PSA, Ubiquiti just silently released the "UniFi Enterprise Patch Cable" as well. They are the ether lighting cables, but with metal tips and a VERY nice braided cloth cable, almost exactly like the USB cables that come with new iPhones or MacBooks. They are PREMIUM and very slick, only $1 per cable more than standard Ether lighting cables too! I got a few hundred the other day, and I'm so sad they weren't released a few months ago when I bought a few thousand of the standard ones...
Thanks for this, it seems to be a nice shielded cable, as soon as they are available in my geographic location I will grab some, now if I can get MLAG on the Aggrigation switch we are all good
We always strive to make our racks look aesthetically pleasing to the eye. Clients absolutely love the organized look and issues are more easily solved remotely if a cable malfunctions, etc. Love the cable videos. Cabling and designing network racks is absolutely a art within itself. We have been using the small form factor patch cables thanks to your recommendations.
I have standardized on the ultra slim cables a few year back. So much easier to work with. I even used for PoE for my APs and work with any issues 2+ years now. I buy most of my cables from Infinite cables here in Canada.
This is confusing, but I'll do my best to explain. It won't fix the problem of the cable sticking to itself, but if you wrap up the cable properly, you'll have a much, much easier time unwinding it. The idea is that every coil of the cable adds a half twist to the cable. If you stack coils where the twists counteract each other, then the cable is balanced and doesn't end up twisting along its length. What do I mean? Looking at s cross section of the cable, it will build up twists in the counter-clockwise direction if all your wraps are the same. To make balanced coils hold the end in your left hand and wrap a coil with the remainder ending up on top of the loop. Then, wrap a coil where the remainder ends up underneath the coil you made. If you pay attention to your right hand and especially if you hold the cable with your thumb forward and your fingers curled under you'll notice the cable twist along its length counter clockwise for a standard wrap and clockwise for an underneath wrap. This is what your balancing. When cables get really thick, this becomes the only way to neatly wrap a cable. I learned this from an audio production guy, but it works great for ethernet cables.
Just about to post this - as a sound engineer I've lost count of how many XLR - XLR leads I've wrapped over the years. It doesn't work with all cables though, as T noted in the vid some have awkward casings that would make putting a slight twist in problematic. For those cables the velcro ties will help keep them together, use two for long cables with a bigger loop.
You mean the Figure 8? As an electrician, we always did this method if we wanted to pull cables unattended from a different room and didn't want it to tangle up.
Man speaks the truth. I had a 25ft pink one of those old school cables for years and it was great because if I left it someplace guaranteed no one will touch it. Had the misfortune of having one of the those flat cables for a year (leftover from a Cisco video conference install) and I hated it. Was curious what those small rounded style ones all the UA-camrs were showing, but I don't do structured cable enough to look it up. Building an updated home network and definitely using those now.
Just bought the spring reinforced cable based solely on seeing it in your video ❤ Most of the cables I carry in my bag are like the standard not-so-flexible kinds you have in the video but just longer. This looks ideal 😊
I work in live entertainment (specifically sound) and I love those thin Cat6a patch cables from Monoprice. They also work great with Ubiquiti etherlighting. I would normally never recommend ANY cables from Monoprice but those patch cables are great. In my industry we need rugged yet flexible cables for longer runs. Cables are treated pretty roughly, especially on tours, and are installed/uninstalled/reinstalled on a daily basis. Van Damme Tourcat is a good example of good cabling made for our industry. Also, the ends are usually terminated with field term plugs or Neutrik Ethercon connectors (which is more of a casing that goes around a traditional RJ45 that makes them a bit more like an XLR connector).
I really like Panduit's patch cables. Pan-plug is the nicest design for an RJ45 plug I've seen. They are snagless, and don't have a boot or nub thing that will destroy your fingers while replacing a loaded 48-port Ethernet switch.
About the Monoprice: based on the datasheet, the internal cables are 30awg, which (as i googled it, since I'm using metric here) can handle 1,5 Amps. Calculating with 48V, this means: if your load is over 48*1,5 = 72W, you've reached the max for that. With todays PoE++ (IEEE 802.3at-2018) standard, that is OK, but if we thinking around 100W of power in the future, you may need better cable. Also the shielding is a good question.
You have to be careful, Monoprice sells numerous versions of their SlimRun cables, 36, 32, 30 and 28awg. I try to get 28 when I can, but they aren't typically as available on Amazon.
You do realize that's all dependent on the length of the cable? The reason it matters is to conductor resistance. Both the thickness of the conductor and the length of the cable make the total resistance. The more resistance the bigger the voltage drop. Once that drop gets low enough devices will stop working or be unreliable. The reason these thin patch cables work is, they're not long. So at 30 AWG for a couple of feet will have little impact. You are right to consider current load capacity. If it is 1.5A then you shouldn't exceed it. 1.5A x 52V=78W. For class 2? this should be fine. Greater than that will cause problems.
Tom has a video where he talked with someone whose job is cable compliance. It's an older video, so it takes some digging to find. No, you can't do thin cables over the full distance that CAT6A allows. Yes, the thin cables work just fine for short runs. They are fully compliant. Yes, thinner wires have less current capacity. However, 1.5 A for 30 AWG is PER-WIRE. If you have 4 wires carrying power in parallel, you have 4 times that 1.5A.
