Cable trouble

[mohave_steve]

I have never been a fan of using "crimp on" RJ-45 plugs on the end of solid cable. Unfortunately I allowed an installer (at his insistance) to use regular RJ45 plugs crimped on the end of solid wire when installing PTP gear on a tower for me. Well now I am having issues with one of them. I have troubleshot the issue down to an intermitent connection at the AP.
Just so happens that the AP is 140' up a tower. I will be paying someone to go up and replace the connector as Steve doesn't climb towers....

I am hesitant to replace the failing connection with another just like it. Does anyone know of a 110 style or a solder type RJ45 plug?

[jcremin]

I've never heard of someone soldering RJ45 plugs on cable. And 110 style connectors are usually reserved for patch panels or wall jacks where the ends of the cable will be very stationary.

On towers and other outdoor places, it seems to me that a crimp connector would be much more durable. Plus you'd need an extra patch cable to go from the 110 jack to the device, and aren't patch cable's ends crimped on too?

I've put thousands of crimp on ends on many different types of cable, and other than the occasional "oops" where I get wires crossed or accidently cut a wire too short, the only time I've ever had a problem is when using cheap parts. Bad cable, a crappy crimper, and poor cat5 ends can cause problems.

I think most people would agree that if you are using quality parts, and the person assembling the ends has enough practice, you shouldn't have more than 1 out of 1000 ends that are bad?

What does everyone else think?

[WHT]

My observations are.....

I grabbed a pack of generic, i.e made in Chine, 8-pin plugs and half of them didn't properly nip the cable.

Crimps made for twisted wire will only grab the solid wire half the time.

Crimps made for solid wire will work on twisted wire. This is re-enforced by looking that the dual purpose crimps for solid and twisted..they look like normal solid wire crimps.

Any 110 form factor connector would use the same IDC (Insulation Displacement Connector) method.

The modular crimp plugs are very durable, but can have problems when you make patch cable with solid wire. If its a plug it and leave patch cable with solid wire, no problem..if is a patchable panel, you may eventually have problems.

[mohave_steve]

I agree that a crimped end on solid wire may be reasonably reliable if there is no movement of the cable after installation. However:

In the last 20 years I have replace hundreds of failed patch cables made with solid wire. When replaced with stranded patch cables they are virtually trouble free. My experience has been that the "blades" in the plug are not captive and lateral stress on solid wire can cause them to move over time. When using stranded wire the projections on the back of the blades penetrate through the conductors and they do not have the ability to displace the blades.

The installation I am having trouble with is on a mountain top and 140' up a cell site tower. The wind is quite substantial and the tower moves significantly. I expect that there is regular movement of the drip loop below the radio.

The wind blows enough to support these:
http://www.columbiacountywind.net/images/photo_news.jpg

As weather resistant outdoor cat5 cable is much more available I would like to find a more secure method of terminating the cable at the radio.

I have use stranded with great success but have concerns about longevity if exposed to weather.

I have used solid when I have space in a radio enclosure to terminate a 110 style jack and patch with a short patch cable to the radio. Unfortunately with more self contained outdoor radios I do not have that option.

[Pinion]

I have never been a fan of using "crimp on" RJ-45 plugs on the end of solid cable. Unfortunately I allowed an installer (at his insistance) to use regular RJ45 plugs crimped on the end of solid wire when installing PTP gear on a tower for me. Well now I am having issues with one of them. I have troubleshot the issue down to an intermitent connection at the AP.
Just so happens that the AP is 140' up a tower. I will be paying someone to go up and replace the connector as Steve doesn't climb towers....

I am hesitant to replace the failing connection with another just like it. Does anyone know of a 110 style or a solder type RJ45 plug?

I use a Tyco 231652 crimper and solid strand wire with no issues, and just about any RJ45 connector you can imagine. Commscope outdoor gel filled cable is the stuff we use and it works great. Durable as all get out, and not a bad price. We get winds here that hit over 100mph in the winter, salt spray, -10F temps, you get picture. If it will break, it will break here.

