Difference between Cable and Wire

Difference between Cable and Wire

I found many eSecurity Professional - sales manager confused about cables & Wires. Fundamentally a wire is a single conductor while cable is a group of two or more conductors.

A cable is usually two or more wires running together or bonded, twisted or braided together. They are usually insulated rather than not, which gives them a better protection than just wires. Cables are mainly used to carry electrical and telecommunications signals.

There are various types of cables, including twisted pair cable, coaxial cable, multi conductor cable and fiber optic cable. A twisted pair cable has two cables twisted around each other and is mainly used to carrying signals. A multi conductor cable is made up of many conductors insulated from each other, and is best suited for control. In a coaxial cable, the signal on the two conductors is not same. This is called an unbalanced line and performance on this cable is more stable than on a twisted pair cable. There are three types of fiber optic cables: 

plastic fiber – used for sending audio, 

multi-mode fiber – used for sending data, and 

single mode fiber – seen only under a microscope and has the best performance. 

There are two main types of wires: solid or stranded. A solid wire is usually a long length of single conductor. A stranded wire is many thin strands of wires twisted together. Solid wires offer low resistance and are perfect for use in higher frequencies, whereas a stranded wire has a longer life, due to its flexibility and can be used for a longer period than a single conductor. Wires are mainly used to carry electrical and telecommunications signals, but can also be used in various other forms, from bearing mechanical loads, to heating, to even in jewelry and clothing. The easiest way to distinguish between the two is that the wire is usually visible, whereas a cable is most usually insulated.

A detailed comparison between wire and cable:-

	Wire	Cable
Definition	Single conductor	Two or more conductors
Uses	To bear mechanical loads, to carry electricity and telecommunications signals, heating, jewelry, clothing, mesh, automotive or industrial manufactured parts, pins, needles, fish hooks, bulbs.	Power transmission, to carry electricity and telecommunications signals.
Types	Solid wire, and stranded wires	Twisted pair cable, coaxial cable, multi conductor cable and fiber optic cable.
Advantages	Solid wires are perfect for use in higher frequencies, offer low resistance. Stranded wire shows higher resistance to metal fatigue.	Higher strength, heavy duty, insulated.

Ethernet Splitter

Ethernet Splitter

An Ethernet splitter can split a single Internet connection so that two or more computers can connect to the Internet simultaneously. It can also create additional connections for other computers on a network, which can reduce the overall amount of cabling required to setup a network. Unfortunately, Ethernet splitters cannot resolve the network collision issues that may occur if the computers connected to the splitter are using the same network resources simultaneously.

The CAT 5E Ethernet splitter allows two separate devices to share the same Ethernet cable. Ethernet splitters are generally used in pairs, with one CAT 5E splitter at the outlet and another Ethernet splitter at the patch panel. This allows for several wiring configurations to connect more devices to your network. Primus Cable offers both Ethernet splitter adapters and pigtail type Ethernet splitters.

The Ethernet Splitter for 1x VOIP + 1x PC, Pigtail Type, 10/100 BaseT 1P/2J 07 splits the signal from one CAT 5E Ethernet cable among two RJ45 connections. This Ethernet splitter is ideal for both domestic and commercial applications. We have both type 7 and type 8 Ethernet splitter adapters. By utilizing this device, two computers can share one CAT 5E Ethernet port. If the router has only one RJ45 port, then an Ethernet switch will be required to run multiple PCs off one signal at the same time.

Our phone cable is commonly used for 10Base-T and 100Base-T networking, particularly for telephone and low speed data applications. We stock both phone cable for plenum and for riser applications. If your project involves installation in plenums or air spaces, the CAT 3 Bulk Cable, Plenum CMP Solid UTP 25Pair 24AWG, 1000, White is a wise choice.

This phone cable features 25 unshielded solid copper pairs in a 24 AWG diameter cable. This phone cable is ideal for indoor voice communications applications, and is supplied on a wooden spool. This CAT 3 phone cable is also easy to install with its color striped pairs.

Primus Cable provides a wide assortment of networking and telco tools for your installation project. EZ-RJPRO™ HD Ratchet Crimp Tool is the professionals’ choice when working with CAT 5E and CAT 6 RJ45 connectors. It also works well with EZ-RJ12/RJ11 connectors. This crimping tool functions as a wire cutter, stripper, and crimping tool all in one. The ratcheted straight action crimping motion ensures a uniform crimp every cycle. Features precision cast crimping dies for superior accuracy. 

