DIY and Pro Help With Your Home Projects

How To Build Cat 5 Cables For Your Media Wiring

Cat 5 Installation Tools
Before you install any sheet rock in a new house, addition or basement, it is always a good investment for the future to run additional wires for telephone, cable and internet. You can run cat-3 (category 3) cable for phone and cat-5 (category 3) for internet but I recommend simply running two cat-5 cables to each room in the house. Cat-5 cable can be used for either phone (up to 4 phone line) or internet Is also heavy duty so it won?t break as easily as smaller phone lines. A box of cat-5e is 500 feet for about $59. This is more than enough to wire most houses and you will have some left over to run cables from the outlets to the computers or appliances. You can also install a hub in any room if you want more than one computer in that room. First chose a central location for your central wiring closet or hub. If possible, install a structured wiring center, these special boxes are designed to keep low voltage wires clean and organized. Cat 5 cable can have either male or female terminations. For outlet, I recommend the Levitron modular outlets. These allow any combination of 1 to 6 different connections in one box.

Tools and parts

You can buy a punch-down tool or use the free blue plastic punch-down tool to push the wires onto the terminals. In many cases, you will need to terminate the cable with a male connector, including cable from the outlets to computers. To do this, you will have to invest in connectors and 2 tools. A bag of 100 connectors costs $14 ( at Home Depot). You will also need a crimping tool for $19-43 and cable tester for $79. That will make your entire investment about $180 including wire, connectors and tools. The average 30-50 foot pre-terminated cable costs $25-50 so the payback can be as little as 4-8 cables. The tester may seem like a luxury but it is necessary. Crimping the male connectors is problematic with a hand crimp. I usually kill one of every two connectors by a poor crimp. The only good way to find if the cable is good is with a cable tester.

Adding Male Connectors

Begin by cutting the cable to length. Make sure that the cut is square. Higher-end crimp tools include a cable cutter and striper. Once the cable is cut, strip it to the proper length using the backstop on the cable cutter. I usually engage the ratchet 2 clicks and then do a half turn of the cable before pulling it out of the crimper/cutter. If you see any exposed copper from the striping operation, start over.

Now grab the small wires and pull the jacket down an additional 1/10 of an inch. The jacket will slide back into position when you insert the wires into the connector. If you don't slide the jacket back, it may bottom out in the connector before the wires are inserted enough.

I always use T568B connection scheme (w-orange, orange, w-green, blue, w-blue, green, w-brown, brown) looking the connector with catch on the back side.

In this case pull the orange pair to the left, the brown pair to the right, the blue pair up or down (which ever is easier) and the green pair opposite to the blue pair. Now untwist each pair until the orange and brown pair are in the correct order. Then untwist the blue and green pair. Move the green/white wire to the number 3 position and the green wire to the number 6 position. You should now have 8 wires in a row with alternating white and colored jackets. Form them into a fan and straighten any small bends in the wire. Holding the fan in order, insert it into the connector until the wires hit bottom. Insert the connector into the crimper and crimp until the ratchet releases. Repeat for the other end and then test the cable.

If the cable fails due to cross wiring, check the order and replace the bad connector. If the cable fails due to contact, you may have put too much pressure on the crimp. On my tool, I have to manually release the ratchet before it reaches full depth or it will over crimp the wires and make a bad connection.


Electrical work is highly dangerous. Let us help you find a great Electrician to do this job for you.

Need More Information? Check out our other articles on home wiring and electrical projects.

The information on this site is provided for reference only and is provided "AS IS", "AS AVAILABLE" with no guarantee of accuracy. Information comes with no warranties, express or implied. Use the information from this site at your own risk. See our disclaimer for more details.