Cat6/6A Shielded RJ45 External Ground Collar Crimping Done Right

Written by Don Schultz, trueCABLE Senior Technical Advisor, Fluke Networks Copper/Fiber CCTT, BICSI INST1, INSTC, INSTF Certified

One of the biggest challenges when terminating large external ground Cat6 or Cat6A shielded 8P8C RJ45 connectors is properly crimping the ground collar. Too little, and your termination will focus all of the pressure onto your golden contacts built into the plug. This is a recipe for a bad or poor connection. Too much of a crimp, and you can damage your Ethernet cable.

In most cases, the external ground crimp collar is the only mechanism keeping your plug attached to the cable, preventing cable pull-out, and serving as the strain relief. In short, it is rather critical to get this part right. 

The external ground collar must be crimped accurately and adequately every time.

This video blog will demonstrate trueCABLE’s newest tool, our External Ground Crimp Tool. It features the following:

• Dual cavities to handle the two most common sizes of external ground collars found on the market (big and really big)
• Parallel jaw closure, for highly accurate results
• Requires minimal effort and practically no practice to get consistent results from connector to connector
• Durable, all-steel construction
• The latch mechanism keeps your tool closed 

Dedication

We conveniently incorporated external ground collar crimp cavities into our All-In-One Crimp and Termination Tool, so you have everything built into one tool. However, there is a trade-off (isn’t there always?). The angled closure mechanism (necessary by design) requires more practice and may result in less consistent results.  A dedicated tool designed for a single job will typically do the job better.   

What if you don’t have the latest version of our crimp tool or use another brand?  You will need a separate dedicated external ground collar crimp tool, and ours works excellent! If you terminate these types of RJ45 plugs often, the additional comfort afforded by our new tool will increase your speed and reduce fatigue. 

So, sit back, grab some coffee and watch the video. We think you will be impressed with the results!

HAPPY NETWORKING

trueCABLE presents the information on our website, including the “Cable Academy” blog and live chat support, as a service to our customers and other visitors to our website subject to our website terms and conditions. While the information on this website is about data networking and electrical issues, it is not professional advice and any reliance on such material is at your own risk.