Simple connection question

[NA9D]

Re: Simple connection question

I love your drawing too!

[Glassjoe]

Re: Simple connection question

Okay, thanks. The only thing I'm still not getting--how do I connect the two cat5 cables in the basement to each other?

Each jack on the 1st floor has about 25' or so of cat5 that just goes to the basement and isn't connected to anything...

[NA9D]

Re: Simple connection question

Okay, thanks. The only thing I'm still not getting--how do I connect the two cat5 cables in the basement to each other?

Each jack on the 1st floor has about 25' or so of cat5 that just goes to the basement and isn't connected to anything...

Ahh...I see.

Well, you can get "punch blocks" that you can punch the cables into. There would then be female jacks for each cable that you can then jumper to your router. This is the "cleanest" way to do that in your router room. Or you can do what I did and just put RJ45 male connectors on the end and connect those ends right to your router. You'll have to buy a crimp tool, but that might be cheaper than buying the punch block.

Basically, you have your cable/dsl modem. From that you connect to a router. Your router typically has 4 LAN ports on it. That's where you'd connect all the CAT-5 cables. If you need more than 4 connections, you can buy an external 4 port or higher switch which basically gives you additional ports to connect into.

Does this make sense?

[Glassjoe]

Re: Simple connection question

If I'm picking up what you're putting down, then you're basically telling me to move my router from my den to my basement...

...eh?

[NA9D]

Re: Simple connection question

If I'm picking up what you're putting down, then you're basically telling me to move my router from my den to my basement...

...eh?

OK. I misunderstood the diagram and what you were saying. I looked at it again and let me see if I have it right now.

Your router and your Vudu are both on the first floor but are katty corner from each other in your house. You have cat 5 cable at each location going into the basement. But the "basement" ends are unconnected.

OK, there are a couple ways to do this.

You could simply strip the end of each wire and use wire nuts to tie like colors together. Might not be pure "cat5" but it could work. Better yet, you can get what are called "scotch blocks" or "splice blocks" that are designed for this. You can get them probably at Radio Shack of a place like Home Depot doesn't have them. That should work fine. Again, it might not be true "cat5" compliant, but since the Vudu streams at less than 5 Mb/sec, it shouldn't be a problem. Alternatively, you could put RJ45 male connectors on each end and then use a female to female mating adapter - again sold at Radio Shack. I have some of these in my setup and they work fine even at Gigabit ethernet (although they aren't truly Gig-E compliant). I would just use the splice or "scotch" blocks. You can put each side of the matching colors in unstripped and then with a pliars, you can press the contacts into place punching them into each other.

Whew! Glad we got that cleared up!


Jon

[Glassjoe]

Re: Simple connection question

Yeah, you have it exact now. Thanks for the help. I'm off tomorrow and Friday, so this is my big project!

I'm sure I'll be posting 1490590435 questions during this process, but I am determined to get this right.

[NA9D]

Re: Simple connection question

Yeah, you have it exact now. Thanks for the help. I'm off tomorrow and Friday, so this is my big project!

I'm sure I'll be posting 1490590435 questions during this process, but I am determined to get this right.

Just don't post 3.141592653589793.

I had a calculus TA in college who could repeat PI that far out... Yeah, he was a dork...

[Glassjoe]

Re: Simple connection question

I'll just "assume" you had to look it up and we'll leave it at that...

[NA9D]

Re: Simple connection question

I'll just "assume" you had to look it up and we'll leave it at that...

Yes, I did. I know 3.14151927 and that's about as far as I go...

[Glassjoe]

Re: Simple connection question

So I cut the rubber jacket to attempt this, but it appears there are only 4 wires: orange-white, green-white, blue-white, and brown-white?

What am I missing?

EDIT: it looks like if I untwist the colors with the white, it gives me all 8...

[Glassjoe]

Re: Simple connection question

Okay, now a really stupid question, but a necessary one:

Once I remove the rubber casing from the set of wires (meaning, the colored wires are now in sight)--do I also remove the colored casing (meaning, down to the actual copper) or do I insert the colored wire (meaning, not down to the actual copper) into the jack?

I don't see this ending well, people...

[NA9D]

Re: Simple connection question

So I cut the rubber jacket to attempt this, but it appears there are only 4 wires: orange-white, green-white, blue-white, and brown-white?

What am I missing?

EDIT: it looks like if I untwist the colors with the white, it gives me all 8...

Yeah, you gotta untwist.

You should have a color and then white-color (the color is a thin line that wraps in a helical direction on the insulation hence the names of white-orange, white-blue, white-green, and white-brown).

Have fun!

[NA9D]

Re: Simple connection question

Okay, now a really stupid question, but a necessary one:

Once I remove the rubber casing from the set of wires (meaning, the colored wires are now in sight)--do I also remove the colored casing (meaning, down to the actual copper) or do I insert the colored wire (meaning, not down to the actual copper) into the jack?

I don't see this ending well, people...

If you have standard punch-down jacks, you do not need to strip the jacket off the wire. In fact, it would probably not work so well if you did.

The punch-down tangs will cut through the jacket and make connection to the copper. You'll need to use some force to push the wire in place (hence the tool) but when it does go in, you'll feel it.

[Glassjoe]

Re: Simple connection question

Thanks. I'll report back. Despite my entirely ignorant questions, this doesn't seem like it will be very difficult...

[NA9D]

Re: Simple connection question

Thanks. I'll report back. Despite my entirely ignorant questions, this doesn't seem like it will be very difficult...

No ignorant questions. Just ignorant actions taken when no questions are asked!

It isn't difficult after the first time. The hardest part is just using my fat fingers in the tiny spaces of the jack punch downs!