sundance-communications.com/forum Forums Wiring - Telecom Carriers - Trunks & Services Cabling Telephones Systems Wiring patch cables too short?

Is it true that patch cables can be too short?

sure happens all the time , you have 3'cords and its 5' to the patch panel

Patch cables cannot be reliably tested if they are shorter than about 3feet. No reason why an 18" patch cable won't work, you just can't get a proper measure of NEXT, FEXT, etc.

I walked right into that one.

That makes sense. Think about a situation where a patch panel and switch are next to each other... I can't see cluttering up the place with a 3' cable when a 18" cable will reach. Really, a 12" cable will work.

That's why they make cable managment panels.

Personally, I do not like patch cables that are under 3 feet. They get to be a pain when your trying to move a piece of equipment or when you need to get to the back of a patch panel that is in a wall-mount rack.

Very true Larry. In a data center you want to standardize on a patch cable length, and make sure you have the proper cable management to take up the slack.

Granted. I'm trying to avoid the scenario where you have 20 or 30 patch cables all bunged up on the side looping up and down in the vertical cable management. In a world were the
data guys insist on using these closed cabinets, space is at a premium. In the particular instance it will be a 24 port switch on top of a 24 port patch panel. Port 1 to port 1, port 2 to port 2, and so on. Once they are connected it probably won't change. Easiest to have a short cable between them.

short cable works just fine , you just can't test it by itself , you can however test it as part of the entire run which is what "I like to do anyway run the test patch cord end to patch cord end

for what your describing 12-18 inch sounds just right

Thanks Skip.