How to make your own Cat5 or Cat6 cable

[fullboogie]

When researching my first security camera system, one of the things I found intimidating was making my own cabling from the NVR to the cameras. I'm adding an interior camera to my system so I thought I'd create a DIY guide to making Cat5/Cat6 cables for those who want to do it themselves.

Here are the basic tools you will need. From top to bottom: top is cable crimper; middle are cable ends; bottom left is a Data Shark for testing continuity of the completed cable; and bottom right is a tool to strip the sheath from the cable. All of this can be bought from Amazon for cheap.

I bought two boxes of Cat6 cable from Amazon for about $70 each. This brand has very good reviews and I had no trouble with it at all:

Run your cables from the NVR to the camera, and I recommend leaving a few feet at each end for mistakes/future revisions. Now on to the fun stuff...

 

[fullboogie]

Take your first end and place about 2" of cable through the housing. It is spring loaded, so release the spring and twirl it around to cut the outer sheath.

You will end up with this:

With Cat6, this is what it will look like:

Cut away the pull cord in the middle, separate the paired wires, and you will end up with this:

 

[fullboogie]

I found that using a small screwdriver with square edges, not round edges, works for the next step. Place the screwdriver under each pair of wires and pull from the sheath to the ends, applying pressure with your thumb to the pair of wires. The goal is to straighten out each set of wires. Honestly, this step is crucial to making the connections:

You want to end up with this:

Now, using this pic, arrange your wires as follows and keep pressure with your fingers to keep them in this order:

 

[fullboogie]

Using the crimper tool, cut the wires as perfectly parallel as you can about 3/4" from the sheath:

Keeping pressure on the wires with your fingers to keep them in order, guide them into the opening of the cable end like this. Note that the tab on the cable end is on the bottom:

Push them all the way in until they stop, then push the cable end into the crimper:

Use the crimper handles to complete the crimp:

When you are done with each end, use the Data Shark to check continuity. Place the main unit on one end, the smaller unit on the other end, and flip the switch to start. It will go through each wire sequentially and check that there is a proper connection. Before I got proficient at making cables, I had several that did not turn out right. Without the Data Shark, I would have had all kinds of problems with the cameras without knowing why. A worthwhile investment:

 

[StewartM]

Great guide. The cable tester is an essential investment especially if you are a installer. I came across this interesting crimping tool recently.

 

[Phil]

@fullboogie Thanks for this contribution, I'm sure that people will find it very useful

 

[virdi]

Really good guide - Thank you.

Please could I just add something.

It's really important that you buy the right type of CAT 6 cable.

Avoid anything that says CCA. I would always recommend you buy cable that says 'Solid Core' or 'Solid Copper'.

Also ...the CAT6 plugs. I have found it easier working with 'two piece' plugs. But that could be down to personal preference.

Finally .... It's really important the cables are ordered and crimped correctly. There are two standards. T568A and T568B. You can google to see the difference but it's easier to stick to one standard in your environment.

Thanks

 

[fullboogie]

Virdi - thanks for catching that about cable quality. I assumed my pic of the box showed the details of the cable, but I see that it did not. The details must have been on the top of the box.