You wouldn't get a donkey to run at the Grand National!

Open Network Associates Ltd were recently asked to terminate some patch panels for a client where the Category 6 cabling had been installed and terminated by non-professionals.

Knowledge - Our team arrived on site where we noticed that the Category 6 connector was incorrectly terminated and that half the lines were terminated with BT LJU sockets (those that you find at home for your telephone) onto Category 6 cable. When we asked an on-site team why this had happened, we were informed "as it was for a telephone system we ASSUMED this was what was needed!" 

To know what you know and what you do not know, that is true knowledge. Confucius

We know what to ask – So we checked with the client’s telephone system supplier and found out that the system being installed was in fact RJ45 based, which is fairly standard nowadays.

Installation - The terminations on the Category 6 connectors were poor to say the least. The purple sheath should go all the way to the edge of the Category 6 connector and be cable tied, as shown below, as this maintains the vital twist ratio of the cable.

How NOT to terminate ends

Cat 6 RJ45 on left and BT LJU on right

 

 

 

Correctly terminated Cat 6 end

 

Labelling  - This was something they also had a problem with. 
THINK! not just who is installing NOW, but who needs to handle these cables in the future, in a year or twos’ time! Cables need to be labelled both ends and also on the outlet as well. So for instance, if looking at 100 cable ends, which one is which? The process for managing cables is very easy, we use a consecutive number method e.g. 1,2,3, and so on. Each cable getting a unique point of reference that matches at its other end. Whoever installed this did not use sequential numbers, but missed out completely random individual numbers and whole groups of numbers! They also bunched cables together; one grey, one purple. As we KNOW, patch panels work in groups of 12’s or 24’s, so at the patch panel end everything needs to be sorted into bunches of 12 or 24. So in fact, besides not sequentially numbering each cable, only one of the cable pair was in fact labelled anyway.  

They were paying for a job and only get half done! 

What cost the price of a life? – They had used a mix of purple and grey cable. Purple is Low Smoke Zero Halogen (LS0H) while the grey cable is PVC. In a fire PVC will burn and flame so helping to spread the fire rapidly as well as giving off gasses that will KILL if inhaled. The purple LS0H cable on the other hand is fire retardant and does NOT give off deadly gasses. It is best practice to install purple cable, which is literally only additional pence.  

Please follow this link which will show you the difference. You will note that the PVC both flames and gives off smoke while the LS0H does neither - Burn comparison

Handling - All data cables should be installed carefully. However, Cat 6, Cat 6A, Cat 7 and Cat 7A are more susceptible to problems caused by bad installation practice compared to Category 5e, which is slightly more robust.

·         Never exceed the bend radius of the cable

·         Never over populate cable containment systems

·         Never crush cables

·         Never put kinks in cables, and

·         Never pull cables too hard

 

All these things can effect performance and whether they are capable of passing the appropriate tests.

Best practice – We recommend installing the same make of patch panel, connector and cable, as these have been designed as a compatible “system”. In this case the cable was from two different manufacturers, as were the connectors and the patch panels were from a third source. The original installation company were unaware of who the manufacturer was.

Passing the test - If you have good quality connectors and cable, and a good installation team then a mix of manufacturers, although not ideal, will probably pass the tests OK.

In this case they did not!

As we had to rectify the complete installation that had FAILED and to prove the issues were with the installation and/or the cable and not with the connectors or the patch panels, we terminated one of the supplied connectors on to a length of Category 6 cable. It passed the test with no problems! The conclusion is that the installation was so bad it has damaged the cable, and that the terminations were, as can be seen from the previous pictures, also bad.

Testing, testing! - When ONA install a cabling system we always test our installation using a Fluke DTX-1800 certification tester. This tester runs all sorts of tests on the cable, including comprehensive frequency tests to make sure that the installed cabling system meets the specified Category standards. These test result, including the frequency graphs, are made available to the client. Each individual cable test fills an A4 sheet. So if we install 200 lines you get 200 A4 sheets (in electronic format to save paper of course!), an example of which is below.

So whoever you use and they say they can install data cable, I would ask the following questions:

•  Can they tell you the different data rates and compliant network standards that the installed cable should work with?
• Can they supply test results WITH frequency graphs (as above) for each installed cable?
• Are ALL the components, patch panel, connector and cable from the same manufacturer?

• Are they going to install the WHOLE system, i.e. install the cable, terminate the ends AND terminate the patch panels?

 

If the answer to ANY of these questions is No or Don’t know, then please steer well clear, as they do not know what they are doing! 

If I want to install air conditioning, I ask for an air conditioning engineer!

If I want to install heating, I ask for a heating engineer!

If you want good data cable installation, ask for
Open Network Associates Ltd.

It’s what we KNOW, it’s what we DO and it’s what we SPECIALISE in!