Interesting video, thanks for taking the time to produce it. I managed a couple research data centers for a decade and the main headache I faces was the quality of the gold plating on the connector. Once a patch cord was connected to equipment, they were connected for the life of the equipment until it was decommissioned. In the early years periodically the connection to a piece of equipment was sporadic even when the link light was on and it turned out the connector pins didn't have a solid "rich" looking gold color. The pins in the connector had a more silvery color. Replacing the cable with the ones I standardized on always solved the problem.
The slim cables look great and we use them but they have issues if you are using them to patch in a long run. In some cases buildings may not have IDFs to shorten runs between clients and network devices. So in those cases I'd use thicker patch cables. Besides that, great suggestions!
I have lived the nightmare that is unpacking and removing twist ties from individually packed Tripp-Lite cables and those cursed zip-lock bags. 400 cables in of about 1200, I explained to my boss that he is paying me to sit on a bucket in a server room for 2 hours to unpack cables before I can even do actual work. The next time I ordered from Monoprice and they come in a minimum of packs of ten and their bags are tear away. My only complaint about slim run cables is that sometimes the colors are not perfectly matched. Nothing like always noticing that one cable that is a slightly different orange than the rest.
Back in the day of CAT5 cabling systems, we did our data closets with 110 punch blocks. All the interconnections between horizontal cable runs and network switch ports were all perfectly cut to length punches on the front of the 110 blocks. This also discouraged casual screwing around. Too bad this can't be made to work with today's higher speed gigabit and beyond signaling rates. Nice examination of the different takes on patch cables; these seemingly small things make a difference when you need to deploy and operate wire plants at scale. Owning infrastructure is harder than it appears.
I Ordered a 12 pack of the small cat6a cables after you first started talking about them a few years ago & I am still using them in my home server Rack (Linux iso's of coarse) Today and ever sense! I have ben meaning to order some more to have on hand n just haven't yet ! They Made a Believer out of me that's for sure !
We’ve been going to all slim in the data center. It’s just so much easier to work with. This is also as we stopped making cables each time. Those thin ones are way harder to make right.
Thing with thin cables regarding PoE is not really about that they won't work. But there is a physical problem of efficiency. The thinner the cable is bigger voltage drop it will have over the distance. This directly means power loss in cable multiplied by the number of cables. That might or might not end up being important. 10 cables likely no one cares. 10 thousand might mean substantial money loss annually. It also heats the cable up, meaning AC has now extra load. Not much, but it does add up. There are so many factors in play here that it's very hard to say they are bad by face value. But they can in some scenarios be bad idea. You would have to measure the losses. The thicker the cable is, less resistance it will have, meaning less power loss. Even if you don't do it for the rating, it does improve efficiency. That becomes very notable especially on low voltages and long distances where the voltage drop is going to be most notable. DC has the problem that you can't really increase voltage too much because you get sparks and you could actually weld the connectors when plugging in and out. 30V is already enough, with higher currents to cause welding and this is notable with light switches and electronical relays (to make difference to networking gear). They will "black out" (and get stuck) and stop working. AC doesn't have similar problem until you reach way higher loads, due its nature of freeing the contact point. That said, you don't really ever want to carry small voltages (such as 5V) over long distances due voltage drop, there's a fine balance.
I have been using monoprice slim-run cables for few years now, they are not as snag-less as some models, but affordable, and I have never had one fail even pulling through walls and through box-cutouts.
I use them for my home lab. With my Netally, they test WAYY better than the flat cables I had. The flat cables had NASTY pair-to-pair timing issues that made 10gbps almost impossible for a few cables.
I really like the new True Cable "cat6 component rated" cables. Thin, but with a reasonable amount of copper inside. Feels good to know someone tested every one in a Fluke, too. They also have a clear frosted boot that I think might work well with Etherlighting, but I haven't been able to test. For overkill, the Blue Jeans Cable Bonded Pair Cat 6a cable is the highest quality cable I've ever seen, but not very flexible.
Funnily enough, I swapped all of my cables over to those mono price super thin ones less than two weeks ago. I hadn’t heard of them before and assumed they were some no brand cables off Amazon. Looks so much cleaner and has made it easier to manage with every port on my switch populated. Running over a dozen poe devices on them without any issues but they are all relatively low power devices (RPi, cameras, hue bridge, ont etc). Wasn’t able to colour code but I have all of the cables going to my patch panel labelled and then a one to one between that and my switch, so no real need.
i coil even fairly short cables using the over-under technique. that way i can just grab one end and throw the rest, and the whole thing comes undone without drama
Have you heard of Kordz? Their Pro and PRS patch range is fantastic. Every PRS patch cord from Kordz that rolls off the production line has a full certification check performed by a Fluke DSX-5000. Fantastic patch, AOC, RCA and HDMI cables. Structured cabling very good too!
I bought a bunch of those monoprice cables because I was seeing them everywhere.... loved them until I had my first unifi AP EVER die (I've installed at least 30 of them) a few weeks after installing it with a monoprice thinline patch cable. It absolutely could be coincidence but it just didn't sit right with me that the first time I ever used these patch cables was the first time I ever had a unifi AP completely fail. I also had 2 of these brand new cables that simply didn't work. Since then I've been buying the vertical cables cat6a "slim" cables and I'm a huge fan of those. They are a slightly larger gauge (28AWG vs 30AWG) while still being considerably thinner than traditional twisted pair cable. I've not had a single issue with these and I would HIGHLY recommend them. They also transmit the light from etherlighting switches pretty well. The only thing to be aware of is the little plastic release can sometimes get pulled over the top of the ramp (same problem demonstrated during this video with the monoprice ones) but that's easy enough to correct.
