Stop Crimping RJ-45s

IMG_20141212_183254355I am on a quest to convince people, especially controls and automation people, to stop crimping RJ-45 ends on Ethernet cables. Everyone else in the world terminates Ethernet to a punchdown block jack and then uses a pre-tested, pre-molded patch cable to connect to the device. The reason to avoid crimping on the RJ-45’s is that it is difficult to reliably crimp the ends on correctly, especially if you have to use an electrician who would rather be bending 3″ rigid conduit and is trying to use the Mickey Mouse crimp tool he bought at the dollar store.

It’s easy if you already have a 19″ rack, but what do you do inside a panel? Several options:
IMG_20141212_1831478501) DINSpace (Addison Texas) makes a DIN rail mountable metal box with 12 keystone holes. (p/n SNAP-Cu-12).  It comes with 12 shielded hinge-IDC jacks and a crimp tool, but it looks like it will accept any standard keystone jack.  $150

2) PANDUIT makes a line of DIN rail mount boxes with 8 keystones or 8 of their mini-com connectors.  I think the mini-com jacks are better, but they are $20 each, so the 8 ports with the box wind up costing over $260.  (p/n CDPP8RG and CJ688TGIG)

IMG_20141212_1834433423) Surface-mount box with punch-down blocks.  There are several versions of these including one from PANDUIT that accepts the mini-com jacks, but it is hard to beat the ones from monoprice.com.  (p/n 7093) They cost less than $3 and will ship out same day.

4) Similar to the above surface mount box is a surface mount box that accepts a keystone jack. (less than $1 monoprice.com p/n 7088)

5) Just use a standard electrical box, keystone faceplate, and keystone jacks.  These are now sold at the home improvement stores.

6)Screenshot from 2014-12-13 22:23:38 DIN rail mounted keystone jacks ($3 SIGNAMAX p/n KI-DIN-RMM-SL)

Screenshot from 2014-12-13 22:30:097) Vertical mini patch panel ($50 SIGNAMAX p/n 12458MH-C6C)

For the patch cables, it pays off to just order a bunch from monoprice.com instead of trying to buy them off the shelf somewhere.  You can order 20% more than you need, and pay for next day shipping and still probably be cheaper than buying them from a regular store.  (about $1 each — but don’t get the regular boot because you can’t squeeze them to get it off, get the flexboot style)

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2 Responses to Stop Crimping RJ-45s

  1. Brian Gallimore says:

    I asked DINspace what kind of keystone jacks they used:

    The CU jacks (TB8768ST-4WH08) and crimping tools (HT87X8-YL) are from :

    Telebox Industries Corp.
    http://www.telebox.com

  2. Brian Gallimore says:

    Belden has a neat modular box called the MIPP (modular industrial patch panel) that has 4 port keystone blocks.

    https://www.belden.com/resourcecenter/documents/upload/PB334.pdf

    part number MIPP/BD/CUD4/CUD4 will be: 2 modules, DIN rail mount, copper, 2x modules: keystone, CAT6, unshielded, with 4 keystones

    Hirschmann Part# MIPP/BD/CUE4/CUE4 Modular

    DIN-Rail Mount Patch Panel, two single modules, 2

    x 4-Port CAT6 RJ45 Unshielded ~$275, 2 week lead time

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