How to Connect an Ethernet Splitter

Step 1 – Insert one end of the Ethernet splitter into the primary Ethernet port of the device that is providing the network connection (such as the cable/DSL modem or Internet router).

Step 2 – Insert the Ethernet cables from the devices to be connected (such as a computer, printer, or scanner) into the Ethernet splitter. Users often connect a printer and computer to the splitter in order to minimize the frequency with which network collisions occur while sharing the connection.

Step 3 – Test the connection of the devices on the splitter to ensure that they can connect to network resources.

How to Make an Ethernet Splitter

Step 1 – Procure the following materials: a short Ethernet cable, 2 x RJ45 keystone jacks, electrical tape, super glue, and crimp tool.

Step 2 – Crimp one end of the Ethernet cable so that the wire’s ends are visible. Leave the other end of the cable in-tact.

Step 3 – Follow the directions that come with the keystone jacks to open them, then place the wires from the Ethernet cable into the jacks to split the connection. Place the white and orange wires into Pin #1, the orange wire into Pin #2, the white and green wires into Pin #3, and the green wire into Pin #6. On the second keystone jack, place the white and blue wires into Pin #1, the blue wire into Pin #2, the white and brown wires into Pin #3, and the brown wire into Pin #6.

Step 4 – Glue the jacks to each other by the sides with super glue, then snap them together.

Step 5 – Wrap electrical tape around any exposed wires and begin using the new Ethernet splitter.

This diagram works in a half duplex mode which provides communication in both directions, but only one direction at a time. Under normal operation, each port is constantly sensing any traffic through its receiving pair of wire. As long as it can sense that data is being processed, it will not start sending data. The significance of this operation is to avoid collision where two ports are sending data at the same time, and due to this phenomenon, data will be discarded. When this issue is resolved by both computers, they will start to transmit at random amount of time. The circuit employs the method known as Carrier Sense Multiple Access / Collision Detecion (CSMA/CD) wherein it allows the devices to take turns using the signal carrier line. In this operation, the hub’s primary task is to allow each port to check the signal level of the line to determine whether someone is already using it. The device waits for a few seconds if it is in use, or it transmits otherwise.

Straight and Crossover cable

What are Straight and Crossover cable

Dear All CCTV, Access Control Technician/Engineer now make clear on this Two type of CAT Cable. Common Ethernet network cable are straight and crossover cable. This Ethernet network cable is made of 4 pair high performance cable that consists twisted pair conductors that used for data transmission. Both end of cable is called RJ-45 connector.

The cable can be categorized as Cat 5, Cat 5e, Cat 6 UTP cable. Cat 5 UTP cable can support 10/100 Mbps Ethernet network, whereas Cat 5e and Cat 6 UTP cable can support Ethernet network running at 10/100/1000 Mbps. You might heard about Cat 3 UTP cable, it's not popular anymore since it can only support 10 Mbps Ethernet network.

Straight and crossover cable can be Cat3, Cat 5, Cat 5e or Cat 6 UTP cable, the only difference is each type will have different wire arrangement in the cable for serving different purposes.

Straight Cable

You usually use straight cable to connect different type of devices. This type of cable will be used most of the time and can be used to:

1) Connect a computer to a switch/hub's normal port. 
2) Connect a computer to a cable/DSL modem's LAN port. 
3) Connect a router's WAN port to a cable/DSL modem's LAN port. 
4) Connect a router's LAN port to a switch/hub's uplink port. (normally used for expanding network) 
5) Connect 2 switches/hubs with one of the switch/hub using an uplink port and the other one using normal port.

If you need to check how straight cable looks like, it's easy. Both side (side A and side B) of cable have wire arrangement with same color. Check out different types of straight cable that are available in the market.

Crossover Cable

Sometimes you will use crossover cable, it's usually used to connect same type of devices. A crossover cable can be used to:

1) Connect 2 computers directly. 
2) Connect a router's LAN port to a switch/hub's normal port. (normally used for expanding network) 
3) Connect 2 switches/hubs by using normal port in both switches/hubs.

In you need to check how crossover cable looks like, both side (side A and side B) of cable have wire arrangement with following different color . Have a look on these crossover cables if you plan to buy one. You can also find more network cable choices and information from Comtrad Cables.

In case you need to make a crossover cable yourself! You can use crimper to do it.

Lastly, if you still not sure which type of cable to be used sometimes, try both cables and see which works.

Note: If there is auto MDI/MDI-X feature support on the switch, hub, network card or other network devices, you don't have to use crossover cable in the situation which I mentioned above. This is because crossover function would be enabled automatically when it's needed.