Sounds like a cheap crimper problem. Although I bought mine on ebay for under $20, they can run $125 if you buy them local. Grab one, you won't be sorry.

[WHT]

Or the $59 Ideal brand crimper from Lowes or Homo Depot, not the $39 one.

That reminds me, on the Ideal web site they make a differentiation on their solid and twisted plugs. I need to follow up on that as we use the Ideal solid/twisted plugs.

[mohave_steve]

Agreed:

I firmly believe that if you rely on your tools to make a living (which I do) you should use the best quality tools you are able. I make my living supporting wired networks and generally don't buy my network tools at Home Depot. I have noticed my Auto Mechanic doesn't buy his there either. I use an AMP termination tool.

As many times as I have responded to network issues and had to follow behind others replacing patch cables or reterminating cabling where someone has run cat5 solid cable through the building and simply crimped RJ45 plugs on each I am well convinced that, for myself, using crimp connectors on solid cable is not as reliable as I wish to have my installations be.

So... Back to the original question:

Is anyone aware of a more secure (such as soldered) RJ45 plug that I may use?

Thanks

Steve

Back to my origina

[CDX825]

I have never seen anything besides crimp type connectors. Only way your going to solder is to remove the jacks from the devices and solder to the boards.

[Pinion]

Agreed:

I firmly believe that if you rely on your tools to make a living (which I do) you should use the best quality tools you are able. I make my living supporting wired networks and generally don't buy my network tools at Home Depot. I have noticed my Auto Mechanic doesn't buy his there either. I use an AMP termination tool.

As many times as I have responded to network issues and had to follow behind others replacing patch cables or reterminating cabling where someone has run cat5 solid cable through the building and simply crimped RJ45 plugs on each I am well convinced that, for myself, using crimp connectors on solid cable is not as reliable as I wish to have my installations be.

So... Back to the original question:

Is anyone aware of a more secure (such as soldered) RJ45 plug that I may use?

Thanks

Steve

Back to my origina

Try these guys, if anyone has what you want, it's this place. http://digikey.com/

[WHT]

I make my living supporting wired networks and generally don't buy my network tools at Home Depot. I have noticed my Auto Mechanic doesn't buy his there either. I use an AMP termination tool.

Apples to oranges...

Lowes and Home Depot have their own "house brands" of hand tools, as well as brand name tools.

Just because I buy Greenlee and Ideal that are national brands with good reputations from a "big box store", doesn't mean I'm skimping on quality. Its the convenience of having a fully compatible products.

I buy all my network jacks from Home Depot. Why? Because Graybar won't give me a quantity break on Leviton (which has been around for over 100 years) products.

[WHT]

Is anyone aware of a more secure (such as soldered) RJ45 plug that I may use?

I have never heard of a soldered on jacks. Even if there was, they would be statistically less reliable at the end point of installation. Its pretty hard to mess up a crimp connection once anyone has practiced it. Field soldering (compared to an automated process) requires skill...cold solder joints, heat distorted plastic components, etc.

The IDC connection method is a well proven technology. The failure of an IDC connector you are experiencing is not a failure of the IDC, but of the end point installation...specifically lack of adequate strain relief.

In the last 20 years I have replace hundreds of failed patch cables made with solid wire. When replaced with stranded patch cables they are virtually trouble free.

Again...its a failure at the end point of installation (incorrect usage of a product). Solid wire cables are not designed to be used for patch cables.

[mohave_steve]

Again I agree:

Solid cable is not suitable for patch cables.


As to the reliability of soldering. A proper solder connection will likely be stronger than the wire leading to the connection. cold solder joints and overheated plastic are also avoided with correct soldering technique.


I may look at replacing the cable run with stranded if I can find outdoor stranded cable.

[WHT]

Just lots of black wire wires to reduce the movement. If you have that much sway already, the advantage of stranded wire patch cable would be it would last a little longer than solid...but they will also eventually fail.