Crossover cable question

[option44]

I just bought a new toy. A phone and network cable stripper and crimper. And like all toys you want to play with them...so after replacing some rj-11 connectors on my phone lines, I decided to take a cat-5 patch cable and make a cross-over cable.

Well, not as easy as it seemed, had a heck of a time lining up the wires. So, here is the question:

Since pins 4,5,7, and 8 are not used, could I just clip them off and align the rest and crimp them down and still have a functioning cable?

btw...I already did it, but I have nowhere to test it here. Just wondering if it WOULD work before I make an a** out of myself by trying it out in front of people who I hope respect me for now...

[bailey]

it may work ok, but I would never recommend that anyone do that as it would be much more difficult to make sure the correct wires go to the correct hole.
it would be much easier if all 8 wires slid into the connector and helped each other line up correctly.
the first time I did it it was fun
but you will get the hang of it with pratcice.

[option44]

Thanks Bailey. But actually it was pretty easy getting them into the right slots. the first 3 are right there together, skip 2 and your home.

It does take some half way decent eyesight though. 8))

[ktkendall]

Yes you can clip off the blue and brown pairs that would normally go to pins 4,5 and 7,8. Some ethernet apps do use the 7,8 brown pair for power though, but you would know it if you needed them. Mostly VOIP tel sets like we install need 48vdc power over that brown pair.

[starflyer59]

looks like you got it figured out already. When making cables I don't know much about what pins or what. I just go by the colors.

When making a cross-over cable I use the standard 568a on one end and 568b on the other end.

The first color would be pin 1. You make them left to right.

568B
Orange/white
Orange
Green/white
Blue
Blue/white
Green
Brown/white
Brown

568A
Green/white
Green
Orange/white
Blue
Blue/white
Orange
Brown/white
brown

[mbossman2]

leave all the wires intact and usable...it is a good habit to have because you never know who may look at these cables after you are gone (especially in a business) as well as changes in technology may access those additional pairs. As KT pointed out, power over ethernet (802.3af) was unheard of/minimally deployed 3-4 years ago, but now it is becoming more widely used (IP phones, wireless access points, security camera's etc) and many times cabling can be in a wall long before a technology utilizes its full capacity.

if you clip these (currently) unused pairs, you introduce a whole bunch of additional work (troubleshooting and rerunning wires) for someone down the road. Standards exist for, among others, this reason.