Creating Your Own Cat 5 Cable

The other day I wanted to create an Ethernet outlet in one of my rooms. I bought a network switch, some 'high' quality cat 5 cable, an outlet, some rj45 plug ends and a crimper.

Wiring the outlet was extremely easy, but the cable was another story... For the life of me, I couldn't find what the proper ordering of the cables was supposed to be! Most places that I had found on the internet contradicted each other.

Now that I know how this works, I wanted to post here for my future use and for others to benefit from.

There are 4 pairs of colors, with each pair consisting of a solid and a striped wire. The order of these wires is obviously important for its function and once ordered correctly, they are placed in a RJ45 plug end (shown below).


Using the image above, going from left to right, the order of the wires for a straight through cable (non-crossover, for connecting a computer to a network) is:

1. orange striped
2. solid orange
3. green striped
4. solid blue
5. blue striped
6. solid green
7. brown striped
8. solid brown

If you are interested in creating the crossover cable (for connecting a router to a switch, or connecting 2 computers directly through their network adapters), one end of your cable would be wired as stated above and the other end would be:

1. green striped
2. solid green
   
3. orange striped
4. solid blue
5. blue striped
6. solid orange
7. brown striped
8. solid brown

Once you line up the wires and push them into your RJ45 plug end, use your crimper to finish the job off.

Creating the wire is very easy and extremely cost effective. Good luck!