I once wasted a week troubleshooting what I thought was a network configuration error that turned out to be a partially working flat "cat 8" ethernet cable. Even worse, I had replaced it with a new one during the process and that one was also bad.
Perfectly valid points, and I agree with you. But also the way you wrap your cables can also solve a lot of tangle problems, ask any good roadie. Overworked and underpaid… ;)
I like the ones you do, I also for customers will also use Cable Matters and Amazon Basics in addition to Monoprice because not everything available in the US is available here in Canada and/or a decent price because of the 30-40% exchange rate
Color coding is a must. Not even sure if there's a common scheme out there but we just set one up and ran with it. Still need to label (and labeling cables is another topic) but being able to see at a glance what traffic goes through a given cable is nice. At least until someone runs out of blue and grabs a gray...
Monoprice: They have a good warranty on their cables. Had a really low failure rate on their patch cables. (Wasnt worth shipping them back, had maybe 30-60 cables out of some 12000 that has issues over 5 years.)
If you have structured cabling that are almost 100m long, Good (sometimes bulky) patch cable is needed, actually all connectors need to be properly terminated also to pass TDR FEXT and NEXT test, some place may need screened (shielded) patch cable. Personally I don't like very short cable, the shortest one for me usually around 0.5m, shorter than that the only way it usable is your switch is directly below or above the patch panel and align almost perfectly to switch ports, which usually not the case for large installations that may need chassis switch or 2RU switch. Also I usually don't place the switch directly under/over patch because the back of switch may damage patch connections during installation and maintenance.
Monoprices snagless molded strain relief is afaik a copy of the better, more pliable Cables2Go version. I usually recommend cables2go for more price sensitive jobs, otherwise I use certified vendors with warranty.
Interesting video. I've been a fan of the slim Ethernet cables for a while now. A tip for coiling cables is to use the "Roadie Wrap" method, this ensure they un-coil a lot neater. it's hard to describe in words but you alternate overhand and underhand coiling. Plenty of videos out there that shows the technique. I use this for long Ethernet cables, coax cables, power extension cables... even garden hoses!
Recently i had an install with about 400 15cm etherlightning cables and to unpack these is way more difficult as the 50-pack 15cm white regular ones. They come in a bag in 10s wrapped with small strip
On my rack I prefer cat6a s/ftp patch leads between my patch panel and switch. They can be a little stiff, and they are a little longer than I would prefer due to their bend radius, but I like having shielding there. Is that over the top?
I've had success with the FiberStore slim cables that look similar to those Monoprice ones; my only complaint is that they need to sell the 6" version in bulk packaged bundles of - let's say - 48, because tearing opening 48 individual plastic baggies is not exactly my idea of a good time. (Edit: what do you know, it looks like they've already started selling 24 packs that appear to come in a single bag, so maybe, problem solved?)
In terms of eth cables, I normally run with ugreen. Yeah their stuff can be pricey at times but I've only ever had one eth cable fail on me but that was from my missuse of the cable. Their other stuff is good too imo. Depending on the cable that I need, ill flip between anker and ugreen
I have used those from cisco, the flat one and they suck. At least cisco covers them if they break which they will quickly. I changed over to a "whatever cable deal i can get cheap that works"
in my personal experience, all I care about in patch cables is a good availability of several colors and those snagless connectors. I can't live with the broken clips and insufficient color coding! 😁
Thanks for an interesting video about something I would have never considered important before watching. I am BRAND NEW to this kind of stuff but I would like to build out a ubiquity network to replace my existing Orbi mesh system. Do you have any content that you would recommend for beginners? I am currently considering a system with 2-3 APs (I currently have Eufy cameras but I'd like to switch to POE cams with better resolution), and add some hard-wired access for smart TVs/home office). Thanks again!!
Newbie questions. When talking about patch cable versus ethernet cable, are they the same thing or patch are meant to be short and only patch from switch to switch? Are Cat 5e/6/6a patch cables just another name for cat 5e/6/6a ethernet cable. If they are different, can I still use them to 1) connect my pcs, nas or even ethernet printer with long cables? 2) run into wall and/or suspended ceiling to get to poe/poe+ AP? Also, are ubiquiti cables good reliable durable cables comparable to your preferred ones?
patch cable is a non-standardized term for "short ethernet cable". They are used to bridge a switch to a patch panel. Eeach port of the patch panel will go to a cable that goes to an ethernet port somewhere in the building, may be very far. Given how short they are and the fact that they are inside a rack, their Cat rating can be whatever and it's not that relevant.
Its all the same thing. There isn't technically such a thing as an 'ethernet' cable because ethernet is a communications standard. Patch cables are named that way to differentiate them from crossover cables that look identical but you don't have to worry about that because they aren't used anymore. For POE applications I personally prefer to use the larger commercial grade cabling that uses 23awg wires instead of the very small 28 or 30awg wires that thin cables use. For a single access point the thin cables are probably fine because POE is relatively high voltage and most access points don't use a lot of power. I just prefer to use cabling I know is rated for power.
@@grasstreefarmer thanks for the clarification. I've always used standard large 23 awg caliber ethernet cables from regular brick and mortar stores. I've always called them ethernet cable regardless if they were crimped regular or reversed, for connecting devices to device / router / switch, or to pass in walls. I've only recently started to watch UA-cam video on networking and heard the term patch cable. Almost got me confused. All clear now thanks you. I'm so happy 23 years ago I had the brilliant idea to pass a cat 5e cable from the 2nd floor to the basement just in case when the house was built. I can now hardwire 2 AP at 1Ge , one in the basement and one on the 2nd floor for full Wi-Fi coverage.
