LANshack Ask the Expert - Cat 6 Crimping

Reply 1: Please send us about a dozen or so patch cables to inspect

Reply 2:We received your patch cables and inspected them and found out that the "crimp" of the 8 conductors was out of spec. All of the 8 pins made good contact with the wires, however the heights of the pins were not uniform. The pins in the center of the connector were high and the ones on the ends were low. This is why the end pins did not make contact with the patch panel. Your patch panel's pins probably just make spec and a connector that is slightly low may not make a connection. That explains why the tester passed them and the patch panel did not. It also explains why they made connection with the patch panel when you put upward pressure on them. We suggest the "QuickTreX® Professional "Five In One" RJ-45 Crimper" which we sell. This is a premium crimper that has what we call a "Crowned Head" pin arrangement which accounts for the flexing of the plug during the crimping process and reliably delivers evenly crimped pins.

NOTE: The customer bought the crimper and was very happy that it solved the problem.