ECE 5102

DATA COMMUNICATIONS

LABORATORY EXPERIMENT NO. 5

Patch Cable Construction

Group #: 2
Member: Course & Year:
1. Edwin Q. Deviza Jr. BSECE - 5

Checked by:
Lab. Personnel: Engr. Juicy C. Valdueza Date: October 15, 2018

Grading Criteria:
Criteria Rating Range Score
Punctuality (5%) ______
Presentation of Results (25%) ______
Observation (20%) ______
Conclusion (20%) ______
Computer Simulation (20%) ______
Design (10%) ______
Total 100% ______

Engr. Juicy Cordero-Valdueza/Instructor/Electronics Engineering Department/

College of Engineering/ Central Philippine University

Experiment No. 5
 Patch Cable Construction

INTRODUCTION:

UTP CABLE CATEGORIES AND PERFORMANCE SPECIFICATIONS

UTP cables were invented for voice applications. Voice UTP cables only needed to
carry analog signals which are very robust and not easily corrupted by electrical noise or
EMI. However, as UTP cables were used for different systems, higher quality UTP cables
were required to support data systems that used digital signaling.

As the applications evolved, different categories or grades of UTP cables were

created along these years. Higher category UTP cables are referred to as data grade UTP
cables, and low category UTP cables are referred to as voice grade UTP cables.

The table in the next page shows different Category UTP cables, their business
applications and corresponding performance specification.

Note:
TIA/EIA-568 only recognized cables of Category 3 ratings or above. Category 1
cable (Cat 1) and Category 2 (Cat 2) voice-grade coppers are a misnomer, probably adopted
by those who assumed that TIA set up ―Categories‖ for all types of cables originally
defined by Anixter International, the distributor, under the grades called ―Levels.‖
Cat 1 cable is used in earlier times. It is used for typically voice networks that carry
only voice traffic example telephones.
Anixter Level 2 (Cat 2) was a grade of UTP cable capable of transmitting data at
up to 4 Mbit/s. It is the first cable which can transmit voice and data up to 4mbps. Anixter
Level 2 cable was frequently used on ARCnet and 4 Mbit/s token ring networks, it is also
used in telephone networks but it is no longer commonly used.

UTP CABLE

Engr. Juicy Cordero-Valdueza/Instructor/Electronics Engineering Department

College of Engineering/ Central Philippine University
COLOR CODES

1) UTP Horizontal Cable Color Code

Horizontal UTP cable is four-pair construction by industry cabling standard. Each
pair has two conductors. One wire of the pair is assigned the pair color with a white stripe
and the other wire is assigned the color white with the pair color stripe.

2) UTP Backbone Cable Color Code

UTP backbone cables are large, multi-pair cables. These cables are constructed of
25-pair binder groups. Each binder group is individually color coded and each pair within
a 25pair binder group is individually color coded.

REFERENCES:

https://www.fiberoptics4sale.com/blogs/archive-posts/95046918-what-is-
unshieldedtwisted-pair-utp-cable

LEARNING OUTCOMES:
When you complete this experiment, you will be able to:
1. Understand the principles and operation of UTP cable.
2. Construct a Category 5 or Category 6 Unshielded Twisted Pair (UTP) patch cable.
3. Differentiate the Straight Through and Crossover. 4. Test the cable for the correct
pin-outs, the correct color of wire on the right pin.

EQUIPMENT AND MATERIALS:

1. RJ45 (4 pcs)
2. CAT6/CAT5e (1m)
3. Crimping tool
4. Enhanced Network Cable Tester

Engr. Juicy Cordero-Valdueza/Instructor/Electronics Engineering Department

College of Engineering/ Central Philippine University
PROCEDURE:

STRAIGHT THROUGH PATCH CABLE.

1. Cut cable to the desired length. For practical use, one should first determine the
distance between the devices where the cable will be used to. However, it is
important to take note that the maximum length for this cable is 5 meters
according to TIA/EIA structured wiring standards, although this can vary.
Standard lengths are 1.83 meters and 3.05 meters.
2. Cut into the plastic sheath about an inch from one end of the cut cable. The
crimping tool has a razor blade that will do the trick. However, a scissors can also
be used.
3. Unwind the pair, and reorganize these pairs into the order of the T568B wiring
color scheme as shown below. Pinch the wire between your fingers and straighten
them out.