Patch cable = short cables used for patchbays, which comes from early analogue telecoms originally. The generic usage has carried over into the music, AV and IT worlds as a term for short cables used to 'patch' from one device/switch/port to another.
arguments a bit kinda stretched. - I have an flat cable, which caring POE++ as well on 2.5G speed to my AP's. No problems so far for 4 years, easy to stick it to any surface and stack them if needed. I doesn't had a problem with scissors, as i never tried to cut them tho.... so they working fine. - for some reason, Ubiquity cables were not ashamed for being thin, however they could be cut as easy as flat cables. Boomer for me... - and there was no cut test for more bulkier cables. Jokes aside, the whole topic is a question of taste and particular application.
While we’re on the topic of cables, does anyone here have any recommendations for USB-C cables that don’t tangle easily? (Bonus points if they might offer faster data-transfer speeds than plain ol’ USB2.)
The reason for the thicker cables is shielding. The thinner the cable, the less of it there is. I know from my work with electricians that certain cables are required by the electric code to have certain levels of shielding and I'm pretty sure ethernet cables are included but I'd have to check the book. Aren't there situations where certain builds require the thicker cables? Also, with these thin cables, is there any risk of interference with them being so close to each other?
It's called common mode rejection. Shielding may help but I'm most cases not needed. And, to my knowledge, no electrical code requires it. Besides most electrical code doesn't involve low voltage stuff. Fire code is another story.
@@glynnetolar4423 The electrical code is part of the fire code. The NFPA(National Fire Protection Association) is the organization that publishes the code. Also, if there was no reason to have shielded ethernet it wouldn't exist, but it does and there are several types depending on the shielding needs.
I own some of the thin Monoprice cables. The rubbery ramp boot piece constantly gets stuck under the plastic clip used to release the cable, making the cables a complete pain in the ass to use. It’s a terrible design. I won’t be buying any more of them.
I think all these cables share one problem: they lack metal tips and will fail certification tests. A missing ground can also cause other strange problems. I am using Leoni MegaLine or Metz Connect cables. Their only downside is that they do not come in very short lengths, requiring extra cable management. For a perfect fit, get a patchbox.
PSA, Ubiquiti just silently released the "UniFi Enterprise Patch Cable" as well. They are the ether lighting cables, but with metal tips and a VERY nice braided cloth cable, almost exactly like the USB cables that come with new iPhones or MacBooks. They are PREMIUM and very slick, only $1 per cable more than standard Ether lighting cables too! I got a few hundred the other day, and I'm so sad they weren't released a few months ago when I bought a few thousand of the standard ones...
Thanks for this, it seems to be a nice shielded cable, as soon as they are available in my geographic location I will grab some, now if I can get MLAG on the Aggrigation switch we are all good
where did you get the price point? In the US shop it is sold for 4$ the piece...
@@peter-a.breddermann8139 $1 MORE than a ether light cable ;)
Would have been nice if they added the snagless boots to the enterprise line of cables....
@@peter-a.breddermann8139 $1 more than, not one dollar total.
I switched all of our cables out to the Monoprice ones a few years ago. They are great!
We always strive to make our racks look aesthetically pleasing to the eye. Clients absolutely love the organized look and issues are more easily solved remotely if a cable malfunctions, etc. Love the cable videos. Cabling and designing network racks is absolutely a art within itself.
We have been using the small form factor patch cables thanks to your recommendations.
Rhino Cables on Amazon (UK) are my current go to brand for all my cabling needs. Not just network, but USB, display, etc., too.
I have standardized on the ultra slim cables a few year back. So much easier to work with. I even used for PoE for my APs and work with any issues 2+ years now. I buy most of my cables from Infinite cables here in Canada.
This is confusing, but I'll do my best to explain. It won't fix the problem of the cable sticking to itself, but if you wrap up the cable properly, you'll have a much, much easier time unwinding it. The idea is that every coil of the cable adds a half twist to the cable. If you stack coils where the twists counteract each other, then the cable is balanced and doesn't end up twisting along its length.
What do I mean? Looking at s cross section of the cable, it will build up twists in the counter-clockwise direction if all your wraps are the same.
To make balanced coils hold the end in your left hand and wrap a coil with the remainder ending up on top of the loop. Then, wrap a coil where the remainder ends up underneath the coil you made.
If you pay attention to your right hand and especially if you hold the cable with your thumb forward and your fingers curled under you'll notice the cable twist along its length counter clockwise for a standard wrap and clockwise for an underneath wrap. This is what your balancing.
When cables get really thick, this becomes the only way to neatly wrap a cable. I learned this from an audio production guy, but it works great for ethernet cables.
Just about to post this - as a sound engineer I've lost count of how many XLR - XLR leads I've wrapped over the years. It doesn't work with all cables though, as T noted in the vid some have awkward casings that would make putting a slight twist in problematic. For those cables the velcro ties will help keep them together, use two for long cables with a bigger loop.
This is the standard way that cables/ropes should be coiled.
You mean the Figure 8? As an electrician, we always did this method if we wanted to pull cables unattended from a different room and didn't want it to tangle up.
That is entirely too much work for the cable that goes in my trauma bag.
