How to Crimp an RJ45 Connector to a Cat 5e Ethernet Cable
Do you want to learn how to make your own ethernet cables? Keep reading or just watch the video below.
You can find the same tool I used here on Amazon. This looks identical and is the closest thing I could find. I bought mine years ago.
You can find a couple of cheaper tools (different brand) that come as a kit here:
- With connectors and a separate stripping tool: on Amazon
- With connectors, a separate stripping tool, and a tester: on Amazon
(paid links)
Crimping your own ethernet cables can be a really useful skill. In many cases it is going to be easier and probably better to just buy a patch cable but there are many situations where building a custom cable is the better option.
Reasons to build custom cables:
- less messy ( exact length needed )
- really long / really short cables
- potentially cheaper
- easier to run a cable without a plug on the end
- you might need a cross over cable
- fix broken cables
The most obvious situation where you would want to run a custom cable would be in a data center. There are situations where you may prefer a cable of the exact length that you need and building a custom cable is better than using a prebuilt patch cable. you might also be connecting two patch panels in different rows in your data center. It isn’t uncommon to use three different cables to connect two servers together. Another use is when directly connecting servers without the use of a switch. An example of this would be a cross over cable used for a heart beat connection in a cluster.
You may end up wanting to build custom cables at home. The first thing that comes to mind here is a situation where you want to provide wired ethernet connections all over your house. You are going to want to run custom length cables for this. You might also have a situation where you have a home lab and you need extra short cables. For example, many people create Raspberry Pi clusters with cables that are only a few inches or centimeters long.
If you are going to be crimping cables there is a good chance you are going to need RJ45 plugs and Cat 5e ethernet cable: