What Would a Pro Have Done?

[Soundy 1]

It's a bit of a leap from "this is best practices" to "anything else is something you shouldn't be doing anyway"...

[SportPlumber 0]

As an old Broadcast Engineer I marvel at the amount of time we spent learning about proper connectors and termination. Just when we thought we had it all figured out with true 75 ohm BNCs and the like, along comes the IT revolution and the RJ45. Is it me or is that the crappiest connector ever made? I'm amazed they work at all let alone after numerous connect-disconnect cycles. Cheap plastic modular stuff probably OK for a POTS line but now we are putting Gig-E through this junk. I mean Cat-6 is amazing stuff but it deserves a better connector!

 

Shouldn't there be a better way?

 

[END RANT]

 

And thank you for the answers on the proper termination practices.

[NotoriousBRK 0]

It's a bit of a leap from "this is best practices" to "anything else is something you shouldn't be doing anyway"...

 

How so?

 

It's important to know how to do a decent RJ-45 termination for the time when there is no other option.

 

But if you're doing them regularly, you're doing it wrong.

[Soundy 1]

"BEST practice" does not mean "ONLY practice"

[Numb-nuts 1]

I wouldn't trust my life to my RJ45s just yet and they take me considerably longer than yours do.

I need a lot more practice by the sound of it? I will buy a cheap bag of 100 and use my Cat5 scaps to practice.

 

I wouldn't spend that much time and effort practicing something that you probably shouldn't be doing in the first place...

 

Its easy to be an idealist but there is such a thing as being realistic too.

 

What do you mean SHOULD"T be doing? If my terminations work and hold their own then that is good enough for me.

Terminating a cable for me has only two outcomes, works, or doesn't work. I am not looking for any idealistic standard in this, just a plug that does it's job. Field assembly will nearly always be inferior to factory made terminations, thats life but a necessity.

 

I don't consider practicing to be a waste of time or money, if it means when I have to do a for a job that I am doing my level best for a client. I will practice to ensure that when I do have to field assemble a cable that it's the best I can possibly achieve. More than that nobody can ask.

[NotoriousBRK 0]

What do you mean SHOULD"T be doing? If my terminations work and hold their own then that is good enough for me.

Terminating a cable for me has only two outcomes, works, or doesn't work. I am not looking for any idealistic standard in this, just a plug that does it's job.

 

Will it still work in 5 years? Is it serviceable? Will it still work if the connection gets flexed or moved significantly? If the customer has problems with the install that are not necessarily related to your work, will someone be able to come along and call the cable plant into question because the terminations do not conform to industry best practices and specifications?

 

Your binary view of "works" or "doesn't work" does not, IMO, take the larger factors into consideration. While I don't think you're going to be doing any enterprise-class jobs right now, I still think it is worthwhile to do the jobs properly.

 

Solid-core cable gets punched-down, not crimped with RJ-45 ends.

[NotoriousBRK 0]

"BEST practice" does not mean "ONLY practice"

 

Of course not. But wouldn't you agree it should at least mean "done 95% of the time", or some similarly large majority of the time?

 

Why would you *not* want to follow basic best practices?

[fa chris 0]

On large installs we sub out the wire pulling. We always require the sub to provide a patch panel in the termination room and a jack in the field where we need a camera. They can certify their cable run and it should never be touched, moved, or changed.

 

We come in, hook up our switches with patch cables to the patch panels, and in the field we hook up our cameras with a flexible patch cable to the provided jack. Make's it real easy to tell if something is our problem, or our electricians problem.

 

With the patch cord method if someone drops a camera with the cable attached or bends or flexes the cable to much, pinches it while mounting the enclosure accidentally, or whatever else... you're not pulling a new cable, you're replacing a patch cord. Add a few cameras in the same location? Mount a box with a switch, run a patch cable to the jack.

 

There's a lot of long term benefits to doing it this way, not seeing many cons.

[Soundy 1]

As an old Broadcast Engineer I marvel at the amount of time we spent learning about proper connectors and termination. Just when we thought we had it all figured out with true 75 ohm BNCs and the like, along comes the IT revolution and the RJ45. Is it me or is that the crappiest connector ever made? I'm amazed they work at all let alone after numerous connect-disconnect cycles. Cheap plastic modular stuff probably OK for a POTS line but now we are putting Gig-E through this junk. I mean Cat-6 is amazing stuff but it deserves a better connector!

 

Shouldn't there be a better way?

 

[END RANT]

 

And thank you for the answers on the proper termination practices.

You know something, you make a very good point: RJ-type connectors are, by their very nature, quite flimsy and inherently prone to the possibility of connection issues, including (from my experience) but not limited to: corroded contacts, bent contacts, contacts that have lost their spring, and broken or soft locking clips.

 

Getting all bent out of shape about "best practices" in using these connectors, and even suggesting that it's a waste of time to terminate them in any other fashion, to me just smacks of the proverbial "polishing a turd".

[Soundy 1]

"BEST practice" does not mean "ONLY practice"

 

Of course not. But wouldn't you agree it should at least mean "done 95% of the time", or some similarly large majority of the time?

 

Why would you *not* want to follow basic best practices?

Until recently, nobody told me what "best practices" were... so I've been doing it wrong all these years without serious issue. I see no reason to change now.

 

And as I've noted before, I've done jobs using these "best practices" just because terminating to a keystone and finishing with a patchcord suited the particular installation best... frankly, I've had more reliability issues with those than with simply slapping on an RJ45 plug.

 

I've seen the 110 contact blades in a keystone (and in patch panels) get weak and not contact the wire properly... meantime I've never had the blades in an RJ45 plug work themselves loose. But I'm to believe "best practices" calls this a better connection?

 

It's more time consuming and more expensive to complete, and in my experience, more problematic in the long run... so thanks, but WHAT WORKS BEST FOR ME is what I consider to be my "best practices"... not what someone else tells me should THEORETICALLY be so.

[NotoriousBRK 0]

 

Getting all bent out of shape about "best practices" in using these connectors, and even suggesting that it's a waste of time to terminate them in any other fashion, to me just smacks of the proverbial "polishing a turd".

 

Not sure who is "getting bent out of shape"...

 

Yes, the RJ-45 connectors aren't exactly industrial-grade to begin with. So let's tempt fate even more by using a non-recommended termination method.

 

You're acting like punching down a simple keystone jack is rocket surgery or something.

 

I'd be willing to bet that if you polled most full-time professional cable plant installers and asked them to spec a job with crimped-on RJ-45's, they'd either refuse, or would add a clause that nullfies, or significantly reduces, their warranty and claims around certifications.

[Soundy 1]

Tell ya what, you do you, and Imma do me, and I'll just keep using the method that I've found to be faster, cheaper, easier, and MORE RELIABLE. KISS principle.

[NotoriousBRK 0]

I've seen the 110 contact blades in a keystone (and in patch panels) get weak and not contact the wire properly... meantime I've never had the blades in an RJ45 plug work themselves loose. But I'm to believe "best practices" calls this a better connection?

 

It's more time consuming and more expensive to complete, and in my experience, more problematic in the long run... so thanks, but WHAT WORKS BEST FOR ME is what I consider to be my "best practices"... not what someone else tells me should THEORETICALLY be so.

 

It *is* more expensive, I'll agree with that. An RJ-45 plug is a few pennies, a decent keystone outlet is at least a couple of bucks.

 

I think your experience is not indicative of the overall industry though. My personal experience, in dealing with cable plants since before Cat 5 was a standard, is that field-crimped RJ-45s are one of the leading causes of network problems, and punched-down cables overall pass more certification tests and offer a longer-lasting solution.

 

In both cases though, I'd say that the plural of anecdote is not "data". Organizations like BICSI that are dedicated to these issues have recommended punched-down terminations on both ends of your solid-core backbone cable for what are, IMO, good reasons.

 

You're not arguing against *me* on this, you're arguing against statistics gathered over millions of cable plant installations.

[fa chris 0]

Breaking up a cable into segments lets us test and verify each segment, , easily replace the weakest segment in the chain (in this case, the part between the keystone jack and the camera), and lets us use different cable for each segment.

 

This holds especially true in the OPs case where he used direct burial cable for his run. What happens if the last 6 inches gets crimped during routine maintenance? Especially since it's cable not meant to take tight radius's? Bury a new cable?

 

What happens if you abandoned a camera location? Leave a cable hanging somewhere or cut it off and shove it down inside a wall making it useless for any future application? With a jack, you simply put a dust cover on it.

 

Do what you want to do, I just see a lot more advantages of doing it one way over the other.

[3RDIGLBL 0]

"BEST practice" does not mean "ONLY practice"

 

Of course not. But wouldn't you agree it should at least mean "done 95% of the time", or some similarly large majority of the time?

 

Why would you *not* want to follow basic best practices?

Until recently, nobody told me what "best practices" were... so I've been doing it wrong all these years without serious issue. I see no reason to change now.

 

And as I've noted before, I've done jobs using these "best practices" just because terminating to a keystone and finishing with a patchcord suited the particular installation best... frankly, I've had more reliability issues with those than with simply slapping on an RJ45 plug.

 

I've seen the 110 contact blades in a keystone (and in patch panels) get weak and not contact the wire properly... meantime I've never had the blades in an RJ45 plug work themselves loose. But I'm to believe "best practices" calls this a better connection?

 

It's more time consuming and more expensive to complete, and in my experience, more problematic in the long run... so thanks, but WHAT WORKS BEST FOR ME is what I consider to be my "best practices"... not what someone else tells me should THEORETICALLY be so.

 

I'm with Soundy on this one. Being in a quality and reliability organization for a large Fortune 500 company for 10 years we always find that the less contacts made between point a and point b always proved to be better long term solution. Using a keystone ads one contact point then using a factory made patch to terminate into that keystone creates point 2 and then running that patch to the camera is point 3. Being that some cameras sit outside adds more conversation into this and that would be that of corrosion. Having any patch cable connection against a spring conductors could fail over time I don't care if you use a keystone or not.

 

Me personally I don't see an argument here that would make us (my business) change from making RJ45 connections in the field to adding another point of failure with a keystone connector. I've been making RJ45 cables for, well, a very long time and I can't recall any that have failed in the field when used as they should be. Sure I've had some fail after making them but this was made known right away.

 

I think "proper and right way" is all relative when it comes to quoting a job. We do quality work and have a list of references to show it so why add more expense into each cable run. We keep connections dry and all our cables are protected. We are not shy when it comes to conduit and have refused jobs where the customer just simply wants a quick job done. I agree with the KISS method.

[fa chris 0]

the connector won't fail, the cable it's connected too will.

[dmiller9 0]

I think people are forgetting why in a typical office environment you are suppose to use a patch cable and not just put a RJ-45 connectors on the UTP cable. The cable ran through the walls or in the ceiling is a solid core conductor and is not designed to be bent or moved excessively. If you just terminate the solid conductor coming out of the wall over time as equipment is moved the conductor will break down causing unreliable network connectivity. I have seen this happen so many times over the years. This is why best practice states terminate a keystone at a wall jack and use factory made patch cable made out of stranded UTP. At the head end it is best practice to install a patch panel to allow equipment to be moved and replaced. Patch cables are easily replaced with shorter or longer lengths as needed.

