|  | 9.2 | RJ-45 Jack and Outlet Installation
| 9.2.11 | Procedure for placing the copper wires into a jack

A LANs performance is closely linked to the quality of its connections. When you use RJ-45 jacks at the telecommunications outlet in a horizontal cabling scheme, the wiring sequence is critical to ensure the best possible network performance. Sequencing refers to the process of matching the wires of a cable to the proper terminals on the jack. To understand how this works, examine an RJ-45 jack, closely. Notice that the jack is color coded. The colors - blue, green, orange, and brown - correspond to the colors of the wires in each of the twisted pairs of CAT 5 UTP.

Following, are the steps you must use to place the cable wires into the jack:

1. Strip the jacket (coating) from the end of the cable that you want to connect to the jack. Try not to strip any more of the cable jacket than is necessary, approximately 2.5 cm. If you strip too much, data throughput will be reduced.
2. Place the wires in the center of the jack, and keep them there while you work. Wires that are skewed can slow down the rate of data transmission. Also, make sure that you keep the portion of the cable, still covered by the jacket, within 3 mm of the jack.
3. Separate out each pair of twisted wires.
4. The first color that appears on the left side of the jack is blue. Find the pair of wires that contains the blue wire, and untwist them. Lay the blue wire on the slot, on the left, that is color coded blue. Lay the second wire of this pair on the slot, on the right, that is color coded blue and white.
5. The color used to code the next slot on the right side of the jack is green. Locate the twisted pair that contains the green wire, and untwist them. Lay the green wire on the slot, on the right, that is color coded green. Lay the second wire of this pair on the slot, on the left, that is color coded green and white.
6. Continue in this fashion until all of the wires have been matched to their corresponding color-coded slots in the jack.
7. After you have completed these steps, you are ready to punch the wires down into the slots in the jack.

| Web Links
| Cabling Glossary
| Cable Termination and Installation