Hi-ho, As per Andrew's comments, all of the fixed sockets etc. are designed for solid core wire. Stranded does work, but you'll have issues with reliability long term.
IDC connectors are designed to hold 'solid' bits of wire, if you use a stranded Cat5 cable the strands will 'crush' out of the way of the connector "blades" which will mean there isn't the point-pressure on the single core of cable they are designed to work with. Having said that, the last place I lived I ran about 400m of stranded cat5, and used RJ45 males (Plugs) on all the ends instead of wall plates etc. It wasn't pretty, but it worked fine, as the plugs are designed for stranded wire. In our current house I've put in a patch panel, and as we renovate I'm running solid core Cat5e from each room to the panel. Just my 2c worth.. On Wed, 2007-10-31 at 08:00 +1300, Volker Kuhlmann wrote: > Does anyone have experience with using stranded core cable for fixed > wiring? It would be easier to pull through the walls and corners, but > all the sockets and patch panel etc equipment would be made for solid > core cables. If I am careful pushing the wires into the sockets, will it > work reliably? Anything in particular to watch out for? > > Thanks, > > Volker >
