Question Patch Panel confusion ?

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C

CaliforniaPatriot

Apr 22, 2023
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Ohhhh that would be interesting... because all the wall ports on the other ends are labeled "Cat5e" (palm to forehead). But if that's true that would explain my confusion!

Here is one wall panel as an example. This one has a coax and blue cable in addition, but it also has the white cable, which are the type run to all the other locations in the house which are also marked "Cat5e" on the wall jacks...

IMG_2516.jpg

drive.google.com drive.google.com

IMG_2525.jpg

drive.google.com drive.google.com
 
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kanewolf

kanewolf

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CaliforniaPatriot said:
Hello all - perhaps an ID 10 T error here, but I'm trying to figure out what kind of patch panel this is... it's like the other half with the row of female RJ45 connectors is missing. Does anyone know what this is? Do I need to cut this thing out entirely and put in a "regular" patch panel from scratch?

https://drive.google.com/file/d/195Mxy0NBONgOhbF8Us2v0OSFSAx6-uAu/view?usp=sharing
Click to expand...
That is wired for phone. It might use Cat5e cable but is not configured for ethernet.
 
C

CaliforniaPatriot

Apr 22, 2023
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Got it, so the block is confirmed phone line. That would mean:

1. If it is Cat5e cable in the walls, I just need to replace the patch panel with a proper one for ethernet and punch everything in and all that, but that I could then use it for ethernet?
2. If not ethernet cable, I need to try to (reverse?) fish the lines through the walls... by tape and pull? Is that likely to work?

I don't have a feel for these things yet...
 
USAFRet

USAFRet

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CaliforniaPatriot said:
Got it, so the block is confirmed phone line. That would mean:

1. If it is Cat5e cable in the walls, I just need to replace the patch panel with a proper one for ethernet and punch everything in and all that, but that I could then use it for ethernet?
2. If not ethernet cable, I need to try to (reverse?) fish the lines through the walls... by tape and pull? Is that likely to work?

I don't have a feel for these things yet...
Click to expand...
The whole house needs to be rewired.
An ethernet switch will not do it.
 
C

CaliforniaPatriot

Apr 22, 2023
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I'm thinking the white may actually be ethernet cable... the blue is, I tested it with both an ethernet continuity tester and an actual router setup. Definitely works. I'm working up the guts to cut one of the white wires out of the terminal block, terminate it, and test it...
 
B

bill001g

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Aug 9, 2012
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That is a interesting patch panel/splice block.
It appears all it does is connect the wire that is punched down on the bottom to the connector directly above it.

If they actually terminated all 4 pair of wires to the lower jack you might be able to just remove that wire that strings between all the jacks and punch down 1 end of a ethernet cable with a rj45 on the other. If the wall outlet is actually wired for a rj45 pattern it should work. My guess is they have the wall outlet wired 568a since they are using blue and orange which would match the 4 inner wires when used a phone jack.

In the longer run I would just replace it with a standard rj45 patch panel but you could also I suppose just remove all the wires and crimp rj45 plugs on if you want to do it that way. A bit more costly to use a patch panel but you would never have to touch it again where a rj45 plug might get damaged.
 
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C

CaliforniaPatriot

Apr 22, 2023
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Thank you Bill for the additional info; if I don't have to replace the wires in the wall I'm a happy camper with pretty much any other scenario and it's looking like good camping weather!
 
punkncat

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Lazy way to punch down for phones. It appears that the block actually comes out and has additional punchdown going on the back for the specific rooms listed out to the side. I see the jacket of the wire is labeled as well.

Those wires do appear to be CAT5. You should be able to verify this by looking on the jacket of the wire. If they are individual runs going to each room (punched down on the back of the block card) then this could easily be configured for internet.
 
L

little_me

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May 9, 2015
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It's been ages (closer to 20 years now) since I saw that connector but... yes, it's used for BOTH Phone and ethernet.
They even have adapter cables for it to rj45 but.. for the life of me I cannot remember/recall the technical name of that other connector and thus I draw up blank.
Amazon is selling similar things... but if you have the punch tool to punch wires to those connectors (and rip out the 4 wires for phone that are in there) you could take normal patch cable, cut off one male end and punch it to the connectors.
it would work just fine if you don't strip/unwind the pairs too long, up to full gigabit speeds too.

not saying you should buy that, just saying that similar things still exist.
here is short overview of how to go about it with different cables, including cat5


edit2:
here it is, ready made patch cable for the connection
I think that is 110 block
 
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punkncat

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little_me said:
It's been ages (closer to 20 years now) since I saw that connector but... yes, it's used for BOTH Phone and ethernet.
They even have adapter cables for it to rj45 but.. for the life of me I cannot remember/recall the technical name of that other connector and thus I draw up blank.
Click to expand...

In this case, wouldn't the internet cabling be limited to "10"?

