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Ethernet Sockets

Mullardman

Mullardman

Moderately extreme...
I'm currently using a couple of Netgear Powerline 1000 adapters to route Ethernet from my Innuos Zen Mini/PSU, via the mains to my Router, which is in a different room. (Though effectively on the same wall..IYSWIM..)

Anyway.. I've identified the adapters as a source of clicks on my phono stage..so I intend routing 'proper' Ethernet wire between the hi fi and the router. Fortunately, I have a redundant FM Aerial Socket behind the hi fi. So.. It will be straightforward enough to replace the front plate on that with an Ethernet version and then run 'outdoor' Ethernet cable through that, via my integral garage..a bit of outside wall and then back in.. to where my broadband connection comes in, and my router lives. Just add another surface mount box and socket next to the Virgin gubbins and all should be well..

So... does anyone have experience of/views on decent Ethernet sockets? I'll need to get a 'tool' for making connections and I assume that the connections/colour coding etc.. are standard and maybe marked on the hardware?

Views?
 
For a one off small job I’d get a local sparky in, if you might do more or help out friends/family it might be worth learning how to punch down and tooling up

I use Comms Express when we do it ourselves, bigger jobs I outsource

Excel is decent kit and not expensive
https://www.comms-express.com/categories/excel-cat5e-module-kits/

Plenty of vids on YT and guides if you Google for Punch Down Network Module

The tool is called a Krone
https://www.comms-express.com/products/krone-style-idc-punch-down-tool/

Go with Cat6 cabling, no need for 6a it’s over spec for domestic use

A tester is handy, you could go for a toolkit
https://www.comms-express.com/products/structured-cabling-installers-kit/

Might be a pfm guy nearby who’d do you a solid or loan out the kit/give you a how to.
 
I use excel sockets, specifically these:

https://bownetcms.co.uk/shop/struct...ts/excel-cat6-standard-euro-size-rj45-module/

Built like a tank and easy to work with. You want a punch down tool which are not expensive.

Just plug them into you surround of choice.

Cable from excel too, cat 6 is all you need, cat 5e will even do it to be fair. Make sure you get solid core, you'll know this as it will be unterminated. If its terminated chances are its stranded, which you dont want.

Where you intend to run a cable, run at least two.
 
"For a one off small job I’d get a local sparky in"

Sorry but I have to raise a doubt here - the average electrician may not know how to wire ethernet so make sure they know what they're doing first.
My own experience of this is that when an electrician was called to wire up a phone extension at my mothers house, he ended up completely killing her internet connection. I don't think he had any idea why there were little white boxes at various strategic points and therefore removed them.
 
zippy said:
"For a one off small job I’d get a local sparky in"

Sorry but I have to raise a doubt here - the average electrician may not know how to wire ethernet so make sure they know what they're doing first.
My own experience of this is that when an electrician was called to wire up a phone extension at my mothers house, he ended up completely killing her internet connection. I don't think he had any idea why there were little white boxes at various strategic points and therefore removed them.
Click to expand...
Common sense says check them out - word of mouth - the 4 local sparkys we use all do punch down, it's same skillset as shifting/extending a phone socket which they all do too - networking is very common for a decent sparky to provide these days
 
Thanks all.
I will not be hiring a 'spark' to do this. The job involves drilling two holes through a cavity wall, running a bit of wire and making connections at both ends. I watched a guy using a 'punch down' tool years ago when they wired our office out for a network. Doesn't look too onerous to me. Also, my brother bought a long terminated Ethernet cable but got his calcs wrong and had too much. So, he just bought a cheap tool, cut and re-terminated the wire and had no difficulty doing so.

The bigger issues for me are:

1. I believe I need 'Cat 6' wire. Do sockets also need to be Cat 6 or will Cat 5 do?
2. If I decide to use '2 gang' sockets, for an element of 'future proofing'.. do I still just need a single run of wire.. as per..say a 2 gang mains install.. Or do I need to run 2 wires?
 
Actually, I not sure about todays gigabit ethernet, I remember myself once using one cable for two connections as ethernet using only two pairs not all four.
 
gints said:
Actually, I not sure about todays gigabit ethernet, I remember myself once using one cable for two connections as ethernet using only two pairs not all four.
Click to expand...
Gigabit Ethernet uses four pairs, Cat 5e minimum. 100 Mbps uses only two.
 
No need for anything fancy. T568b is the connection standard to use and you could take the cable straight through a brush plate on the wall into the back of your streamer. One less connection required and just as tidy. CAT5e is perfectly adequate for audio.
 
