ethernet cable cut in half - need to temporarily splice - a side and b side? Help!

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Level 4

3,464 points

ethernet cable cut in half - need to temporarily splice - a side and b side? Help!

Our net router in in the house, to get internet to another builder we have run a couple hundred feet of underground ethernet cable to an airport base station. It's worked flawlessly.

Yesterday the person that does the snowblowing managed to dig into the group deep enough, pull the cable out and slice it up. I need a temporary fix until spring when we will bury a new cable.

I've cleaned up the ends and need to connect some sort of splice. I was told to put a female end on each of the cleaned up ends and simply plug in a cat5e cable into each end (about 4 feet in length. Everything will be sealed in PVC pipe to keep it out of the weather but I have run into a problem.

The female connectors have an "A" wire scheme and "B" wire scheme. Whick end gets A and which B? I have tried it in every possible combination and can't seem to get it working. It's possible the wire is broken underground but I really want to understand the "A" and "B" thing for my own knowledge.

Help!

Posted on Feb 21, 2013 3:09 PM

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Answer 1

Tesserax

Level 10

157,884 points

Feb 21, 2013 5:51 PM in response to Jim S

Please check out the following reference on how to wire Ethernet cables. If the cut is through the cable, you just want to match wires. You control whether or not you're configuring for straight-thru vs. cross-over at the ends. So, if the overall cable was configured for straight-thru and uses T568A connectors, you would want to use the same on both ends of the "splice" cable.

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Answer 2

Jim S Author

Level 4

3,464 points

Feb 22, 2013 1:06 PM in response to Tesserax

OK, maybe I am just stupid but there are 2 wiring diagrams for each type.

For a straight through do I use diagram a on both ends or A on one end and B on the other?

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Answer 3

Feb 22, 2013 1:20 PM in response to Jim S

It would be much better if you would solder the matching wires on both ends together. Don't use any extra connectors.

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Answer 4

CEB20816

Level 1

80 points

Feb 22, 2013 1:37 PM in response to Jim S

B is the more common wiring protocol today. Use a B connection pattern at both cut ends and then jump them with a patch cord. Wrap the helll out of it with electric tape to gt you through the winter.

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Answer 5

Tesserax

Level 10

157,884 points

Feb 23, 2013 10:22 AM in response to Jim S

Along the Ethernet cable it doesn't matter if you use A or B configurations. You just need to match each of the four pairs of wires across the cut. I would second Marc Hofstede's recommendation for soldering the matching wires. You can always use a Ethernet cable tester to verify that you have a solid connection before wrapping and burying the cable.

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