I know you can run internet short two cables, but have not seen a solution using only 4. Since they are using blue and orange the assumption would be two phone lines.

Admittedly, in all my years in the business, I have never personally seen a punchdown block like this.
 
C

CaliforniaPatriot

Apr 22, 2023
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punkncat said:
In this case, wouldn't the internet cabling be limited to "10"?

I know you can run internet short two cables, but have not seen a solution using only 4. Since they are using blue and orange the assumption would be two phone lines.

Admittedly, in all my years in the business, I have never personally seen a punchdown block like this.
Click to expand...
Only that wire in the front is four total wires; the cables coming into the block in the back are each four pairs of two :)

closeup.jpg

drive.google.com drive.google.com
 
L

little_me

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punkncat said:
In this case, wouldn't the internet cabling be limited to "10"?

I know you can run internet short two cables, but have not seen a solution using only 4. Since they are using blue and orange the assumption would be two phone lines.

Admittedly, in all my years in the business, I have never personally seen a punchdown block like this.
Click to expand...
in the original image, yes, it has blue and orange connected between ALL ports, making it so that if house has landline phone, it's connected to them all. (and blue pair was NOT used by ethernet even on 10 speeds. it used orange and green, blue and brown are used if you go to 100+
of course, I don't exactly know how the wall jacks are connected so.... could be different.
at low speeds (under gigabit and in most cases in gigabit too) it doesn't really matter which pair is which as long as they go where they should. In essence, you could swap any two color pairs and connection would still work.
you MIGHT see something on actual network tester that costs thousands but even that is unlikely.

for network usage, removing that top back and forth connection would be more or less required
 
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punkncat

punkncat

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little_me said:
in the original image, yes, it has blue and orange connected between ALL ports, making it so that if house has landline phone, it's connected to them all. (and blue pair was NOT used by ethernet even on 10 speeds. it used orange and green, blue and brown are used if you go to 100+
of course, I don't exactly know how the wall jacks are connected so.... could be different.
at low speeds (under gigabit and in most cases in gigabit too) it doesn't really matter which pair is which as long as they go where they should. In essence, you could swap any two color pairs and connection would still work.
you MIGHT see something on actual network tester that costs thousands but even that is unlikely.

for network usage, removing that top back and forth connection would be more or less required
Click to expand...

It has been better than a decade since I was in the field messing with wonky phone and internet combos. The company I worked for was very specific about running separate phone and internet cabling, as well as "RG" wire. At the time it was common to run one continuous phone wire through the house as well as to run one cable homerun and then a "rabbit" run from that. We opted to run everything as home runs back to D-Mark or block (etc.) and it made life so much easier.

Thanks for the memory tip.
 
C

CaliforniaPatriot

Apr 22, 2023
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Hahaha, happy to provide a throwback!

Let's see if I've pieced it all together properly - if the front of that block back can be pried off, and the "110 To RJ45 Configuration" patch cables referenced above can then plug into that block (or are the "front" four wires just cut out and the 110 patches plug into that block directly?), I can just order the right amount of those cables and be good to go up to gigabit speeds?

Edit 2: I tried pulling one of the four "back and forth" wires out of the block and it came right out, and now I see it does appear that cable might plug directly into the terminal block after that. Amazon even has it on Prime, I'll be able to test is tomorrow. Thank you gentlemen, never would have found this information with your help!

Edit 3: Hmm, I think individual cables may not fit onto the 110 block? Not sure... but if not.. wait for it...


Edit 4: I was thinking that terminal block in Edit 3 might plug right in to the existing "half" terminal block and be an instant conversion, but upon staring at the thing I think that's hoping for too much. I'm thinking that the individual 110 to RJ45 patch cables won't fit onto the existing terminal block, and that I'll probably have to remove that 110 block entirely in which case I may as well terminate directly to RJ45 keystone jacks that can be fitted into a patch panel, but bottom line is I now have the information I need to figure this out.

You guys rock, I'm going to get this dialed...
 
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C

CaliforniaPatriot

Apr 22, 2023
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A slightly different version (non "CAT 6" version, straight pins vs slanted) did the trick! Amazon delivered today, it plugged right into the existing 110 block, and it works. Now I just order 5 or 8 more of those and I have full house hard wiring without cutting, crimping, or pressing a single wire! Thank you again gentlemen, I'm so grateful!
 
C

CaliforniaPatriot

Apr 22, 2023
11
0
10
CaliforniaPatriot said:
A slightly different version (non "CAT 6" version, straight pins vs slanted) did the trick! Amazon delivered today, it plugged right into the existing 110 block, and it works. Now I just order 5 or 8 more of those and I have full house hard wiring without cutting, crimping, or pressing a single wire! Thank you again gentlemen, I'm so grateful!
Click to expand...
One final update... I went from 30 Mb/s to 300 Mb/s going from wireless to this hardline setup. Wooo hooo!
 
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