How to Crimp UTP Cables to RJ-45 Connectors

Crimp UTP Cables to RJ-45 Connectors

An unshielded twisted pair cable (or UTP), more commonly referred to as Ethernet cable, is used to connect devices to networking equipment such as routers or switches. While you can buy premade UTP cables from office supply chains or computer stores it can be more cost-efficient to cut and crimp your own cable if you have a large number of devices that need to be networked together. With a specialized crimping tool you can easily make as many UTP cables as you need in a short amount of time.

1 Measure out the distance between the networking device and the machine it will be
connected to, such as a computer or printer. Get a portion of UTP cable that is at least two inches longer than the length you measured out to make room for going around corners or other devices.

A Wire Crimping Tool

Thread one inch of either end of the UTP cable into the stripping hole on the wire crimping tool. Push down on the tool and slide it off the cable to remove the plastic sheath around the inner cabling. Untwist all of the colored cables inside the plastic sheath.

The Untwisted Cables

Line up the colored wires in the pattern you need for the devices you will be connecting together. Line up the colors in this order: white and green; green, white and orange; blue, white and blue; orange, white and brown; and then brown if you will be connecting a device to a switch, router or hub.

if you are making a crossover UTP cable that will directly connect two computers for file sharing arrange the colored cables in this order: white and orange; orange, white and green; blue, white and blue; green, white and brown; and finally brown.

An RJ-45 Jack

Cut off the ends of the colored cables so that they are all the same length. Insert the colored cables into the open ports on the inside of the RJ-45 jack. Push the cables in until they are not able to move any farther. Insert the RJ-45 jack into the crimping hole on the wire stripping tool.

6
Push down on both handles of the crimping tool to lock the UTP cable into the RJ-45 jack. Repeat the entire cutting, arranging and crimping process with the other end of the UTP cable.

RJ45 pin numbering

Before we start with the discussion of wiring schemes for modular jacks, it is good to know how pins are numbered on RJ45 and other modular jacks. The following scheme shows the exact pin numbering on both male and female RJ45 connectors.
RJ45 pin numbering

All other modular jackslike RJ11start counting at the same side of the connector. In the wiring diagrams with modular jacks on this site we prefer to use a picture of the jack upside down, with the hook underneath.

The straight through RJ45 network cable, EIA/TIA 568B

The most common wiring for RJ45 cables is the straight through cable. In this cable layout, all pins are wired one-to-one to the other side. The pins on the RJ45 connector are assigned in pairs, and every pair carries one differential signal. Each line pair has to be twisted. If UTP or FTP cable is used, the pairs have orange, brown, blue and green colors. The wiring of these cables to RJ45 to make a straight through cable is defined by EIA/TIA 568B. The RJ45 connectors on both ends are wired in the same way. The color scheme is shown below.
Straight through RJ45 color coding - EIA/TIA 568B

The cross over RJ45 network cable, EIA/TIA 568A

The straight through RJ45 cable is commonly used to connect network cards with hubs on 10Base-T and 100Base-Tx networks. On network cards, pair 1-2 is the transmitter, and pair 3-6 is the receiver. The other two pairs are not used. On hubs pair 1-2 is the receiver and 3-6 the transmitter. Because of this a straight through RJ45 cable can be used to connect network cards to hubs. In very small network configurations where only two computers have to be connected, the use of a hub is not necessary. The straight through RJ45 cable cannot be used in that situation. Also when two hubs have to be connected to increase the number of nodes on a network segment, this cable is not appropriate. In both situations a cross over RJ45 cable is necessary, where the transmit and receive lines on both RJ45 connectors are cross connected. The color coding for the cross over RJ45 cable has been defined in the EIA/TIA 568A standard. Please note: One RJ45 connector has to be wired as EIA/TIA 568B, the other as EIA/TIA 568A. When wiring both ends as EIA/TIA 568A, the resulting cable is a straight through cable again.
Cross over RJ45 color coding - EIA/TIA 568A

Common data and voice wiring schemes

Depending of the situation where modular cables are used, the wiring schemes with modular jacks differ. The most common wiring schemes can be seen in the picture below.
Common modular jack wiring schemes Female connector, looking from the open end