CAT cable jacket colors

[SavannahLion]

I've been reading over the ethernet cabling specification and it's not really clear what the cat# jacket coloring is intended for.

Is there some kind of standard on the cat# jacket colors and what they're used for?

For example, is there a standardized difference on what a blue jacketed cable is used for as opposed to a gray or white jacketed cable?

I'm going to be adjusting the cable TV line and installing new ceiling lights in the living room and I figure, since I'm going to be screwing around in the atic at one point, I might as well run some cat5/e/6 cable down the wall while I'm up there. Eventually, I'd like to get the entire house wired with at least five different cat# lines (audio, video, ethernet, PoE, experimental) and I'd like to at least follow standards when I do it.

[Zero_Hour]

To my knowledge, there is no meaning to different cable jacket colors. If you are running cable for multiple networks/applications, it can come in handy to use different color cables to help you keep everything sorted out.

Cat 5 cable is Cat 5 cable regardless of the jacket color.

[Kaytrim]

My thoughts exactly Zero.  I picked up a 1000' box of the stuff from HD a year or so ago.  I have run two lines from the basement to the second floor two lines to the main floor and about 6 lines in the basement. 4 lines in my office, one to the workshop and one to the game room.  Should probably run a few more to the game room before I seal it all up. 

I even use the stuff in my cabs.  I strip off the jacket and use the twisted pairs for various things.  Or I leave the jacket on and use that for organizing the wire runs.  Still have about 6 - 700' left.  The most expensive parts are the connectors.

TTFN
Kaytrim

[ChadTower]

Yeah, color is mostly used for differentiating within your own wiring.  There shouldn't have to be a standard - it says on the jacket what is inside and they are all compatible (with differing speed tolerances).

[Angry_Radish]

It should be printed on the side what the type is, the previous posts are correct, color means nothing.
There can be a pretty big difference in price between 5 and 5e, and also if the cable is plenum rated or not (much more expensive, but required by code in my area in plenum areas)

[ChadTower]

5e is worth the extra cost.  I ran my house with cat6 I picked up off Ebay, like $30 for a 1000ft roll.

[SavannahLion]

I know about the plenum, seems to be only a requirement in commercial applications where the cabling occupies the same space as HVAC ducting, not residential... at least that's the case in my area, I didn't see anything that indicated otherwise. I also know about the difference with cat5/e/6, they're applications, and their ratings. It's a little more difficult differentiating between good quality cabling and cheap cables not worth choking a man with. But for a residental applications, I think I can pretty much get away with almost anything I buy.

Thanks for the responses, I always figured the jacket colors were arbitrary, but all my previous applications were always temporary. ie, I lived in an cottage and I didn't give a rats ass what I stuffed down the walls. This is the first time I'll be running cabling through the walls on a permanent basis. I wanted to make sure I covered my bases before to buy the cabling.

[ChadTower]

5e is pretty much the standard now. 

5 will work for any existing network speed you're going to put into your house, probably won't work well for gigabit when that comes into home use.  5e will work well for gigabit and possibly beyond.  6 is capable of at least twice the speed of 5e.  Honestly, when running in walls, I'd run 6 unless it is dramatically more expensive.  I would run 5e at the lowest end, don't run 5, you'll regret it later.

[saint]

There are some conventions though they may vary geographically. Orange - fiber. Red - fire. Blue - data. White - voice. Those aren't rules by many means, just common practice in my neck of the woods. Fire may be a rule (fire wouldn't use cat-x cable, but you wouldn't want to use red cat-x cable so as to not be confused with fire cabling).

--- saint

[SavannahLion]

fire cabling for what?

[RayB]

(this is arcade related how?)

[SavannahLion]

(this is arcade related how?)

If you must insist.  Here's a few possible arcade related applications.

An arcade cab whose computer doubles as a server to the rest of the house.

MAME cabinets that report back to a central server with statistical player data.

MAME cabinets that allow a sort of "log-in" method by which games that I like to play appear at the top of the list and games the kids like to play appear at the top of their list. Logging in could conceivably be achieved through tying into a central server and using RFID keys.

