Making CAT-5 male ends

[goldstar]

You guys (and girls) are way over my head with the terminology but I'll take your advice and buy ready made patch cables. I have to drill a hole in a hard wood floor to get the CAT-5 wires to the modem and I'd like to make the smallest hole possible. That's why I was asking about making up male ends. I also did not know the wiring had to be stranded. Thanks for that. From what I've read, these patch cords will be strictly for ethernet connections.

Thank you Fulthrotl for your extensive explanation on what bitcoins are and what bitmining is. I still don't know what they are and why there's a need for 3 or 6 bit-mining units running 24-7-365 in one house at about 11 amps each.

Anyway, my concern is getting ample power to each of these units and running the ethernet cables. Beyond that I don't really care if they're used to mine bitcoins or track satellites. It's hard to believe that these little 12 lb. units take 11 amps to remanufacture 11.6-13 volts. But, they have two fans so I'm guessing they run really hot.

 

[JFletcher]

You guys (and girls) are way over my head with the terminology but I'll take your advice and buy ready made patch cables. I have to drill a hole in a hard wood floor to get the CAT-5 wires to the modem and I'd like to make the smallest hole possible. That's why I was asking about making up male ends. I also did not know the wiring had to be stranded. Thanks for that. From what I've read, these patch cords will be strictly for ethernet connections.

Thank you Fulthrotl for your extensive explanation on what bitcoins are and what bitmining is. I still don't know what they are and why there's a need for 3 or 6 bit-mining units running 24-7-365 in one house at about 11 amps each.

Anyway, my concern is getting ample power to each of these units and running the ethernet cables. Beyond that I don't really care if they're used to mine bitcoins or track satellites. It's hard to believe that these little 12 lb. units take 11 amps to remanufacture 11.6-13 volts. But, they have two fans so I'm guessing they run really hot.

Run your cat5e w/o terminations, then at both ends, punch it down on a keystone and use patch cords from there. A 5/16" hole is probably the smallest you can get away with.

 

[ron]

The job I'm bidding on will be using three of these Antminer S9 bitcoin units initially and possible three more in the future :

https://miningwarehouses.com/bitcoi...MI5bm87Lna1gIVxkSGCh3xvgu4EAAYAiAAEgJ2O_D_BwE

Its interesting.

I work for Colocation data centers that have hundreds upon hundreds of these things (not this brand or form factor) in rows upon rows. They seem to compute non-stop and are pigs with regards to energy density.

Your client is putting in 3 and possibly 3 more. Maybe a hobby, like home brewing.

 

[zbang]

There are also "Crossover cables" that are used to directly connect computers or devices.

Very few modern Ethernet devices need cross-over cables, I don't think I've used one is 6-7 years at least. I'm not sure I even have any, which for my data cable stash is something.

 

[goldstar]

Its interesting.

Your client is putting in 3 and possibly 3 more. Maybe a hobby, like home brewing.

I believe it's just that. At a cost of $1545.00 each that's one hell of a hobby. My dad never bought me one of these in our 4th floor walk up apartment in Hoboken NJ (way back when) :happyno:

 

[goldstar]

Run your cat5e w/o terminations, then at both ends, punch it down on a keystone and use patch cords from there. A 5/16" hole is probably the smallest you can get away with.

I will have to pass 3 and maybe 6 through a hole in the floor. I don't think 5/16" will be big enough to fit all the male ends through. Luckily the basement end is wide open.

 

[steve66]

bitcoin mining takes a lot of power.
as a reward for crunching blockchain info,
a random drawing is held to award bitcoins.
that is how the thing funds it's development.

the blockchain algorithm finally tapers off,
and caps the amount of bitcoins in circulation.

when it was 50 people doing this as a lark on
alt.cryptography on usenet, you could run
the compiler in the background on your home PC,
and win some coins mining, as there were a couple
hundred people doing it was all. as it grew in popularity,
and reached a critical mass, so many people were running
the software that your chances of winning bitcoins were
almost nonexistant. then the arms race started. faster and
faster computers, tailored to mine for bitcoins. some folks
started doing the mining from iceland, i read, as they had
the cheapest electricity.

the originator of the blockchain, who was the first miner,
has accumulated an awful lot of bitcoin, and when bitcoin
peaked last week, his coins were worth approx $5 billion.

as the primary purpose of bitcoin is to move money between
users without governmental constraint, taxes, or regulation,
and the amount of bitcoins is fixed, people buy and sell bitcoins,
using them to ferry money from point A to point B, often untraceably.

so the value of bitcoin is a global index of neurosis, and right now,
the world is trying to hide acorns, as nobody knows what is happening
next. so they are trying to shove eleventeen pounds into a five pound
bag.

seven years ago, i bought some bitcoins. i later disposed of them.
if i'd bought $1,000 worth of them seven years back, two weeks ago,
i could have sold them for $4.5 million, tax free, into any currency
on the planet.

drat.

Yea, and you could have been left with nothing. Didn't the main bitcoin bank just close up and walk off with all the actual cash a few years ago?

Honestly, it all seems like a new twist to a Ponzi scheme to me.

 

[steve66]

Very few modern Ethernet devices need cross-over cables, I don't think I've used one is 6-7 years at least. I'm not sure I even have any, which for my data cable stash is something.

But Wikipedia said so, so it has to be true

That's good to know. I remember having to use them to program PLC's and such, and for connecting PLC's together, but I wasn't sure if things have changed.

Sounds like most modern devices know how to swap the wires electronically when necessary.

 

[FionaZuppa]

But Wikipedia said so, so it has to be true

That's good to know. I remember having to use them to program PLC's and such, and for connecting PLC's together, but I wasn't sure if things have changed.

Sounds like most modern devices know how to swap the wires electronically when necessary.

some newer devices have auto xover so you can directly connect them together with std cable.
some consumer switches have one uplink port that is auto xover.
not everything is auto xover. having a few xovers on-hand is a good idea, etc.

 

[Mark A.]

To answer the original question specifically, no you will only need the straight through cables. Cross over cables aren't required any more since most end points will autodetect what type of cable/medium is being used, in what's called auto-MDI-X. Even though most 100BASE-TX devices had auto-MDI-X, it's now required in the 1000BASE-TX (gigabit) standard, and you'd be hardpressed to find new devices that don't support gigabit ethernet.

As others have said, you don't just want to make sure the colors match at both sides, you want to have the correct order on both ends to help prevent cross talk at the ends and help ensure against errors.

As someone that has crimped thousands of ethernet cables, the first 100 you do will take a long time and require many do overs. I have to agree on using premade cables if it's in the budget and an option. You might even want to subcontract a network engineer.

Also note that most pedants in IT don't call these CAT-5 male ends, but rather RJ45 male ends. CAT-5 is a type of ethernet cable, and is obsolete. You should be using at least CAT-5E, and preferabbly CAT-6.

 

[FionaZuppa]

post #30.
not just cat-5/5E/6, there's also different types of that cable, depends on what the install is, and certain types will/may not be code(ahj) compliant for certain types of installs, etc.

 

[Fulthrotl]

Thank you Fulthrotl for your extensive explanation on what bitcoins are and what bitmining is. I still don't know what they are and why there's a need for 3 or 6 bit-mining units running 24-7-365 in one house at about 11 amps each.

Anyway, my concern is getting ample power to each of these units and running the ethernet cables. Beyond that I don't really care if they're used to mine bitcoins or track satellites. It's hard to believe that these little 12 lb. units take 11 amps to remanufacture 11.6-13 volts. But, they have two fans so I'm guessing they run really hot.

yeah, they do. buckets of power.

bitcoin, and all blockchain strategies are self propagating.
you run an algorithm on a computer, that generates a blockchain
bitcoin. every computer doing bitcoin runs the same blockchain.

for your trouble, as you complete work on this, you get put in a
drawing for bitcoins, that are randomly awarded. when just a few
people were doing this, you ran a good chance of winning coins.
as more people do it, the pool for the drawing gets bigger and bigger.

so, people run dedicated servers to crunch faster and faster. and
more and more servers. and more power. the limiting thing is
when it costs more electricity to generate a bitcoin than the coin
is worth. it's getting there.

think of it as a truck pull, pulling a sled. poor analogy, but....
the further you go, the heavier the load gets, till you finally bog.
bitcoin miners right now are nearing the end of the blockchain,
where it caps, and are running their pulling sleds full out, spraying
starting fluid into the intakes.

as for the "bitcoin bank" stealing the money, you can't steal from
the blockchain. however, once the money is in an exchange, converted
from the blockchain, it's fair game.

