Crimping an RJ45 Connector to a Cable

Author：danny / time：2018-04-11 / The number of clicks：1177

Terminating a cable with an RJ45 connector may be an intimidating task. But all you need are basic background about connectors, the right tools, and a little bit of patience to help you get the job done.

 

This article will guide you through the step-by-step procedure in crimping an RJ45 connector to a cable

 

What you need

For this task, you will need a reasonable length of cable, an RJ45 connector, a cable tester, a pair of tweezers, and your crimping tool. It will be useful if you can find a three-in-one crimping tool because this will allow you to strip, cut, and crimp using only one device.

 

Step 1: Stripping the outer sheathe

With your cable already cut to the proper length, the first thing you will need to do is to sheathe your cable. Insert your cable about one inch from end into the stripper portion of your crimping tool. Squeeze the crimping tool tightly, rotate it around the cable a few times, and pull away carefully. The sheathing should come off when you pull away.

 

You should have about an inch of exposed cable after stripping the sheathing. You might need to cut this exposed cable later to adjust the length, but it is better to work with more than risk cutting too short and starting all over again.

 

Be careful not to cut any twisted pair under the sheathing as this may cause your cable to malfunction.

 

Step 2: Arranging the wiring

A closer look at the exposed cable will reveal that there are wires that are twisted together (which is why the RJ45 connector is a type of a twisted-pair cable). Carefully untwist the wires that are paired together. You may use a pair of tweezers to make the untwisting easier for you.Arrange the wires according to the following order:

 

From left to right: orange, orange with white stripe, green, green with white stripe, blue, blue with white stripe, green, brown with white stripe, and brown.

 

Step 3: Cutting the wires

The next step is cutting the wires so that they fit into the connector. Bring the wires together and, using the cutting tool in your three-in-one crimping tool, cut the wires altogether, leaving about half an inch from the sheathing cut.

 

Take extra precaution when cutting. It is advisable to make a few small cuts to achieve your desired cable length than to miscalculate and risk cutting the wires too short.

 

Step 4: Inserting the wires into the connector

At this point, the wires are now ready to be crimped into the connector. Carefully insert the wires into the RJ45 connector. Check that they stay aligned and properly positioned into their appropriate slots.

 

Push all the way and insert until the sheathing has reached inside the connector. To check this, take a look at the end of the connector and see if the wires go all the way to the end of the connector.

 

Step 5: Crimping

Insert the connector with the wires into the crimping portion of your three-in-one crimping tool. Push all the way until the connector is tight and snug. Then squeeze the crimping tool to push down the wires into the pins. Make sure that all wires have been pushed down. Otherwise, crimp the wires again to ensure that you get a proper connection.

 

Repeat the same procedure to crimp an RJ45 connector to the other end of the cable.

 

Step 6:

To check if you have successfully completed the crimping process, use a cable tester. Check if both ends of the cable have been installed correctly.

 

Once you have finished steps one through six, you are now ready to use your RJ45 connector to connect your computer to another computer or to a network.