I learned to do this when I became the defacto IT guy for a small business 20 years ago. I also wired my house. My success rate on cables is 100%. It's not hard, but it does take extreme care. You just need to triple check the wire order and position before you crimp it.

I've always done 568A, and memorized green-stripe-green, orange-stripe-blue, blue-stripe-orange, brown-stripe-brown. I repeat that to myself over and over as I'm making the cable, and checking carefully.

[–] brownmustardminion@lemmy.ml 5 points 1 month ago (1 children)

My success rate is 80% so I bought a cable tester. Lol

[–] WalrusDragonOnABike@reddthat.com 3 points 1 month ago

Mine is 0-20% Each being a different type of mistake.

[–] WallsToTheBalls@lemmynsfw.com 7 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

I feel like the phrasing here isn’t accurate. You crimped an RJ45 connector onto an existing cat6 cable.

You did not DIY an entire Ethernet cable.

Still a fun skill to have, I’ve crimped probably thousands of ends

[–] Strider@lemmy.world 2 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

If you wouldn't have said it, I would have. 😁

Its very helpful to be able to do that for any cable length. The right length really makes a world of difference. Also it's really cheap to buy a 30m (that's like length of 5 cars and a camel or something for you muricans 😉) roll and use that instead of the expensive standard consumer cables.

Oh by the way when will I get better and not require the obligatory second try 😂? I'm like at two digit numbers, but only doing this on rare occasions like requiring 15-20m through houses or something privately.

[–] WallsToTheBalls@lemmynsfw.com 2 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

Yeah I have a single box 500ft box that I’ve gone through multiple residences with. Every time I need to plug something I just crimp crimp done.

I also got those passthrough connectors where you can stick the actual wires through each pin instead of having to trim them evenly, then the crimper cuts them. Makes it so much easier.

[–] Strider@lemmy.world 1 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Did you use cat7 or less? I mean sure we can't crimp it to cat7 spec (I assume you can't either) but the price difference is not much of a reason (here).

[–] WallsToTheBalls@lemmynsfw.com 1 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

There is no difference in the crimp between cat6 and cat7. None. Zero. It is the exact same process, the same pins.

Cat7 has larger conductors and specific connectors to accommodate them, but you can still make a cat6 connector work on a cat7 cable with some elbow grease.

It’s also totally pointless for 90% of use cases.

The differences in spec come from the shielding material in the cable, and the number of twists, the connectors themselves are the same standard

[–] Strider@lemmy.world 1 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Yes, shielding. What I meant though, because they're otherwise identical: do you purchase cat6 or cat7 or whichever is cheaper.

[–] WallsToTheBalls@lemmynsfw.com 2 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Usually cat6a. It gives a good balance of cost and still maintaining support for 10gbps speeds down the line.

I’m what I would consider a power user though, odds of consumer equipment adopting 10gbps at the client level any time soon are low, so for endpoints anything above cat6 is usually a waste

[–] Strider@lemmy.world 1 points 1 month ago

Thanks

[–] timthelemmer@midwest.social 3 points 1 month ago (1 children)

And now you will not buy a precut cable ever again.

[–] randombullet@programming.dev 5 points 1 month ago

Eh for anything under 5 ft I buy premade. My time is not worth making cables that short.

Any longer runs I crimp myself

[–] homesweethomeMrL@lemmy.world 2 points 1 month ago

Feels good, man

[–] billwashere@lemmy.world 2 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

It feels awesome to make your own custom cables. Especially to get it the exact size you want. What isn’t awesome is trying to debug an intermittent problem due to a faulty cable that sometimes works. My advice if you’re making one or two go for it. If you need 10 just buy them. They are always better cables and so much less time consuming.

This does not include wiring your house with jacks. Those punch downs are pretty full proof and you can’t even honestly buy that premade.

[–] lemming741@lemmy.world 2 points 1 month ago

The feed-through connectors are a game changer