What's wrong with these plugs? Should I return them?

Nothing's wrong with them. They are expensive but they are goof-proof, sometimes that alone makes the price difference worth it.

Where can I get some.

FYI the cabel has been inserted into the RJ45 the wrong way T568B but backwards.

There wired wrong


They are prone to short at the tips if you dont cut them correctly.

Maybe I am wired wrong :shrug:

Was this a trick question? if not my answers above apply.

If you choose to send them back thats ok but like Ed said they are ID10T proof for those quick I need a cable applications

OOOOOOOOOps Cable

Yep. They are the RJ-xx EZ plugs. They make a special tool the cuts off the excess and crimps all in one. I know a few people who have them and love them. If you don't have the right tool they can be a pain though.

i have the tool but the ends cost me more. so i stopped using it.

it IS goof proof! you will always know your wires are at the end of the plug!

and as long as you use the crimper for the ends it will cut them off clean. otherwise you will get shorts like WRichey said

Were you just yanking everyone's chain Michael?

Your images are hotlinked directly from this site: https://www.platinumtools.com/featured.html so I can't imagine you bought these ends without knowing what they were.

If you were kidding, I guess I just ruined the joke.

I was going to start the "RJ45" misnomer debate again, but I am too tired to get into it tonight.

So Who stocks the Platinum products ??

Hmm, those look to be NON solid core ends. If that is solid wire you need to find solid core ends.

They do handle solid wire just fine. Target Distributing carries them and the rest of their product line.

Using cable ends designed for stranded cable on solid cable will work for long enough that you might think it's OK. But at some point, perhaps long after you've forgotten what kind of cable ends you used, or perhaps long after you no longer have anything to do with the job where you used them, they'll crap out.

The cable ends in those photos look like they're for stranded cable.

They are universal plugs and support solid or stranded wire.

I'd believe that if I hadn't seen with my own eyes a package of plugs that claimed to be "universal" for solid or stranded wire when the plugs inside were designed only for stranded wire.

I get the impression that 99% of the people putting these connectors on have no clue about the difference.

That is very true. These plugs and the ones made by Siemon are the only ones that I have encountered that really are "universal". So many of them still have sharp tangs that are designed to pierce stranded wire which will ultimately end up cutting through solid wire. The "no-name universal" plugs are usually the bad ones and there are plenty of them out there.

I am one of the 99%. How can you actually tell, by looking at a plug, whether it is really for solid wire, for stranded wire, or both?

two prong or three prong

In general:

Look at the plug from a side-view, if there are sharp pointed prongs (similar to vampire fangs) on the bottom of the contacts, then they are made for use with stranded wire only. If the bottoms of the contacts appear to be flat, then they are either for solid wire only or combination plugs.

I have been thinking about trying those feed thru plugs do you think they are worth the extra $

It all depends. If you are the man writing the checks, then chances are that you will be careful and line up the conductors properly with a standard plug. Now, if you are hiring people to do this, it might be worth it to invest in the feed-through plugs and crimpers since they probably don't have as much of an interest in the company's bottom line.

I use them exclusively. Saving time is saving money.

I'm the one that will be using them but anthing that makes the job better quality and save time is worth looking at.

We have a few guys in our company that use them. It has saved us a ton in bad ends. For some reason we have a few guys that just can't get it right (wires to short, mis-wired, etc.) With these they are at 100 percent correct and quite a bit faster.

funny.....when I first started in the business, I worked for a small AT&T dealer. The boss insisted on making Mod plug tails for all connections. I probably made a few hundred a week when I first started. Never thought I would use a simple skill so much. Now..I just use the plain AMP mod plugs. If you want to double check the plug before you crimp it, look at the end of the plug. You should see all 8 copper cable ends.

How are the AMP modular plugs different than most? The EZ crimper ad says it will work with most plugs but not the AMP plugs.

Amp plugs have a different spot where they crimp.

well, as of weco standard 568B with the tab down the top left one is backwards.

The major difference is that plugs for stranded wire have fangs that go into the center of the wire. Which obviously doesn't work for solid wire. When you try to use these plugs on solid wire, the contacts will not seat all the way down, which is obvious when you compare them to a factory-made cable. Assuming that you have a crimper tool that can actually apply enough force to seat them all the way down, then they'll probably just break right through the solid copper wire.

Plugs for solid wire have fangs that go AROUND the wire. In all of the ones I've ever seen, there are three fangs and two will be on one side of the wire when crimped, and the other fang, which is in the middle of the other two, will be on the other side of the wire.

Want to see a plug designed for solid wire? Go to Lowes or Home Depot and look at the RJ45/8P8C plugs that they sell in the datacom section made by Ideal. These plugs ARE designed for solid wire (even though the package, as I recall, doesn't specifically state so).

Want to see a plug designed for stranded wire? Go to CompUSA, Best Buy, or one of those stores and look for the crap being sold under the Belkin name.

Thanks for the info. I will check them out.

About these "factory-made" cables. Do they use machines to do this? Or is it like a sweat shop with hundreds of little foreigners cutting and crimping all day long.

I find some perverse pleasure in making my own cables, pretending that I myself am in a sweat shop in some exotic Asian location. Though the presence of air conditioning sorta lessens that allusion. Anyway, I prefering the Panduit MP588-L plugs and Panduit CT5-8 crimp tool. The plugs are universal and tangle resistant.

Richard