Never use cca cat5e again! Changed some cca for high quality 100% copper

P

Pentagano

Getting comfortable
Dec 11, 2020
665
300
Uruguay
Had some cca cat5e in my house. Couple of cameras giving me issues probably related with packet losses.
Changed a couple with exterior 100% copper cat5e and what a difference!

Lesson learned for sure. Now how to replace the cables in the walls? Was such a mission to install them.
 
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:(

Cut out opening in drywall | How to Install a Decorative Wall Niche ...

1665628525910.png
 
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Flintstone61 said:
:(

Cut out opening in drywall | How to Install a Decorative Wall Niche ...

View attachment 142454
Click to expand...
I wish we had plasterboard walls! All very solid brick (double skin) and reinforced concrete buildings here!
I tried drilling a hole for a camera cable connection box last night just 15cm from the ceiling to the outside. My hammer drill got stuck on a reinforced beam just inches in, Gave up, and had to put it lower down!!
 
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copper clad aluminum wire was an il concept for cheaper data wire. The only thing I can see it being possibly useful for is POE lighting. Real 100% copper wire doesn't cost that much more. What is a pain is the zon (amazon) because their items sometimes hide the fact the wire is CCA. Buy from a real cable source: monoprice, truecable, cablewholesale, cablestogo are a few vendors I get stuff from.
 
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tech_junkie said:
copper clad aluminum wire was an il concept for cheaper data wire. The only thing I can see it being possibly useful for is POE lighting. Real 100% copper wire doesn't cost that much more. What is a pain is the zon (amazon) because their items sometimes hide the fact the wire is CCA. Buy from a real cable source: monoprice, truecable, cablewholesale, cablestogo are a few vendors I get stuff from.
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yep I am sure I've been scammed with a few of my lengths. They don't even state on the cable what they are sometimes. cat5e verified with the awg.
If it states CMR does that mean it is 100% copper?
 
Pentagano said:
yep I am sure I've been scammed with a few of my lengths. They don't even state on the cable what they are sometimes. cat5e verified with the awg.
If it states CMR does that mean it is 100% copper?
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A CMR rating means the cable can be used in the risers of commercial buildings because they limit the spread of flames better than cables in the CL/CM family.

www.belden.com

Communications Cable Ratings

What do terms like CM, PVC and LSZH mean for your data center? Learn here.
www.belden.com www.belden.com
 
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I have a length of cat6 that I want to verify if it is cca or copper.
Without taking off a section and visibly looking at it :
says on it:
'netconnect category utp E138034 1300 23awg verified to cat6'

Is the only way to verify by stripping a length and inspecting it if it looks silver on the inside?
 
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If you look at the end of the cable, assuming it has an exposed end of course, you should be able to see if the conductors are solid copper or have that bright, silvery, shine that says aluminum. A magnifier can help with that. You can even use that technique on a terminated cable by carefully inspecting the end of the RJ45 connector.
 
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sebastiantombs said:
If you look at the end of the cable, assuming it has an exposed end of course, you should be able to see if the conductors are solid copper or have that bright, silvery, shine that says aluminum. A magnifier can help with that. You can even use that technique on a terminated cable by carefully inspecting the end of the RJ45 connector.
Click to expand...

I have enough spare at the end to strip a bit and put a new rj45 on after if I can't visibly see.
Wish they would print it on the exterior of the cable!
 
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I have a feeling I'll be stripping a lot of my cables out of the walls!! I was a bit ignorant when I first started networking when we moved in and inadvertently purchased some cca most likely.
Some tricky routes through the house. At least and can use the existing ones to pull through new ones.
Soldering the 8 cables together with some strong tape so they don't come apart through the tighter turns.

Just as I have accumulated more cameras over the years I'm pretty sure some areas are lagging.
 
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CCA often printed on the box the cable came with ..
CCA can be printed on the cable itself ..

you can cut a small section off and try to scrap the coper wire and see if it is solid copper or not.

also you can check resistance .. CCA higher resistance

some also use a fire test .. CCA burns differently than copper ..
 
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Yep looks like all but the latest section added is all CCA even the cat6!! Just stripped all the off cuts I found

I just installed a 35m section of exterior cat5e yesterday, which is 100% copper luckily.

Now got many other long sections throughout many interior walls with inferior cca.

As I have 700 download and 66 upload fibre to house, 10 cameras, 4k TV, ps4, Blue iris, proxmox with homeassistant and work from home with an azure vpn connecting to EU I think I have a house remodelling job on my hands!!
70 online devices most of the time (includes all the smart switches etc)
 
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iperf3.exe -c 192.168.1.206 -P 8 -t 30 -w 32768 -i 5 -f g

SUM 0-30 sec.
3.25 GBytes
0.93 Gbits/sec
sender and receiver. What do I make of that?

Between the 8 port switch downstairs through a 40m cat6 cca to my main gateway router upstairs in my office.
 
Pentagano said:
iperf3.exe -c 192.168.1.206 -P 8 -t 30 -w 32768 -i 5 -f g

SUM 0-30 sec.
3.25 GBytes
0.93 Gbits/sec
sender and receiver. What do I make of that?

Between the 8 port switch downstairs through a 40m cat6 cca to my main gateway router upstairs in my office.
Click to expand...
one channel is half- duplex while another channel is full duplex.
It might be normal if other tcp traffic is going down the wire.

UDP tests is what you need to test, and iperf2 is more accurate for UDP measurements.
 
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