the faster downloads on the Xone, but I'm still dreading my upgrade to the One S. Of course, 3 weeks after I buy a One, they announce the One S, that will have 4k support and a bigger harddrive. I've waited this long to play Forza 6, the only reason I wanted a One, I could have easily waited till August. It's gonna take a damn week to download all my games again, and I'll be violently angry if my saves don't transfer. Gonna need to look into that.

I don't see a compelling reason to upgrade to the One S -- it only does 4K for streaming, not for games and the increased HDR textures are not that significant.

As for wired ethernet, yes, far superior performance and reliability compared to wifi for anything that's not a mobile device.

codrus wrote: it only does 4K for streaming, not for games and the increased HDR textures are not that significant.

I must have missed that part. Then I stand by my original sentiment that this generation of gaming consoles was a pointless waste of everyones money, consumers and manufacturers. Considering I saw nothing original announced from E3, just more ports and sequals, and the people at Gamestop just drive home 'You can play all your 360 games on it", yea, I'm sick of them, been playing them for 5+ years already, gimme something new. I thought at least getting 4k gaming would be nice. Next generation then I guess.

revrico wrote:

codrus wrote: it only does 4K for streaming, not for games and the increased HDR textures are not that significant.

I must have missed that part. Then I stand by my original sentiment that this generation of gaming consoles was a pointless waste of everyones money, consumers and manufacturers. Considering I saw nothing original announced from E3, just more ports and sequals, and the people at Gamestop just drive home 'You can play all your 360 games on it", yea, I'm sick of them, been playing them for 5+ years already, gimme something new. I thought at least getting 4k gaming would be nice. Next generation then I guess.

Think of the Xbox One S is basically a slim/cost reduced version of the Xbox One -- it's even got the right initial after it. The Xbox One shipped in fall 2013, so it's only 2.5 years old at this point, this is far too early for a wholesale replacement of it.

The PS4 Neo is supposedly a more significant upgrade. It appears that the console manufacturers are moving from a business model of forklift-upgrade-every-6-to-8-years to one where they spit out an intermediate version halfway through the cycle that's backwards compatible but also includes some new functionality for people who want and are willing to pay for it. Think of it as being a bit more like the PC gaming model where there's a bit more of a heterogenous hardware environment.