4. Use a scissors to trim them in a straight cut to shorten them to half an inch from
the cut sleeve to the end of the wires. Be sure not to let go of the jacket and the
wires, which are now in the proper order.
5. Carefully push all the unstripped colored wires into the RJ45. Make sure the end
of the jacket is inside the plug. Also note the position of the orange pair to the left
side of the connector (from the top view, with the clip facing down).
6. Gently place the connector into the crimping tool. If everything is correct, crimp
the plug hard enough to force the contacts through the insulation on the wires..
When you remove the cable from the crimper, that end is ready to use.
7. For the standard straight through cable, repeat all the steps to terminate the other
end of the cable. Use the same scheme to finish the cable.
8. Test the finished cable before installing them.
 CROSSOVER PATCH CABLE

1. Cut cable to the desired length. For practical use, one should first determine the
distance between the devices where the cable will be used to. However, it is
important to take note that the maximum length for this cable is 5 meters
according to TIA/EIA structured wiring standards, although this can vary.
Standard lengths are 1.83 meters and 3.05 meters.
2. Cut into the plastic sheath about an inch from one end of the cut cable. The
crimping tool has a razor blade that will do the trick. However, a scissors can also
be used.
3. Unwind the pair, and reorganize these pairs into the order of the T568B wiring
color scheme as shown below. Pinch the wire between your fingers and straighten
them out.

4. Use a scissors to trim them in a straight cut to shorten them to half an inch from
the cut sleeve to the end of the wires. Be sure not to let go of the jacket and the
wires, which are now in the proper order.
5. Carefully push all the unstripped colored wires into the RJ45. Make sure the end
of the jacket is inside the plug. Also note the position of the orange pair to the left
side of the connector (from the top view, with the clip facing down).
6. Gently place the connector into the crimping tool. If everything is correct, crimp
the plug hard enough to force the contacts through the insulation on the wires.
When you remove the cable from the crimper, that end is ready to use.
7. For the crossover cable, the other end has a different color scheme. Repeat Steps 1
-6 to the other end of the cable, but reorder the color as circled in the figure
below.

8. Test the finished cable before installing them.

Engr. Juicy Cordero-Valdueza/Instructor/Electronics Engineering Department

College of Engineering/ Central Philippine University
RESULTS:

Engr. Juicy Cordero-Valdueza/Instructor/Electronics Engineering Department

College of Engineering/ Central Philippine University
OBSERVATION:

In this experiment, it really needs a patience especially if you do this for the first
time. I used the Cat-6 UTP which took me long in arranging based on its color coding.
Stripping the cable took me a lot of time because of we only have one crimping tool.

First technique to be performed was the straight thru. The color coding that was
based above. The colors were arrange the same on both ends. After I had arranged the
color, I cut it evenly approximately 1 inch and based the length on the RJ45. My first try
was a failure. The connections were disarrange as I insert it on the RJ45 that was read by
the tester. So I cut it and did again from the beginning of the procedure. I became more
careful and accurate. I took extra effort as a crimp the cable because the crimping tool
was hard to compress and test it again and made it correctly.

Then, we performed the crossover. The color coding was based also above and
the color coding are different on both ends and that is why it is called crossover. The
connections are being crossed. Same procedures were applied but the color coding was
only different. After I learned from my mistake, I took only 20 minutes to crimp it and
tested it. The connections were good.

Engr. Juicy Cordero-Valdueza/Instructor/Electronics Engineering Department

College of Engineering/ Central Philippine University
CONCLUSION:

This experiment we were be able to construct UTP cable using 2 different

techniques. It was very useful because it has different purposes and this will help us be
ready when we are in the industry. Once there is a broken cable we could fix it and
there was no LAN cables we could create for them. Even if this kind of work is very
simple but it is very helpful in so many ways.
Ethernet cables can be wired as straight through or crossover. The straight
through is the most common type and is used to connect computers to hubs or
switches. They are most likely what you will find when you go to your local computer
store and buy a patch cable. Crossover cable is more commonly used to connect a
computer to a computer and may be a little harder to find since they aren’t used nearly
as much as straight through cable.
A straight through cable is a type of twisted pair cable that is used in local area
networks to connect a computer to a network hub such as a router. This type of cable is
also sometimes called a patch cable and is an alternative to wireless connections where
one or more computers access a router through a wireless signal.
An Ethernet crossover cable is a type of Ethernet cable used to connect
computing devices together directly. The internal wiring of Ethernet crossover cables
reverses the transmit and receive signals. It is most often used to connect two devices of
the same type like two computers or two switches to each other.
Straight through and crossover cables are wired differently from each other. One
easy way to tell what you have is to look at the order of the colored wires inside the
RJ45 connector. If the order of the wires is the same on both ends, then you have a
straight through cable. If not, then it’s most likely a crossover cable or was wired wrong.
At present, the straight through cable is much more popular than crossover cable and is
widely used by people.

Engr. Juicy Cordero-Valdueza/Instructor/Electronics Engineering Department

College of Engineering/ Central Philippine University
Engr. Juicy Cordero-Valdueza/Instructor/Electronics Engineering Department
College of Engineering/ Central Philippine University