 

Now as for terminating a RJ-45 plug on the field end of a camera. I don’t think there is anything wrong with doing so as the cable connecting to the camera will not be moved excessively so there is no chance for the cable to break down over time. There is also nothing wrong with putting a surface mount box inside an enclosure and using a patch cable. Both are acceptable in my opinion. One thing you should never do is use terminate a RJ-45 plug and use a coupler. Panasonics first generation of IP cameras came with a RJ-45 Plug on the camera and a coupler. That coupler Panasonic included could not pass certification as most of them will not.

[frijoli 0]

Interesting discussion.

 

Whenever I said "there's more than one way to skin a cat" my dad would say "yeah, but there's a best way"

[dvarapala 0]

On large installs we sub out the wire pulling. We always require the sub to provide a patch panel in the termination room and a jack in the field where we need a camera. They can certify their cable run and it should never be touched, moved, or changed.

 

We come in, hook up our switches with patch cables to the patch panels, and in the field we hook up our cameras with a flexible patch cable to the provided jack.

 

What sorts of jacks are these, and how are they mounted/enclosed? Is this some sort of weatherproof Ethernet jack that can mount inside a standard electrical box, or is this something different? Got any pics of these installs that you'd be willing to share?

 

This is a great thread, I'm learning a lot.

[fa chris 0]

On large installs we sub out the wire pulling. We always require the sub to provide a patch panel in the termination room and a jack in the field where we need a camera. They can certify their cable run and it should never be touched, moved, or changed.

 

We come in, hook up our switches with patch cables to the patch panels, and in the field we hook up our cameras with a flexible patch cable to the provided jack.

 

What sorts of jacks are these, and how are they mounted/enclosed? Is this some sort of weatherproof Ethernet jack that can mount inside a standard electrical box, or is this something different? Got any pics of these installs that you'd be willing to share?

 

This is a great thread, I'm learning a lot.

 

For outdoor cameras we usually put a single gang box with a jack in it inside of a 12"x12"x6" nema 4x enclosure, along with a power supply, surge protection, service outlets, whatever else we need, then stub conduit out to the camera with a patch cord & power cable. You can also put a keystone jack inside of a 4"x4" weatherproof box and run a patch cord and power out to the camera. Typically the enclosures will be indoors, and conduit will stub out to the camera with patch cords.

 

For indoor IP cameras we just have them provide a 4"x4" box with a single gang trim plate and a modular jack. Works well for cameras on suspended ceilings or pendent mounts because the camera will only ever end up hanging by the patch cord if it gets ripped off, not the main cabling. Worst case we have to replace a modular jack with a patch cord connector broken off in it.

 

For people who live in municipalities which require everything be in conduit (like Chicago), I don't know why you would try doing it any other way.

 

I'll try to dig up some sketches / diagrams later. Ill look for some pictures too but I don't have any right off hand I can think of.

[Soundy 1]

For outdoor cameras we usually put a single gang box with a jack in it inside of a 12"x12"x6" nema 4x enclosure, along with a power supply, surge protection, service outlets, whatever else we need, then stub conduit out to the camera with a patch cord & power cable.

Wow... it's just so much more straightforward to take my Cat5 run from the patchbay to the camera, put an RJ45 on it, and plug it in...

[Razesdark 0]

We always place a box before the camera. Usually due to the fact that the camera is a spot where you normally can't get to.

In the box we also convert the 230VAC to 12VDC and for the analog solutions we have the COAX there to pick up for service purposes.

For the UTP we have a strong industrial FTP cable who is fitted on a Phoenix jack. From there we go to the camera with either a factory made UTP.

All cables going from the box to the camera go trough a Anaconda tube from Sealtite. This is to protect the cable(s) from flying sheets of metal or all sorts of crazy stuff we usually have here.

Anaconda: http://images3.cableorganizer.com/anamet/anaconda-sealtite/images/01-conduit.jpg

 

We use the Phoenix one due to the fact that you can fit it on a DIN rail. Like our AC/DC converters as well.

It's all a tad more industrial, but working at an steel industry does that

Edit: wrong image