Have a look for over under cable coiling
I discovered those Monoprice slim cables two years ago and love them. They are so much easier to work with and have been trouble-free.
Man speaks the truth. I had a 25ft pink one of those old school cables for years and it was great because if I left it someplace guaranteed no one will touch it. Had the misfortune of having one of the those flat cables for a year (leftover from a Cisco video conference install) and I hated it. Was curious what those small rounded style ones all the UA-camrs were showing, but I don't do structured cable enough to look it up. Building an updated home network and definitely using those now.
Just bought the spring reinforced cable based solely on seeing it in your video ❤
Most of the cables I carry in my bag are like the standard not-so-flexible kinds you have in the video but just longer. This looks ideal 😊
I work in live entertainment (specifically sound) and I love those thin Cat6a patch cables from Monoprice. They also work great with Ubiquiti etherlighting. I would normally never recommend ANY cables from Monoprice but those patch cables are great.
In my industry we need rugged yet flexible cables for longer runs. Cables are treated pretty roughly, especially on tours, and are installed/uninstalled/reinstalled on a daily basis. Van Damme Tourcat is a good example of good cabling made for our industry. Also, the ends are usually terminated with field term plugs or Neutrik Ethercon connectors (which is more of a casing that goes around a traditional RJ45 that makes them a bit more like an XLR connector).
I really like Panduit's patch cables. Pan-plug is the nicest design for an RJ45 plug I've seen. They are snagless, and don't have a boot or nub thing that will destroy your fingers while replacing a loaded 48-port Ethernet switch.
About the Monoprice: based on the datasheet, the internal cables are 30awg, which (as i googled it, since I'm using metric here) can handle 1,5 Amps. Calculating with 48V, this means: if your load is over 48*1,5 = 72W, you've reached the max for that. With todays PoE++ (IEEE 802.3at-2018) standard, that is OK, but if we thinking around 100W of power in the future, you may need better cable. Also the shielding is a good question.
You have to be careful, Monoprice sells numerous versions of their SlimRun cables, 36, 32, 30 and 28awg. I try to get 28 when I can, but they aren't typically as available on Amazon.
You do realize that's all dependent on the length of the cable? The reason it matters is to conductor resistance. Both the thickness of the conductor and the length of the cable make the total resistance. The more resistance the bigger the voltage drop. Once that drop gets low enough devices will stop working or be unreliable. The reason these thin patch cables work is, they're not long. So at 30 AWG for a couple of feet will have little impact. You are right to consider current load capacity. If it is 1.5A then you shouldn't exceed it. 1.5A x 52V=78W. For class 2? this should be fine. Greater than that will cause problems.
Tom has a video where he talked with someone whose job is cable compliance. It's an older video, so it takes some digging to find. No, you can't do thin cables over the full distance that CAT6A allows. Yes, the thin cables work just fine for short runs. They are fully compliant. Yes, thinner wires have less current capacity. However, 1.5 A for 30 AWG is PER-WIRE. If you have 4 wires carrying power in parallel, you have 4 times that 1.5A.
Interesting video, thanks for taking the time to produce it. I managed a couple research data centers for a decade and the main headache I faces was the quality of the gold plating on the connector. Once a patch cord was connected to equipment, they were connected for the life of the equipment until it was decommissioned. In the early years periodically the connection to a piece of equipment was sporadic even when the link light was on and it turned out the connector pins didn't have a solid "rich" looking gold color. The pins in the connector had a more silvery color. Replacing the cable with the ones I standardized on always solved the problem.
C2G slim snagless patch cables(with boot). Super easy to work with. Easy to release from switches in tight environments
The slim cables look great and we use them but they have issues if you are using them to patch in a long run. In some cases buildings may not have IDFs to shorten runs between clients and network devices. So in those cases I'd use thicker patch cables. Besides that, great suggestions!
This is perfect timing, was looking at cables for a rack rewire just yesterday! Thank you!
I have lived the nightmare that is unpacking and removing twist ties from individually packed Tripp-Lite cables and those cursed zip-lock bags. 400 cables in of about 1200, I explained to my boss that he is paying me to sit on a bucket in a server room for 2 hours to unpack cables before I can even do actual work. The next time I ordered from Monoprice and they come in a minimum of packs of ten and their bags are tear away. My only complaint about slim run cables is that sometimes the colors are not perfectly matched. Nothing like always noticing that one cable that is a slightly different orange than the rest.
Back in the day of CAT5 cabling systems, we did our data closets with 110 punch blocks. All the interconnections between horizontal cable runs and network switch ports were all perfectly cut to length punches on the front of the 110 blocks. This also discouraged casual screwing around. Too bad this can't be made to work with today's higher speed gigabit and beyond signaling rates. Nice examination of the different takes on patch cables; these seemingly small things make a difference when you need to deploy and operate wire plants at scale. Owning infrastructure is harder than it appears.
I do love these patch-cables especially if you need SHORT AF cables, they are perfect.
I've been using the Monoprice thinline since they came out, no issues at all. They are so nice looking and the color variety is bonus.
This is the content I love seeing in my UA-cam feed 😁
I Ordered a 12 pack of the small cat6a cables after you first started talking about them a few years ago & I am still using them in my home server Rack (Linux iso's of coarse) Today and ever sense! I have ben meaning to order some more to have on hand n just haven't yet ! They Made a Believer out of me that's for sure !
