Get it right first time, every time! How to make up shielded Cat7 ethernet cables from scratch using modular RJ45 connectors, with a load bar.
Purchasing Links: (paid)
➡ RJ45 Modular Crimping Tool: https://geni.us/ModularCrimper
➡ Ethernet Cable Tester: https://geni.us/NetworkCableTester
➡ RJ45 Modular Plugs with Load Bar: https://geni.us/RJ45ModularPlugsCat7
➡ Cat7 Shielded Ethernet Cable: https://geni.us/Cat7Cable
➡ Cat6 Ethernet Cable: https://geni.us/Cat6
➡ Flush Cutters: https://geni.us/FlushCutters
➡ Metric Tape Measure: https://geni.us/MetricTapeMeasure
➡ Automatic Wire Strippers: https://geni.us/WireStrippers
DISCLOSURE: As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.
Learn how to make a network cable (patch lead) and fit an RJ45 connector using an RJ45 crimping tool for Modular Plugs with a Load Bar. This type of RJ45 plug allows the 8 conductors to pass through the end of the load bar before you insert into the plug, making it easier to ensure the correct order of the coloured wires (T-568A or T-568B) and perfect placement inside the jack before crimping.
If you find traditional RJ45 plugs really fiddly and hard to get working properly but you also dislike pass-through connectors due to the possibility of shorts, then modular RJ45 plugs which feature a load bar might be the solution you’ve been looking for!
Traditional, Pass-Through and Modular RJ45 Plugs
So what are they? Whereas traditional RJ45 plugs require you to arrange the 8 colour-coded wires into the correct order and then trim everything to just the right length before inserting them into the plug and hoping they reach the tip and don’t fall out of order on the way in, pass-through connectors eliminate both these potential problems by allowing the 8 wires to “pass through” the plug, allowing you to easily double check the order before crimping as well as ensuring the perfect length of all 8 wires inside the plug with a flush cut at the tip.
However, pass-through plugs are controversial and lots of people absolutely hate them for a variety of reasons, which is why modular plugs are great as they provide the best of both worlds, by incorporating a load bar which the 8 cores pass through much like on a pass-through plug, but it’s kept inside the connector which unlike on a passthrough is completely sealed at the end.
To demonstrate, I’ll make a short patch lead – which isn’t something you’d usually bother making in a real-world scenario, you’d generally only bother to manually terminate much longer cable runs and even then they’d often be terminated with a keystone jack in a wall plate. However there are plenty of times when you may need to do this, and you never know when having this skill and the tools in your toolbox might get you out of a sticky situation.
The Difference between CAT7 Cable and CAT6 / CAT5e
I’m also going to show you some shielded Cat7 cable and how it differs from other common types of network cable such as Cat5e and Cat6, although you can use this type of modular RJ45 plug with those cables as well.
Cat7 is fully backward compatible with older and lower classes of cable – they’re all essentially made of 8 wires, 4 twisted pairs of two. The difference is that as you go up the classes the specifications get even stricter to cut down on crosstalk and system noise. So with Cat7 you’ll see the addition of shielding for each of the 4 pairs as well as for the cable as a whole. That individual shielding per pair is so effective that with Cat7 the twists are longer and not as tight as they are on Cat6, as they don’t need to be.
All of this means that in perfect circumstances, whilst Cat5e and Cat6 cables should be good for gigabit speeds, Cat7 ups that to 10 gigabit.
The first thing you should do, which I frequently forget myself, is slide a strain relief boot over the cable’s tip and down onto the cable before you get down to business. Make sure you do this first, as there’s nothing worse than getting going and then having to stop, fumble around for a cable cap, and then try to get it on when you’ve already started stripping – it’s a real mood killer.
Next up, we’ll strip about 3cm of the outer cable jacket to reveal the 4 twisted pairs inside. Depending on the type of cable and how rigid it is, you might be able to use the built-in wire stripper on your crimping tool, but with this cable I’m using here that just doesn’t work very well so I use this excellent automatic wire stripper. I love this tool, it’s literally changed my life as it makes stripping any size of wire so quick and easy, and can even strip multiple wires all at once to the same length. There’s a link in the description if you’re as easily excitable as I am!
With the outer jacket stripped away, pull back the braided shielding and twist it round into itself, like this. Don’t cut it off – we’ll be using this later to electrically connect the shielding to the RJ45 plug’s outer casing, making it possible to have the entire cable shielded and grounded, from end to end.
Next we need to separate out all 8 cores, and you can see that extra shielding around each pair there, so use some flush cutters to snip it away and then untwist them and straighten them all out. Some people like to use the excess outer cable jacket to help separate the pairs out, and once they’re separated you can also use your thumb and run along the back of a screwdriver or pair of pliers to help get the cores really nice and straight.
