"Pygoscelis Papua" wrote in message
news:Vpe%a.151369$o%2.65156@sccrnsc02...

wrote in message
...
Hey there,

I was trying to crimp some cat5 ethernet cable last night. I stripped
the wires and used a punch down tool to press the wires into the
connectors,

Don't strip the wires, only strip off the main outer jacket - carefully, so
as not to cut into the insulation around the wires. The blades in the
connector will cut through the insulation on the individual wires and make
contact with the core. The insulation provides protection to the wires and
helps hold the wire in place.

but the wires would come loose before I could get all of
them crimped.

If you are using a spring-loaded punch-down tool, try it on the higher
setting. If you are using a manual one, like the cheapos that come with
some parts from Home Depot, make sure you are seating each wire fully, and
only use the tool for one or two jacks - they're not much good after that.
Sometimes you have to use your fingers to fully seat the wires 'cause these
cheapo tools are so bad. If you've got a lot of these to do, buy yourself a
spring-loaded, metal-tipped tool.

The cat5 cable uses stranded wire, and I'm wondering if
this is what is causing my problems. I had already crimped a phone
line without problems.

Assuming that the stranded wire is the problem, is there some kind of
marette that can be used for slicing solid wire to the stranded wire?
I could then crimp the solid wire to my connector and tuck everything
into the wall behind the connector faceplate.

To do something like this would require you to crimp an RJ45 to one wire and
a jack to the other wire to make the splice. Whatever you do, always
remember that "Category 5" is a rating that must be adhered to throughout
the cable run for it to mean anything - including not only the jacks, plugs
and cables, but also the techniques used to connect everything and even how
and where to pull the wire. As soon as you do anything out of spec, the
whole run is out of spec (it may still work, however).



CAT5 should be solid.

Cat5 cable can use either solid or stranded wire - it matters not. When
purchased unterminated, in my experience, solid is much more popular, and
typically a bit cheaper. However, pre-made patch cables and such often use
stranded wire to add flexibility. But, as far as the spec is concerned,
they are interchangeable. However, the connectors you are trying to crimp
into, plugs in particular, are made to be used with either stranded _or_
solid, and they usually do not work well with the wrong type.

Jacks are more forgiving, and can be used with any type, so this is unlikely
to be the OP's problem (assuming he's talking about jacks when he says
"connectors").

---JRE---