We’ve been going to all slim in the data center. It’s just so much easier to work with. This is also as we stopped making cables each time. Those thin ones are way harder to make right.
Thing with thin cables regarding PoE is not really about that they won't work. But there is a physical problem of efficiency. The thinner the cable is bigger voltage drop it will have over the distance. This directly means power loss in cable multiplied by the number of cables. That might or might not end up being important. 10 cables likely no one cares. 10 thousand might mean substantial money loss annually. It also heats the cable up, meaning AC has now extra load. Not much, but it does add up. There are so many factors in play here that it's very hard to say they are bad by face value. But they can in some scenarios be bad idea. You would have to measure the losses. The thicker the cable is, less resistance it will have, meaning less power loss. Even if you don't do it for the rating, it does improve efficiency.
That becomes very notable especially on low voltages and long distances where the voltage drop is going to be most notable. DC has the problem that you can't really increase voltage too much because you get sparks and you could actually weld the connectors when plugging in and out. 30V is already enough, with higher currents to cause welding and this is notable with light switches and electronical relays (to make difference to networking gear). They will "black out" (and get stuck) and stop working. AC doesn't have similar problem until you reach way higher loads, due its nature of freeing the contact point. That said, you don't really ever want to carry small voltages (such as 5V) over long distances due voltage drop, there's a fine balance.
I have been using monoprice slim-run cables for few years now, they are not as snag-less as some models, but affordable, and I have never had one fail even pulling through walls and through box-cutouts.
I use them for my home lab. With my Netally, they test WAYY better than the flat cables I had. The flat cables had NASTY pair-to-pair timing issues that made 10gbps almost impossible for a few cables.
@@breakfast-burrito very cool ! I am only using on my 1gbps net, and use 10g fiber between my workstations that need high bandwidth.
I really like the new True Cable "cat6 component rated" cables. Thin, but with a reasonable amount of copper inside. Feels good to know someone tested every one in a Fluke, too. They also have a clear frosted boot that I think might work well with Etherlighting, but I haven't been able to test. For overkill, the Blue Jeans Cable Bonded Pair Cat 6a cable is the highest quality cable I've ever seen, but not very flexible.
Yeah I love those as patches or custom length cable making.
The cables are good quality, but are extremely expensive.
$6+ per cable is too much in my opinion.
Funnily enough, I swapped all of my cables over to those mono price super thin ones less than two weeks ago. I hadn’t heard of them before and assumed they were some no brand cables off Amazon. Looks so much cleaner and has made it easier to manage with every port on my switch populated. Running over a dozen poe devices on them without any issues but they are all relatively low power devices (RPi, cameras, hue bridge, ont etc). Wasn’t able to colour code but I have all of the cables going to my patch panel labelled and then a one to one between that and my switch, so no real need.
I would recommend using the same vendor for your structured cable patch panels and patch leads.
Those slim cables have been going strong for 3 years now.
We finally just got the green light to standardize on 1ft mono price cables and my god am I glad.
i coil even fairly short cables using the over-under technique. that way i can just grab one end and throw the rest, and the whole thing comes undone without drama
I have a bunch of Monoprice, REALLY thin cables. They look good on Etherlighting switches.
Have you heard of Kordz? Their Pro and PRS patch range is fantastic. Every PRS patch cord from Kordz that rolls off the production line has a full certification check performed by a Fluke DSX-5000. Fantastic patch, AOC, RCA and HDMI cables. Structured cabling very good too!
I bought a bunch of those monoprice cables because I was seeing them everywhere.... loved them until I had my first unifi AP EVER die (I've installed at least 30 of them) a few weeks after installing it with a monoprice thinline patch cable. It absolutely could be coincidence but it just didn't sit right with me that the first time I ever used these patch cables was the first time I ever had a unifi AP completely fail. I also had 2 of these brand new cables that simply didn't work.
Since then I've been buying the vertical cables cat6a "slim" cables and I'm a huge fan of those. They are a slightly larger gauge (28AWG vs 30AWG) while still being considerably thinner than traditional twisted pair cable. I've not had a single issue with these and I would HIGHLY recommend them. They also transmit the light from etherlighting switches pretty well. The only thing to be aware of is the little plastic release can sometimes get pulled over the top of the ramp (same problem demonstrated during this video with the monoprice ones) but that's easy enough to correct.
I once wasted a week troubleshooting what I thought was a network configuration error that turned out to be a partially working flat "cat 8" ethernet cable. Even worse, I had replaced it with a new one during the process and that one was also bad.
I have been using the Monoprice Thinline cables professionally and personally for years. There great. I would recommend them to anyone.
The new Monoprice slim run "component level" ones are pretty nice, too!
Perfectly valid points, and I agree with you. But also the way you wrap your cables can also solve a lot of tangle problems, ask any good roadie.
Overworked and underpaid… ;)
Bi-Directional data transfer rates at different power levels and counting any transfer errors is the way to test these thin wire cables.
I’ve had the flat cables fail frequently as well. Even over time in low touch spots such as AP deployments and hung ceilings. Steer clear of them.
I use the monprice ones and they have been nice . Love the color and length choices
I like the ones you do, I also for customers will also use Cable Matters and Amazon Basics in addition to Monoprice because not everything available in the US is available here in Canada and/or a decent price because of the 30-40% exchange rate
Monoprice every time. And they look great.
Color coding is a must. Not even sure if there's a common scheme out there but we just set one up and ran with it. Still need to label (and labeling cables is another topic) but being able to see at a glance what traffic goes through a given cable is nice. At least until someone runs out of blue and grabs a gray...
