CAT6 Outdoor Grade Cable Termination Issue

[monte]

Hiya All

I am wiring my house using CAT 6 Ethernet cable and bought outdoor grade CAT 6 cable as some of my runs will be outdoor. The problem is that outdoor grade CAT 6 cable is not very flexible by design - due to the black external layer, the white inner sheaf and the gel filled interior.

I have used the outdoor cable indoors as didnt realise the flexibility would be an issue. However the outdoor cable runs would still have the same problem.

My problem is in the termination. I am terminating into CAT 6 Euro Modules (made by Lap and suplied by Screwfix) that mount into back boxes in the wall. The problem is that the cable is not flexible enough to route into the back box and easily bend to the modules for termination. I have 4 Euro Modules per back box (ie double 240 V socket size).

The modules have cable tie fixing points to secure the cable just prior to the terminations. I have had to strip the two outer protective layers as the cable enters the back box for about 5 cm which is enough to provide some flexibility and get the cable to the module. There is then about a centimeter of cable with both protective layers intact which is where I cable tie the cable to the Euro Module. Then the protective layers have been removed to allow the twisted pairs to be terminated.

I see on various forums that it is not good to use cable ties or to strip the protective layers away for flexibility like I have.

My question is how are you expected to terminate an unflexible CAT6 cable into Euro modules in a back box?

I assume you can only do it the way I have but how badly will this affect data speeds?

It is a lot of trouble to setup a couple of PC's and transfer data to check the speed.

Many thanks in advance.

 

[armbands0]

How about terminating into a small patch panel?

 

[LankyWill]

You shouldn't have used internally rated cat 6 to save yourself this hassle. I'm sure if you strip it back to the grommet of the box and keep the strands twisted this will not have a drastic effect of speed or interference. You could also wire it into a hub box to give yourself more room and then spider off to the points inside. Or use a patch panel

 

[monte]

Hi armbands0 and LankyWill

Many thanks for taking the time to reply to my question.

Yes I realise now that I should have used the indoor cable - but as I had some outdoor runs to do and was running some of the indoors runs through the roof space, I figured it would be good to get the outdoor grade for everything! I spent some time researching any potential issues on the internet and have yet to find any warning of this.

I will stick with the terminations that I have already done - by stripping the outer covers to leave the twisted pairs and hope the degradation is not too dramatic.

I have run batches of 4 cables into each back box and has planned on terminating into 4 modules per back box. However I can see a better solution would be to forget the modules and terminate the cables into RJ45 connectors. Then plug the cables directly from the back box (no modules fitted) into a router - carefully placed to avoid sharp corners or placing any stress on the router.

Plan B would be to use a patch panel but trying to avoid a similar issue again due to cable stiffness.

I am writing this in the hope that someone else will find this information before making the mistake I have.

Thanks again for the help.