Pre made Patch Cables

Does anyone know of a good source for Premade (molded connections )industrial ethernet patch cables?

Looking at belden and phoenix contacts site all i can seem to find for industrial ethwernet cable is bulk cable and not premade patch cables.

I really do not want to use standard officmax patch cables in my panel.

I would assume industrial ethernet cable has better shielding and a more abrasion resistant jacket?

I just order them from Black Box. Nothing special, and have yet to have a failure from any of them. I don't get 'Industrial' grade, just the standard mid-range ones.

I agree with rdrast, usually nothing special is required. The exceptions would be if the cable is moving, then you'll want special cable that can withstand motion, something from Lapp or Turck for example. Or, in the presence of noise, you'll want sheilded cable. We often recommend sheilded cables (STP) because we can't always predict where there will be noise problems.

Do the shielded type come in the pre made patch style?

Allied has shielded patch cords from L-com. Very pricey...

http://www.alliedelec.com/Catalog/pf.aspx?fn=607.pdf&pageNum=607

www.cyberguys.com
search for CAT5E cables for everything longer than 7" patch cables (those are CAT5).
lots of colors, lots of lengths,

Dan

Sure, you can purchase pre-made patch cords that are shielded, I was able to locate some on Black box by searching for STP. (Shielded Twisted Pair)

Phoenix Contact has premade patch cables:

2832250 FL CAT5 PATCH 0,3


2832263 FL CAT5 PATCH 0,5

2832276 FL CAT5 PATCH 1,0

The number at the end is the length in meters. There are more. If you search their site for "FL CAT5 PATCH" you will see all the lengths.

They also have CAT6 patch cables, just search on "FL CAT6 PATCH"

I question the need for shielded Ethernet at all, honestly.
I can't even imagine how many miles of Ethernet cabling we have here, in everything from cabinets with AC/DC drives, to ultra high voltage, high power testing equipment. Not a single bit of it is shielded, and it's all standard CAT5/CAT6 cable. Actually, there are even some old segments with CAT3.

We've never had any problems with our networks, from a cabling standpoint. The biggest trouble source was at one time (on my soapbox again) HAND-CRIMPED RJ-45's on cables (now almost completely eliminated) and some people taking shortcuts and using Office Max or WalMart 'ElCheapo' home switches/hubs (also now almost completely eliminated, but I did find a "Dynex" switch hidden behind a wall that was causing trouble for one segment a month ago).

Pretty much echoing what's been said - non "industrial" premade cables should be fine. I'd go with cat 5e or 6 these days. You can get them in STP if you'd like. They should be cheap.

Hand crimped ends work fine. You should have a cable tester around to ensure proper wire order and good terminations on each wire if you're going that route.

As RDRast put out, cheap hubs and switches daisy chained all over your network can cause headaches.

Check this out...
www.cablestogo.com
We use them for in cabinet Cat-5 runs 1 to 3 meters, they also will make any cable/configuration you want. I use them exclusivly for my RS-232 and Ethernet cables. They also make really nice RS-485 molded cables, just send them the form factor for the connector and wiring diagram and they will assign a part number for you.

just a bitmore

I make my own..LOL