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My First Mod!

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endersbean3k1

Registered
Joined
Aug 12, 2006
My First Mod! (Ethernet Splice)

Not 100% sure if this is the right spot, but it is actually a networking mod, so close enough.

Anyway:

I was trying to tame the mass of wires under my desk. I had hardly started when I decided to set the router on top of the modem. I know that'll get a bit warm, but I'm not foreseeing any OVERheating or anything of the like resulting from it.

Problem was, I now was going to have a coil of ethernet just sitting in back of them, to transfer the connection about 2 inches. That, of course, simply would not do.

I checked to make sure I had another ethernet cable (because I really don't trust me, having never done anything like this before) and then cut each end of the first ethernet cable about 6 inches or so from the end. Yes, I was going to splice the two ends together... I checked online realy quick, and people were talking about all the interference and crap connection that it results in, but I didn't really care, I wanted to try it.

I'll wait until I get the pics off the camera (need to find cable/see if it works with ubuntu) to go more in-depth, because there isn't much reason to bore you with explaining how I spliced something without a couple goofy pictures to go along with it.

Edit: Ok, wasn't sure if I'd have an easy time with the pics (Linux newbie...), but I have them now.

Here's the two ends after one of them has been fully stripped. I don't have wirecutters in the house so I was using a pair of scissors and the blades on those pliers. It wasn't really all that bad, except sometimes I pressed to hard with the pliers and cut/creased the wire. This was a problem later.
DSC02992.JPG


My goal was to reduce any negative effects of the splicing by keeping the wiring as close to a normal ethernet cable as possible. I wrapped the exposed wires around one another rather than doing the more normal splicing (or at least what I've seen more often) of putting the two together and twisting.
DSC02998.JPG


Wrapped that in some tape, then I had a problem. I wanted to continue the twisting of the wires as they appear in an ethernet cable, again, to keep it as close to a normal cable as possible. The second wire in this pair was pretty beat up though, and I wound up breaking the exposed portion completely off. I had to strip a little more, and, it's really tough to see in the pic, but there's less than 1cm of connection between the two wires.
DSC02999.JPG


At this point, I've given up all hope on it working. There's no way I see that carrying a decent connection, if a connection at all. I kept going though. Intertwining the first wire, and then just twisting the ends of the second wire around each other, like a twisty tie, because it was way to hard to intertwine them AND have them spiral around the other one. I just taped the second wires to the first, figuring it'd be fine so long as there was insulation between them.

The Finished Result:
DSC03000.JPG


And a picture of it in place, normal wire next to it, illustrating the whole purpose of the 1-hour mod (yea, I work slow):
DSC03001.JPG


Amazingly, it actually works, and pretty damn well.
154150380.png

Now I hadn't run a test in Linux yet, but that's the higher end of what I got running windows a few weeks ago (if we wanna go back years, I'd get 10mbps... we havn't changed service, but it dropped anyway :mad: ). Planning on running some tests with a normal wire to see if it makes a difference.

Edit:
Ok, did the test three times with each wire (mine and the normal one). Very consistent results, both accross wires and on each wire. I'm declaring no loss in speed. Perhaps the cable *can* carry less now... but it's NOT.
 
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Oh you're getting losses alright, Don't be kidding yourself about that.
It's just that your connection speed is within what plain old Cat3 could do.

Un-reworked Cat5e can handle 20 times that 5.8Meg speed with ease, but that's more than your ISP delivers.

Try doing the same test between two computers transfering a large file. At full NIC speeds, you'll see the losses on a stopwatch.
With open splices like that, I'd expect your connection to loose speed over time as the copper gets it's nice petina.

Though if this works for your needs, go with it man!
 
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Yea, like I said, it perhaps *can* carry less, but its not, at the moment. And actually considering its between my modem and my router, its never really going to effect anything going directly between two computers, unless I'm overlooking something. Could be, I'm really ignorant when it comes to networking.

I'll prolly go over the whole thing with electrical tape now that you mention the corrosion, although anything I do isn't likely to have much effect :p
 
It's really cool that you looked at this problem and came up with this solution. This is really creative. The best part is that it is free. There is a lot to be said for that.

I can't think of a more difficult way to accomplish your task. A different solution would be to purchase or borrow a set of crimpers and a few RJ-45 ends. Cut the wire to length and add connectors. Twist is in tact and you eliminate the splice altogether.

http://www.alatec.com/info/rj45.html

http://www.ertyu.org/steven_nikkel/ethernetcables.html

Keep in mind that most wiring done in the US is T568-B. Which ever you use A or B, keep them the same on both sides.

I do like the creativity of your solution and I will keep it in mind. Thanks.
 
Yea, I did read some stuff about attaching the ends and everything, but I'm only 16 and I don't have my license yet, so I can't like, go anywhere to get the ends or crimpers. I could have ordered them, but I didn't want to wait or have to bug my parents for the credit card number.

Thanks for the support :) I know this isn't much of a mod, but it's the first thing I've really done, and I got excited. Plus, now I'm much less afraid of messing around with stuff.
 
first off you need to shorten that splice by 3/4 at least. The exposed copper regardless of the E tape is attenuating signal badly especially with the AC beside/behind/below it.

If you can also you have one, you really out to Solder the cable together and heat shrink the soldered cable.
 
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