Cat 6 solid core for rj45 male ends

[thomaspotato]

Hi , i was told by an IT guy in a place that i was working that solid core cat 6 shouldn't be used with male rj45 ends and the cat 6 solid core ends should be terminated to a female end and pre made patch leads(apparently they are mad with stranded cable) should then be used to connect to computers/tv's etc. Has any one heard of this before?

 

[brianmoooore]

Presumably it's to do with the flexibility of the cables. Solid core cables should always be installed so that they're not subjected to frequent bending, as the cores will "work harden" and eventually fracture.
Applies to all cables, not just data cables.

 

[Avo Mk8]

Brianmoooore beat me to it, but I'll post wot I rote anyway!

Solid Cat 6 would normally be used for the building infrastructure, and places where it doesn't move. Stranded is used for flexible leads - patch panels, connections to machines etc.
So you would normally expect solid to end up at a socket, and the cable with the plug on would be flexible.
That is more or less what your colleague was saying.
I can say from experience that network cables used around the place to plug between sockets and machines don't last very long if they are made with solid strands.

 

[Rockingit]

Yes - an analogy I got taught years ago for cables is 'like a good partner - solid on the inside, flexible on the outside'.

 

[thomaspotato]

Thanks for your help!

 

[UNG]

The problem these days is where cat5 & 6 is used for CCTV wiring and increasing the number of connections between the NVR and cameras just creates more points of failure and transmission losses

 

[Rockingit]

The problem these days is where cat5 & 6 is used for CCTV wiring and increasing the number of connections between the NVR and cameras just creates more points of failure and transmission losses

In fairness to the OP, that's a slightly different issue. All versions of 'CAT' are meant to be a seamless continuous run from end to end. Patch bays and joints are only ever as good as the person who installed it.

 

[mickegh]

Ive done a few bits of diy networking in my own place using cat5 end-to-end

But as said above the solids not meant to be used as a flexible end connection in pro work

 

[PoppyAnn]

Brianmoooore beat me to it, but I'll post wot I rote anyway!

Solid Cat 6 would normally be used for the building infrastructure, and places where it doesn't move. Stranded is used for flexible leads - patch panels, connections to machines etc.
So you would normally expect solid to end up at a socket, and the cable with the plug on would be flexible.
That is more or less what your colleague was saying.
I can say from experience that network cables used around the place to plug between sockets and machines don't last very long if they are made with solid strands.

For me I always try to use flexible cables i accept that they tend to cost more but they will make better connections and every time i have tried using solid core cables I end up with faults in the connections due to the fitting of the plug which have caused me no end of faults I now only use cat 6 as a minimum and if it is a long run i tend to use cat 8, whilst I know in theory a cat 6 cable should do the job fitting over the top spec cables does cut down on faults.

 

[Simon47]

While there are some valid points, no-one has mentioned the most important. YOU NEED THE RIGHT PLUGS.
"RJ45"* plugs come in different types. Historically, they had a couple of points on the back of the contacts designed to pierce the insulation and go in between the strands of stranded cable. If you use these with solid cable then the points will either pass down one side of the core and not make a reliable contact, or will cut the core that will mean an even less reliable contact.
Plugs for solid cable have the points offset to go both sides of the solid core. I've used plugs with 2 or 3 points. The 3 point ones have the centre contact offset the opposite side to the others, which I think (no evidence, just an engineering feeling) is better than the 2 points.

For good measure, there are different plugs for stranded round and stranded flat cable. For round cable, the entry is a shallow "D" shape; for flat cable, it's a parrallel slot.

As others have said, don't use solid cable where it'll be flexed. But for something like a fixed camera to fixed DVR or switch then it's fine. Actually, signal wise, solid cable is supposed to be better.

* Being pedantic, none of us actually use "RJ45". We use 8P8C modular plugs (with some IEC number I can't remember).
"RJ45" is a combination of the 8P8C plug with a specific connection of phone line. Actually, it turns out RJ45 didn't even use the same connector Registered jack - Wikipedia - https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Registered_jack