Looking to wire one CAT6 ethernet cable into TWO keystone jacks

Is this possible?

I'm trying to wire two Ethernet jack ports into a trailer outback so two computers can plug into the wall at the same time. I have one long CAT6 cable with an rj45 connector on one end that is plugged into the router in the main house, and loose wires on the other end. I have two CAT6 punchdown keystone ports and I've wired one of the ports in with the two pairs: orange, w/orange & green, w/green. It works fine, the internet is connected and working on my computer. The second jack has not worked for me yet that needs to connect to the remaining blue, w/blue & brown, w/brown wires not worked for me yet. I've tried a few wiring schemes but I obviously am missing something.

Do I need to wire two jacks into the other side of this one cable and plug it into two ports in the router? Do I need a second cable when using CAT6 as opposed to CAT5 wiring? Is this even a possibility and is there a wiring scheme I just haven't tried yet for the blue/brown pairs?

Thanks in advance for the help, I'm trying my best two learn these things.

-Ruby

Ruby

Posted 2016-05-22T19:59:06.617

Reputation: 21

Hey everyone, thanks for the help. I think i understand now, correct me if i'm wrong. I need to wire the blue, w-blue, brown, and w-brown into the second keystone jack where the orange, w-orange, green, and w-green are marked. Then, on the other end of the CAT6 cable, I need to wire in two rj45 connectors using only the 1,2,3 & 6 pins in the order: orange, w-orange, green, w-green and the second connector, blue, w-blue, brown, w-brown. Then I need to plug both those rj45 connectors into two router ports, and then both ethernet ports down in the trailer should work at the same time. – Ruby – 2016-05-22T21:03:23.967

Every answer that condones splitting the UTP into two pairs for two connections is short sighted and bad advice. (Restricting Cat6 to 100Base-T seems silly.) The only sensible and long-term solution is a single plug on each end of the cable, and use an Ethernet switch in the trailer. There's Power over Ethernet (PoE) solutions if the trailer doesn't have AC power. – sawdust – 2016-05-22T23:19:52.433

@Ruby correct. No RJ45 you fabric yourself should have any wires in 4,5,7 or 8 to be even more specific. – Frank Sixteen – 2016-05-23T03:53:44.720

Answers

I am trying to wire two Ethernet jack ports into a trailer outback so two computers can plug into the wall at the same time. I have one long CAT6 cable with an rj45 connector on one end that is plugged into the router in the main house, and loose wires on the other end.

OK.

Do I need to wire two jacks into the other side of this one cable and plug it into two ports in the router?

Short answer: yes.

Longer answer:

CAT6 (and cat 5 and ..) cables have 8 wires. 4 of those for 10/100Mbit Ethernet. All eight are used for gigabit speeds.

This means that you can split one 8 wire cable into two sets on both ends and run two 100mbit connections over it. You can do this either by creative wiring both ends, or you can use existing plugs similar to these:

This will effectively wire your network like this:

This is likely not officially supported, but it works well enough.

Note that you cannot run gigabit speeds over these cables anymore. YOu no longer have the 8 wires per connection needed for that.

If you have any electrical power in the trailer (and I presume you do, if for nothing than to run the computers off), then the proper ansewr becomes a 'do not do this, but a switch instead'. 4 port switches are dirt cheap, do not limit your speed down to 100Mbit and will save you a lot of time.

If youdo nto have power and are running one or more laptops on battery, then consider these cheap premade plugs over building your own cable. Keeping things standard is a good thing.

Hennes

Posted 2016-05-22T19:59:06.617

Reputation: 60 739

Technically this is possible... but it does violate the CAT6 cabling rules.

An easy solution would be to purchase a ultra-cheap Ethernet hub/switch. That way you can use the one cable to get to a "fan out" hub/switch that you would then connect to both computers.

An added benefit, is that you'd be able to add a another device at some later date.

Something like this: http://www.amazon.com/TP-LINK-Gigabit-Ethernet-Desktop-TL-SG105/dp/B00A128S24/ref=sr_1_1?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1463948018&sr=1-1-spons&keywords=ethernet+switch&psc=1

egray

Posted 2016-05-22T19:59:06.617

Reputation: 625

Yes. If you split a four pair CAT into two TX and two RX you will need two plugs and two ports in both ends. Blue and brown pair should mirror orange and green. If blue is your substitute for orange and brown substitute for green, they should use the exactly the same pins. 1, 2, 3 and 6, in a one to one relationship in both ends. You don't have to think about crossed RX/TX because modern equipment will recognize what pair is used for each.

This setup is good for 10/100 Mbps but not 1000 Mbps as the latter needs two pairs for both directions.

Frank Sixteen

Posted 2016-05-22T19:59:06.617

Reputation: 620

Both ends must be identical, a straight through connection. Pins 1, 2 3, & 6 are all that is used. On jack one connect the W-BL and W-Gr pairs like normal, on jack two place the W-BL where the W-O pair is marked and the W-Br where the W-Gr is marked. It's that simple.

Note that all ports must be 10/100 only, if any port is a gig port, either on the switch or device, it will likely fail to function.

Your best bet is to terminate the cable using CAT-6 standards and add a small switch to the remote end, eliminating any non-standard cabling issues.

acejavelin

Posted 2016-05-22T19:59:06.617

Reputation: 5 341

It won't fail even it there is a 1000 Gbps equipment in either or both ends. What standard to be used is agreed upon electrically and not mechanically. – Frank Sixteen – 2016-05-22T20:30:39.287

@FrankSixteen Practical use tells me it will often fail... Perhaps not with all equipment, but at my apartment I have this from the existing cabling in the wall, on one end is an Asus RT-N66U, and if on the far end I patch into my Xbox One or HP PC, both of which have Gigabit Ethernet, the connection will fail, if I stick a dumb 10/100 switch on either end it works perfectly. – acejavelin – 2016-05-22T20:38:59.677

1Somebody has screwed up at Asus or MS not follow the standard. You could fix this by shorten 45 and 78 in both ends. If you do it at one place at the time you will unveil who screwed up, one or both. – Frank Sixteen – 2016-05-22T20:48:14.403