There is not any universal standard, but yes we do color code rack setups and then document them.
Monoprice:
They have a good warranty on their cables. Had a really low failure rate on their patch cables. (Wasnt worth shipping them back, had maybe 30-60 cables out of some 12000 that has issues over 5 years.)
I bought these cables prior to your recommendation... sorry about that. What are your favorite keystone jacks for patch panels?
The Cable Matters ones are fine amzn.to/3B1Yd9p
I have been using monoprice 0.5m cables as well as Ubiquity ones.
I just placed an order for a pack of 35 etherlight cables for my max switches
If you have structured cabling that are almost 100m long, Good (sometimes bulky) patch cable is needed, actually all connectors need to be properly terminated also to pass TDR FEXT and NEXT test, some place may need screened (shielded) patch cable.
Personally I don't like very short cable, the shortest one for me usually around 0.5m, shorter than that the only way it usable is your switch is directly below or above the patch panel and align almost perfectly to switch ports, which usually not the case for large installations that may need chassis switch or 2RU switch. Also I usually don't place the switch directly under/over patch because the back of switch may damage patch connections during installation and maintenance.
Thank you for your return of experience.
nnoooo why does this video come out 2 days after I ordered a bunch of cables haha
Monoprices snagless molded strain relief is afaik a copy of the better, more pliable Cables2Go version. I usually recommend cables2go for more price sensitive jobs, otherwise I use certified vendors with warranty.
Interesting video. I've been a fan of the slim Ethernet cables for a while now. A tip for coiling cables is to use the "Roadie Wrap" method, this ensure they un-coil a lot neater. it's hard to describe in words but you alternate overhand and underhand coiling. Plenty of videos out there that shows the technique. I use this for long Ethernet cables, coax cables, power extension cables... even garden hoses!
Recently i had an install with about 400 15cm etherlightning cables and to unpack these is way more difficult as the 50-pack 15cm white regular ones. They come in a bag in 10s wrapped with small strip
I switched all of our racks to slim cables and dear god is it so much nicer.
Great video idea… and great learning. Wow thanks a lot!
On my rack I prefer cat6a s/ftp patch leads between my patch panel and switch. They can be a little stiff, and they are a little longer than I would prefer due to their bend radius, but I like having shielding there. Is that over the top?
Unless you are in some odd environment with lots of electromagnetic interference you don't need shielding.
I'm wondering if the plastic on the Ubiquiti Cable will get "sticky" after a couple of years? Is it that type of coating on them?
oooh those Monoprice cables look great!
Been using the slim MonoPrice cables for years. I don't believe they can be beat.
the monoprice cables are great!
I've had success with the FiberStore slim cables that look similar to those Monoprice ones; my only complaint is that they need to sell the 6" version in bulk packaged bundles of - let's say - 48, because tearing opening 48 individual plastic baggies is not exactly my idea of a good time. (Edit: what do you know, it looks like they've already started selling 24 packs that appear to come in a single bag, so maybe, problem solved?)
In terms of eth cables, I normally run with ugreen. Yeah their stuff can be pricey at times but I've only ever had one eth cable fail on me but that was from my missuse of the cable.
Their other stuff is good too imo. Depending on the cable that I need, ill flip between anker and ugreen
I've liked Triplite 28AWG cables and Rapink 28AWG from Amazon. Our work used CXTec slim Cat6 and they work great too but pricier.
I have used those from cisco, the flat one and they suck. At least cisco covers them if they break which they will quickly. I changed over to a "whatever cable deal i can get cheap that works"
in my personal experience, all I care about in patch cables is a good availability of several colors and those snagless connectors. I can't live with the broken clips and insufficient color coding! 😁
Need to try and find some great British alternatives.
There is reason why cables are round..The flat cables although look cool, they are not electromagnic interfrence which is a lot in a rack.
Great reviewer, thanks for sharing.
Was hoping to hear shield vs unshielded discussion.
Shielded is so rarely needed.
Thanks for an interesting video about something I would have never considered important before watching. I am BRAND NEW to this kind of stuff but I would like to build out a ubiquity network to replace my existing Orbi mesh system. Do you have any content that you would recommend for beginners? I am currently considering a system with 2-3 APs (I currently have Eufy cameras but I'd like to switch to POE cams with better resolution), and add some hard-wired access for smart TVs/home office). Thanks again!!
I really like the UniFi line of products.
@@LAWRENCESYSTEMS That's great to know. Have you ever created any kind of a video covering the basics for a home network? Thanks for your reply!!
Is making your own at the time you need it still a thing?
not for like .5 to like 5m you would just be wasting you time with those, your labour would equal more than just buying premade cables
With the current cost of labor, cheaper to buy.
Newbie questions.
When talking about patch cable versus ethernet cable, are they the same thing or patch are meant to be short and only patch from switch to switch? Are Cat 5e/6/6a patch cables just another name for cat 5e/6/6a ethernet cable.
If they are different, can I still use them to
1) connect my pcs, nas or even ethernet printer with long cables?
2) run into wall and/or suspended ceiling to get to poe/poe+ AP?
Also, are ubiquiti cables good reliable durable cables comparable to your preferred ones?
patch cable is a non-standardized term for "short ethernet cable".
They are used to bridge a switch to a patch panel. Eeach port of the patch panel will go to a cable that goes to an ethernet port somewhere in the building, may be very far.