 

[zbang]

Also note that most pedants in IT don't call these CAT-5 male ends, but rather RJ45 male ends.

Proper pedants call them 8p8c connectors; the real RJ-45 (USOC wiring) is a specific telephone line arrangement (one data line w/ programming resistor). OTOH, it's sort of like Xerox now.

 

[JFletcher]

Proper pedants call them 8p8c connectors; the real RJ-45 (USOC wiring) is a specific telephone line arrangement (one data line w/ programming resistor). OTOH, it's sort of like Xerox now.

Correct!

I will have to pass 3 and maybe 6 through a hole in the floor. I don't think 5/16" will be big enough to fit all the male ends through. Luckily the basement end is wide open.

6 cat5e/cat6 cables will pass thru a 3/4" hole; it's also the max number you can run thru a 3/4" ENT conduit. 3 will go thru a 5/8" hole.

Even if you go with male plugs, you put them on after you pull the wiring.

 

[wwhitney]

6 cat5e/cat6 cables will pass thru a 3/4" hole; it's also the max number you can run thru a 3/4" ENT conduit

So would 1 RJ-45 male connector plus 5 cables pass through the same hole, or maybe through a 7/8" hole? If so, you could stagger the male ends and use premade patch cords.

Cheers, Wayne

 

[brantmacga]

Can you just run one cable and use a desktop network switch ?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[jeremysterling]

Installing the ends on these cables isn't rocket science, in fact it's quite easy...

I just installed my first LAN for an office building's lighting upgrade "WattStopper" control system. I pulled several hundred feet of Cat 5e cable. I got the Klein "passthru" crimper. The crimper's directions stated it would not crimp standard (non-passthru) plugs, but I did anyway with no issues. I did not use our shop's tester to certify the cables as "Cat 5e". My cables are LAN (not for ethernet), so I tested them with the lighting controls and they all function fine (no re-crimping).

...Also note that most pedants in IT don't call these CAT-5 male ends, but rather RJ45 male ends. ...

Proper pedants call them 8p8c connectors...

Well, I thought I was hip when I started calling them "Mod-Plugs" instead of "RJ45 male ends". Do I really have to call them "8p8c connectors"?

 

[JFletcher]

So would 1 RJ-45 male connector plus 5 cables pass through the same hole, or maybe through a 7/8" hole? If so, you could stagger the male ends and use premade patch cords.

Cheers, Wayne

I obviously wasnt thinking of using premade patch cords in my previous post. No idea if a staggered lead(s) would fit a 7/8" hole, tho it's easy enough to drill a scrap 2x4 with a 7/8" hole and try to pass them thru. Patch cords are not typically installed as a permanent part of the backbone wiring.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

If I had 3-6 cables to run, I'd use solid wire, get a loaded 6-12* port wall mount patch panel (something like this), then 3-6 pre-made patch cords of the appropriate length**. If the bitcoin miners are in the same room as the switch/router they are connecting to (or very nearby), then I suppose you can save some time and material and just run patch cords from A to B.

*12 for (more) future use. One could get a blank/empty 12 port patch panel and add keystones as necessary but that isn't usually cost effective time or material wise.

** This was a small system I did a long while ago in a garage remodeled to a business center/loft. Premise wiring comes into a 110 block and loaded 6 port panel and then patch cables would go to the router (not installed yet). Other ends of the cat5e are on keystones in 1g wallplates in various parts of building

https://www.flickr.com/photos/32712057@N06/4043713293/in/dateposted-public/

 

[Mark A.]

Proper pedants call them 8p8c connectors; the real RJ-45 (USOC wiring) is a specific telephone line arrangement (one data line w/ programming resistor). OTOH, it's sort of like Xerox now.

Thanks. Had no idea.