stranded vs solid conductor patch cords?? 2

[crwsanfran]

anyone know what the min. lenght allowed on a patch cord that it is safe to chance from a stranded patch cord to a solid conductor patch cord. Is there a TIA Standard that outlines this? any help is appreciated.

 

[skip555]

its not the length that determines stranded vs solid its flexiblity

you use stranded where the conductor is subject to flex solid if its not

 

[crwsanfran]

ok does anyone have a standard that i can back this up? or know of a standard that backs this up?

 

[crwsanfran]

thought i might be a little clearer. The patch cords we are looking at are not of typical lenght. They will range from 50'-150'. The customer is worried that the lower performance of a stranded conductor cable will increase over longer lenghts than the normal 3'-7' patch cable length.

 

[dhnl]

You should not exceed 10M of stranded patch cord per 100M horizontal channel.

 

[crwsanfran]

i understand you should exceed the 10m in a Typical horizontal channel this is not a typical horizontal channel.

 

[franklin97355]

Then do what you want. If you are going to disregard the spec then specs don't apply.

 

[crwsanfran]

the spec is a recomendation not a shall. and how many times do you see patch cables over this lenght? i have a customer that wants these lengths and i'm trying to find if it is better to get stranded or solid conductor. shorter lengths is NOT an option

 

[dhd10]

If the cable is not going to be moved go with the Solid but if this a cable that is moving from one side of the room it the other on a dailies bases then no use stranded

 

[jerryreeve]

When I got my cat6 cert from leviton they specified that cat6 patch cables are solid and cat5 are stranded.

it makes sense if you think with cat6 operating at 100M or 1G you don't want the stranded patch cord breaking off a few strands at a time until the quality is badly degraded, just let it be useable untill the solid wire breaks and then replace it.

----------------------------
JerryReeve
Communications Systems Int'l
com-sys.com

Mind like a Steel trap - Once used forever clamped shut.

 

[franklin97355]

Jerry,

http://www.levitonproducts.com/Catalog/Model_62460.htm?SID=C2MNPTHR7A789PGURNWMTTJNSU8N1L0C&PID=1208

 

[jerryreeve]

Ya, the training was about 2-3 years ago and the std hadn't been set in concrete at that time. no suprise. thanks

----------------------------
JerryReeve
Communications Systems Int'l
com-sys.com

Mind like a Steel trap - Once used forever clamped shut.

 

[toolman18]

Hey crwsanfran, why such long patch cords? for something quick and temporary? 50- 150ft patch cords sounds like the customer is tryin to get around gettin jacks installed with the standard CAT 5-6 and using the right patch cord on both ends.

 

[cableprofessor]

http://kb.flukenetworks.com/link.asp?sid=5&rid=6233

Wow. This site seems to have a lot of answers to mine and other questions asked here in the forum.

 

[orypecos]

Higher frequencies have a tendancy to go to the 'skin' of a conductor, so I am thinking more 'skin', like with stranded, the lower loss of a cable. But will have to research that further to see if that would be true.

 

[Jtodd]

Just a note to add to the debate, Systimax has going to only solid patch cords for their new X10D product (yes, its a 10Gig solution).



Justin T. Clausen
Physical Layer Implementation
California State University, Monterey Bay

 

[cableprofessor]

Solid cable is flexible cable. Key point that was changed in standards. The issue with 10GBASE-T is Alien Crosstalk, coupling of noise from one cable to the next. This is not such an issue of the signal being received is fairly strong. The way to ensure a strong receive signal? Use components with the least attenuation. Solid has MUCH better attenuation characteristics than stranded.

And although the comment about skin effect is true, solid cable will still give you a better attenuation.

 

[Jtodd]

Got my hands on the Systimax cable this last week. The patch cord is very flexable. But thick enough to beat some one with. YIKES! Probably has something to do with the 'fin' design of the outer jacket. Definatley have to work at getting kinks in it though.

Justin T. Clausen
Physical Layer Implementation
California State University, Monterey Bay