Given how short they are and the fact that they are inside a rack, their Cat rating can be whatever and it's not that relevant.
Its all the same thing. There isn't technically such a thing as an 'ethernet' cable because ethernet is a communications standard. Patch cables are named that way to differentiate them from crossover cables that look identical but you don't have to worry about that because they aren't used anymore. For POE applications I personally prefer to use the larger commercial grade cabling that uses 23awg wires instead of the very small 28 or 30awg wires that thin cables use. For a single access point the thin cables are probably fine because POE is relatively high voltage and most access points don't use a lot of power. I just prefer to use cabling I know is rated for power.
@@grasstreefarmer thanks for the clarification. I've always used standard large 23 awg caliber ethernet cables from regular brick and mortar stores. I've always called them ethernet cable regardless if they were crimped regular or reversed, for connecting devices to device / router / switch, or to pass in walls.
I've only recently started to watch UA-cam video on networking and heard the term patch cable. Almost got me confused. All clear now thanks you.
I'm so happy 23 years ago I had the brilliant idea to pass a cat 5e cable from the 2nd floor to the basement just in case when the house was built. I can now hardwire 2 AP at 1Ge , one in the basement and one on the 2nd floor for full Wi-Fi coverage.
Patch cable = short cables used for patchbays, which comes from early analogue telecoms originally.
The generic usage has carried over into the music, AV and IT worlds as a term for short cables used to 'patch' from one device/switch/port to another.
Spot on.
Monoprice Cat6 SlimRun Series 👍
I am not thinking about the Roman Empire, I am thinking about patch cables
dude, my hands have gone raw from unpacking stacks of individually wrapped cables, the worst.
I build my own 😊
arguments a bit kinda stretched.
- I have an flat cable, which caring POE++ as well on 2.5G speed to my AP's. No problems so far for 4 years, easy to stick it to any surface and stack them if needed. I doesn't had a problem with scissors, as i never tried to cut them tho.... so they working fine.
- for some reason, Ubiquity cables were not ashamed for being thin, however they could be cut as easy as flat cables. Boomer for me...
- and there was no cut test for more bulkier cables.
Jokes aside, the whole topic is a question of taste and particular application.
While we’re on the topic of cables, does anyone here have any recommendations for USB-C cables that don’t tangle easily? (Bonus points if they might offer faster data-transfer speeds than plain ol’ USB2.)
I have replaced all my USB cables with Anker ones amzn.to/3ZE9p5e
I'm the weirdo in the bunch who prefers the more substantial Cat6a cables 😋😋
The reason for the thicker cables is shielding. The thinner the cable, the less of it there is. I know from my work with electricians that certain cables are required by the electric code to have certain levels of shielding and I'm pretty sure ethernet cables are included but I'd have to check the book. Aren't there situations where certain builds require the thicker cables? Also, with these thin cables, is there any risk of interference with them being so close to each other?
ethernet can run for many meters with no shielding because the wires inside are twisted on each other, the "twisted pairs".
It's called common mode rejection. Shielding may help but I'm most cases not needed. And, to my knowledge, no electrical code requires it. Besides most electrical code doesn't involve low voltage stuff. Fire code is another story.
@@marcogenovesi8570 The shielding would be to protect from interference from other electrical sources like other cables, not data loss over distance.
@@glynnetolar4423 The electrical code is part of the fire code. The NFPA(National Fire Protection Association) is the organization that publishes the code. Also, if there was no reason to have shielded ethernet it wouldn't exist, but it does and there are several types depending on the shielding needs.
@@UnknownICECUBE none of the cables in the video are shielded. Shielded Ethernet cables have metal on the connectors
I don't get why no one can make DAC and fiber cables short like that...
Nice informative vids!
Check out ugreen n vention cables pls. Let us know what you think abt them!
We here 😊
I thought anything less than 1M cables could cause interference and/or crosstalk?
Nope, that is a myth that get's repeated often.
the flat cables always break the clip after a few insertions, I'm not a fan of those
Yeah... i bought a few, and I dropped them out very fast...
Never had that issue but YMMV.
I own some of the thin Monoprice cables. The rubbery ramp boot piece constantly gets stuck under the plastic clip used to release the cable, making the cables a complete pain in the ass to use. It’s a terrible design. I won’t be buying any more of them.
Use a bunch of minor price thin cables and they work perfect. Poe, Poe ++, etc. no issue.
No. Red NEVER means AP's. Red is for external, un-firewalled connections. Something in an insecure domain.
Meh, I thought it was for alarm systems. 😂
I use red to indicate the color of the fluid they'll be seeing of they mess with the cable
Kordz!
Learn how to wrap cables properly, try over under method.
We like vertical cable at my Michigan based msp
Greetings fellow Michigander.
@ greeetings from south east Michigan! Troy/rochester
Ubiquiti cables are unreliable in my experience
I think all these cables share one problem: they lack metal tips and will fail certification tests. A missing ground can also cause other strange problems. I am using Leoni MegaLine or Metz Connect cables. Their only downside is that they do not come in very short lengths, requiring extra cable management. For a perfect fit, get a patchbox.
Cringe: wrapping the cable around your hand.
And yet it still works.
I’m sure it still works, but taking the extra time to wrap it properly leads to less knotting and entanglement
monster high fidelity Ethernet patch cables are what the pros use.
I don't really understand why people, especially in North America are using unshielded cables.
I usually just buy the cheap minopr8ce. They work great.