Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Dianne Zahnle]

Hi,

Looking for a rugged cat6 cable to keep on stock at the shop for projects/repairs/jumpers/starting to phase out our cat5.
  Pretty much the only requirement is non-bonded pair!!! Just completed a project that took at least twice as long thanks to the last guy ordering 5000' of bonded pair. Also kind of prefer stranded core in the interests of longevity.
 Anyone have a favorite that can withstand abuse, coils well and is easy to work with?

Thanks in advance!

[Mac Kerr]

Hi,

Looking for a rugged cat6 cable to keep on stock at the shop for projects/repairs/jumpers/starting to phase out our cat5.
  Pretty much the only requirement is non-bonded pair!!! Just completed a project that took at least twice as long thanks to the last guy ordering 5000' of bonded pair. Also kind of prefer stranded core in the interests of longevity.
 Anyone have a favorite that can withstand abuse, coils well and is easy to work with?

Thanks in advance!

Do you have some use in mind that requires CAT6? If your equipment works with CAT5e there is no reason to use CAT6. If you have gear that requires CAT6, you may s well have everything use CAT6, although I have seen equipment (I don't remember what) that specifically disallowed CAT6, it was spec'd to work with CAT5 only.

One of the differences between them is the tighter control of twist in CAT6. This is largely done with different filler, and or bonding. If you want unbonded maybe you should stick with CAT5.

Mac

[Tom Duffy]

Hi,

Looking for a rugged cat6 cable to keep on stock at the shop for projects/repairs/jumpers/starting to phase out our cat5.
  Pretty much the only requirement is non-bonded pair!!! Just completed a project that took at least twice as long thanks to the last guy ordering 5000' of bonded pair. Also kind of prefer stranded core in the interests of longevity.
 Anyone have a favorite that can withstand abuse, coils well and is easy to work with?

Thanks in advance!

Do you have some use in mind that requires CAT6? If your equipment works with CAT5e there is no reason to use CAT6. If you have gear that requires CAT6, you may s well have everything use CAT6, although I have seen equipment (I don't remember what) that specifically disallowed CAT6, it was spec'd to work with CAT5 only.

One of the differences between them is the tighter control of twist in CAT6. This is largely done with different filler, and or bonding. If you want unbonded maybe you should stick with CAT5.

Mac

+1   CAT6 cable is usually stiffer, so because of the tighter internal twisting, and when handled it goes bad quicker in ways that are hard to predict.  CAT5e (350MHz) is rated for Gigabit Ethernet, and is always going to be easier to work with.  CAT6 is only required for 10G Ethernet, and that's rarely seen outside a data center...
CAT5e with armor shielding and Neutrik ethercons would be best for gigs.

When my office was rewired, the contractor left a load of cat5e for me to make into short cables.  It was installation grade, so solid core and not very flexible, but it was easy to get the wires prepared at the ends and crimp on the connectors.  The stuff I got at Fry's after that run out is a pain, I've had to chop off bad ends many times, grr (cables that work fine at 100BaseT, but then induce bad packets (=slow transfers) at 1000BaseT)

Tom.

[Craig Leerman]

I agree with Mac, unless your gear required Cat 6, stick with Cat 5.

I'm getting ready to order a few more Markertec Cat 5 reels, loaded with Belden 1583 cable for lighting, audio, and video distribution.  The Belden cable is pretty good but the reels only come with an RJ45. I think I might swap out the cable ends with Neutrik Ethercons.

You might try the Belden cable for your needs. I have never crimped a connector on the Belden yet so I can't say how it is.

For cables I build, I get contractor box reels from my local electrical supply outlet that are solid core 500' Cat 5, and I use those cheap cables for gigs, where I might lose the cable, or where I may need to leave the cable.  Not too worried about wrapping them up after the gig, but I have a few that have been around for almost a year now.


http://www.markertek.com/Cable-Management-Protection/Cable-Reels/TecNec-Cables-Connectors/MKR-12.xhtml?MKR-12-400

[James Feenstra]

with the price of cat cable these days re-using it is almost pointless....last time i checked i could buy it for under 0.10/foot

might as well just bill the client a little more and use new cable for every gig

[ProSoundWeb Community]