Mullardman if you go double gang then go the hog and run four cables, honestly you always find a use for them.

the Ethernet sockets I linked to at cat6
 
Years ago I had two Cat 5e cables installed in the wall of the room we converted to out study. The idea was to bypass flaky WiFi. But WiFi improved and we never used them. Besides the broadband to the house was woeful (wet string would have been faster and more reliable).

Fast forward to 2019 and finally fibre is here (full fat FTTP - too far from the exchange for FTTC). All good and we’re accessing Netflix and the like for the first time.... All over WiFi.

Then 2020 strikes and there are two adults and a schoolchild working from home and spending our lives on video calls. Permanent dropouts as the WiFi flakes in spite of the lightning fast broadband.

Then I remembered a few weeks ago that we had these ethernet cables in the wall. Cue crawling round the loft and learning how to terminate Cat 5e (yes, there was swearing) and the adult laptops are now running off a wire and the WiFi is less strained. No more collapsing MS Teams/Zoom calls..!

A visit from a local sparky to sort a power socket to my “temporary” desk area and I had him put in a back box so I could fit a socket for the ethernet.

We’re planning a loft conversion next year and I’m now definitely going to include cabling and a switch everywhere. Might upgrade to Cat 6. There will be some external cabling for rooms that have not long ago been renovated as I don’t want to wreck the walls. But kitchen extension aside, I reckon I can cable up every room...including the bedroom that is to be converted to a listening/home cinema/hiding from my family room. Yay!

So, Mullardman a long way of saying: do it. It makes such a difference.

(Oh and I think we don’t live that far from each other, so you’re welcome to borrow the tools I bought to do the terminations - cable stripper, punch down tool, connection tester.)
 
Cheap connection testers only check dc continuity. Ethernet requires getting the pair right or crosstalk kills it. Polarity does not matter on modern equipment
 
davidsrsb said:
Cheap connection testers only check dc continuity. Ethernet requires getting the pair right or crosstalk kills it. Polarity does not matter on modern equipment
Click to expand...
Plug both ends of the new cable into a switch. If the link lights come on, it's (probably) good.
 
Why not just get a blank plate and drill a hole in it? I did this and ran both fibre optic and wire ethernet. I used the cheapest AudioQuest, a 25m run of AQ Pearl CAT6a, about £90 from Futureshop, mainly because I wanted it professionally terminated. One cable was put in by Sky run over the roof and through the wall, the others I put in under floorboards and behind the skirting.

I also have an Innuos (Zen Mk3) and run the ethernet via the fibre optic directly, not via a switch.
 
mansr said:
Plug both ends of the new cable into a switch. If the link lights come on, it's (probably) good.
Click to expand...
Most of the switches I buy can test the cable, even the lower cost ones these days. That said a basic tester is only a few quid and all you need for a couple sockets going in at home.
 
Mullardman said:
Thanks all.
I will not be hiring a 'spark' to do this. The job involves drilling two holes through a cavity wall, running a bit of wire and making connections at both ends. I watched a guy using a 'punch down' tool years ago when they wired our office out for a network. Doesn't look too onerous to me. Also, my brother bought a long terminated Ethernet cable but got his calcs wrong and had too much. So, he just bought a cheap tool, cut and re-terminated the wire and had no difficulty doing so.

The bigger issues for me are:

1. I believe I need 'Cat 6' wire. Do sockets also need to be Cat 6 or will Cat 5 do?
2. If I decide to use '2 gang' sockets, for an element of 'future proofing'.. do I still just need a single run of wire.. as per..say a 2 gang mains install.. Or do I need to run 2 wires?
Click to expand...

1. Cat5e is perfect for this - it'll give you a solid gig ethernet link over up to 100 meters, and you are unlikely to need anything greater than this. You can get a reel of Cat5e cable (external is probably a good idea if you are buying it for this purpose, but i've used internal Cat5e externally without any problems for the last 15 years).

2. For dual sockets you need two links to your switch, basically twisted pair ethernet cabling is point to point with a device either end - this will typically be a computer at one end and a switch at the other, so to connect two computers to the switch, you'd need a cable for each. This also means you get twice the network bandwidth to the socket given you've got two leads vs something like wifi which shares bandwidth between the connected devices.

As for tooling, you'll need nothing to make up the connection. The socket that goes in the wall plate has push on connections on the back, you basically unpeel the twisted cables and push them into the socket pins. Here's a random picture from the web showing what the other side looks like:

SxN5s.jpg


If I were you, i'd buy two sockets like this, one for each end and run your cable between the two. At that point you'll have a pair of RJ45 sockets, and you'll use normal internal patch leads to plug your devices and switch into those RJ45 sockets and all will be good.

Yes, you can make up ethernet patch leads as well, but you'll be better off with off the shelf cables as it's much cheaper (and you've probably got some knocking around as they tend to get included with stuff these days).
 
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