A Better Way to End Cables

I’ve run a lot of cable in my day and had my methods to near perfection. But last year a co-worker taught me an easier way to install the RJ45 end onto a piece of CAT5 or CAT6 cable.

Installing the RJ45 end on a piece of cable involves:

Trimming off the end of the cable to make sure you have a flat clean end.
Remove 1 inch of the outer sleeve.
Untwist all of the wires and arrange the wires into the correct order
Trimming the ends flat and inserting them into the RJ45 modular end
Crimp the end with a crimp tool
Testing and certifying the cable

Step 3 takes the most time and is the easiest place to make a mistake, most often arranging the wires in the wrong order.

Normally the how to guides say to untwist all of the wires and arrange them in the following order (TI 568B):

White Orange
Orange
White Green
Blue
White Blue
Green
White Brown
Brown

This means starting from left and moving to the right.

But I find it easier to start from the center and work out.

I assembled a step by step photo guide to show how to make it a little simpler:

Step 1 to End Cables — Step 1: Eyeball about 1 inch from the end of the wire.

Step 2 to End Cables — Step 2: Cut 1 inch of the outer sleeve exposing the 8 wires underneath.

Step 3 to End Cables — Step 3: If you have CAT6 cable, snip off the nylon thread and plastic spline

Step 4 to End Cables — Step 4: With the nylon thread and plastic spline gone, you should now be able to separate 4 groups of wire.

Step 5 to End Cables — Step 5: Untwist and arrange the blue/white pair. Solid blue of the left, white blue on the right.

Step 6 to End Cables — Step 6: Untwist and arrange the green/white pair, white green on the far left and green on the far right.

Step 7 to End Cables — Step 7: Pull them together so that the green white pair surrounds the blue white pair.

Step 8 to End Cables — Step 8: Untwist and arrange the white orange pair as shown above.

Step 9 to End Cables — Step 9: Place the white orange pair on the left. White orange will be left most followed by orange. At this point the wires are white orange, orange, white green, blue, white blue, green, from top to bottom.

Step 10 to End Cables — Step 10: Untwist and arrange the last pair (white brown).

Step 11 to End Cables — Step 11: Lastly, place the brown white pair on the right. Brown will be right most followed by white brown on its left.

By starting from the center you don’t have to bend the wires as much to get them flat and smooth. And if you have lots of ends to put on, this saves wear and tear on your hands. Also, this method is a little quicker once you get the hang of it.

This method works equally well for TI 568A or TI 568B pinouts.

Trim the wires and insert them into the RJ45 plug. Crimp the end and you’re ready to test and certify the cable.