Arranging the 8 Colour-Coded Core Wires into the Correct Order
Then you need to arrange the 8 colour-coded wires into the correct order so that we can feed them into the load bar. I keep a little printout in my tub of connectors, or you can just Google “RJ45 wiring diagram”. There are 2 main standards, T-568A and T-568B – the only difference is the greens and the oranges trade places. The key importance is that your cable run uses the same wiring standard on both ends of the cable, so if you’re just making a length of cable for yourself at home and terminating both ends with an RJ45 plug then it really doesn’t make any difference – as long as you use the same standard, A or B – on both ends. I tend to use T-568B because it’s the most widely used nowadays. So that’s orange and white, solid orange, green and white, solid blue, blue and white, solid green, brown and white, and finally solid brown.
If you’re adding cabling to an existing setup, or replacing a faulty end, then make sure you use whatever standard is already in use at the location, to make things easier for yourself and any other engineers who might do work there after you. On this particular cable that I’m using, the colour coding on the cores is such that all the pairs to the solid colours are themselves solid white, which means that I unfortunately can’t make another White Stripes joke in this video. It also means that you have to be a bit more careful and pay attention to which solid-coloured wire it’s paired with.
So, arrange them in the right order and again, run your fingers along to help straighten them out even more so that they sit right and in the correct position. I find it helpful at this point to take my wire cutters and gently grip the cables – but don’t snip them just yet – and to bunch the ends right up to each other and double check the colours are still in the correct order. Then, holding the base of the wires firmly with your thumb, snip the off end so that we have a really neat, tight bunch at the end. Don’t worry about the length yet at this stage.
Using the Load Bar on a Modular RJ45 Plug
Next is the slightly fiddly bit – we need to thread the 8 wires through the corresponding 8 holes on the load bar. You’ll have noticed from the wiring order that the wires alternate between a solid colour and a white, or white striped, colour. The load bar has 2 rows, one for the whites and one for the solid colours so knowing that will help you make sure you have them in the correct order on the bar as they slide in. The solid colours will all be on the front row and the White Stripes on the back row.
It’s a bit fiddly but once they’ve been massaged into the right placement you’ll find it suddenly slides on really easily – and once it has, you can double-check all 8 cores are still in the right order, much like you do with a pass-through plug.
Once you’ve made sure they’re all in the right order, slide the load bar down so its base is about 12mm from the edge of the outer jacket, and then use a pair of flush cutters to trim all the excess away from the end of the wires that are poking out of the load bar.
Then take the modular RJ45 plug with the clip facing away from you and slide the cable, with load bar still in place, into the plug to complete the assembly. You should be able to see all 8 wires reaching to the very end of the plug and you can also check again that they’re still in the right order.
Crimping a Modular RJ45 Plug with Load Bar
Once you’re happy, insert the plug into the crimping tool and squeeze it closed tightly – this will do two things; it will it crimp the plug and press the little lever into the cable jacket at the bottom of the plug securing it in place, as well as splicing the plug’s 8 contacts into the 8 wires.
Next, and this is only done on shielded cables with shielded plugs, take the wrapped up braided shielding and wind it around so that it makes good contact with the metallic outside of the RJ45 plug and the buckle. Using a pair of pliers, bend the buckle into place and close it tightly. Some crimpers even have a special section to close this down, but a pair of pliers will also do the job.
Finally, slide the strain relief boot up and over the base of the plug (which also covers up and contains the rest of the braiding, holding it in place) and that’s the first end done! A nice neat job with all 8 cores easily in the correct order and at exactly the right length for a perfect connection inside the RJ45 plug – with none of the downsides of open-ended passthrough plugs.
Testing your Cat7 Network Cable with a Cable Tester
Repeat exactly the same process with the same wiring order for the other end, and then be sure to test the cable with a cable tester like this.
This checks all 8 wires individually – it will tell you that the 8 connections are good on both ends and also that it’s wired up correctly on both ends in the right order – or at least the same order on both ends. It does this by performing a continuity test down each of the 8 cores in turn, and you should see the sequence going from 1 to 8 on both ends to show that the cable is working perfectly. Notice how the G for ground also lights up in this case, as this is a shielded cable and we’ve used shielded plugs – the shielding for the cable as a whole was the outer braiding that we twisted up and contacted to the buckle on the plug.
If it’s a long cable run – and Cat7 cable should be good for speeds of 10Gigabit/second over up to 100m – then you can separate the Master and Remote parts of the cable tester and put one at each end of the cable run to test it.