Managing multiple MAME cabinets from a central location. Easier to update a central repository of titles than it would be to replicate the same data across multiple drives... unless you're creating backups, that's a different scenario.

A game room with networked arcade cabs. Running through the walls keeps the cabling clean and out of the way.

A sophisticated power and control system employing Ethernet.

A hybrid arcade/jukebox with a whole house sound system.

Play restriction. If the kids play too much video gaming and their grades drop, you can restrict play time via a central computer.

All sorts of way to tie this into something arcade related.

[Zero_Hour]

fire cabling for what?

Cabling for fire alarm / suppression systems.

[Angry_Radish]

I use the red for our FIREwalls :-)
Yellow for backbone gigabit
Green for server to switch
Blue for workstation to wall
and grey plenum for all the above ceiling stuff..

Like he said, no real RULES out there, but it really helps to have some kind of order in a server room 

[saint]

What? No color reserved for crossover cables? (purple here)

[SavannahLion]

fire cabling for what?

Cabling for fire alarm / suppression systems.

Really? Is it for communications between panels or something? About all I know about fire systems is that there's a wire that runs between smoke alarms in my house.  

I went down to the fire room in our building and there's no cat anything anywhere. It's all solid core aluminum wiring. Our building was built about twenty years ago, so it's probably an older standard or the government contractor really cut corners. All the conduit leaving the room is painted red or red stripped, so I guess that standard applies here as well.

[patrickl]

What? No color reserved for crossover cables? (purple here)

Indeed. mine are purple too. maybe it;s a gay thing? Like the purple teletubby? The one with the crossed wires has to be purple

[SavannahLion]

What? No color reserved for crossover cables? (purple here)

Indeed. mine are purple too. maybe it;s a gay thing? Like the purple teletubby? The one with the crossed wires has to be purple

It's a man bag damnit!!

Speaking of Teletubbies, anyone remember the Teletubby add-in for Carmageddon?

[Guaranos]

What? No color reserved for crossover cables? (purple here)

Every place I've worked has used red for crossover cables.

[Angry_Radish]

The ones I have laying about in the server room are red as well, so I have to keep em tagged so they don't get mixed up with the others.

Plus, I keep an extra fluke line tester in there to use on all the cables before they go out for use..
Since I built 'em, I can't trust the quality control 

[ChadTower]

I test mine with a regular DMM.  Never had a problem with a bad cable but I have had to go back and redo wall jacks after I thought I had done them properly.

[Angry_Radish]

Yeah, some wall jacks can be a pain, especially if it's existing wiring..
When we expanded here at work, the existing wiring was a complete scattering of A and B wiring, so I needed to test out each one before punching it down at the new patch panel :-)

[ChadTower]

I hate that.  I can never remember whether I ran A or B, and ironically, I always run the same type.  I just can't remember which it is whenever I make new lines.  Troubleshooting long runs got much easier when I was shown the "short two pins" method.

[Angry_Radish]

Yeah, I did that too till we started getting some nice test equipment in, the cheaper fluke is great for doing long runs, especially if I can't remember what closet it terminates in:-)

http://www.tequipment.net/FlukeMT-8200-32A.html

[SavannahLion]

Troubleshooting long runs got much easier when I was shown the "short two pins" method.

Short two pins to see if there's a break in the wiring or short two pins to ID whether it's A or B?

[ChadTower]

To confirm continuity.  Short any two pins on one end, use your DMM to check continuity on the same two pins at the other end.  If it works, you've confirmed both pins are straight through and intact.

[patrickl]

Cable testers are quite cheap (as little as $10 even) and they do that for you almost automatically.

[ChadTower]

Yeah, but not quite less convenient when you're debugging a run inside the wall from the basement to the second floor.

[patrickl]

Yeah, but not quite less convenient when you're debugging a run inside the wall from the basement to the second floor.

How so? You attach the loopback part on one end and the tester on the other end and run it. If testing a wall socket plug in a cable (which you know works)