Ethernet boot covers

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luckylinux

Limp Gawd
Joined
Mar 19, 2012
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I would like to know if you can apply some boot covers (the colored ends that protect the fragile plastic "lever") to an already built Ethernet / RJ45 cable.

My guess would be "no" but I was thinking of cutting the boot along its length, put the cable in it, glue the boot cover and heat it in order to rebuild it (or melt it "correctly").

Did any of you have any experience on this kind of work or do you think it's impossible?
Cables including boot covers are like ~5x more expensive and the boot cover in itself it's not that all expensive (~80$ for 1000 or even less).

Or is there some (cheap :D) other alternative?
 
Get all of your cables at monoprice.com you can get a 10ft cat6 with boot cover for $2.11 + Shipping.
 
Anything's possible.
What you're proposing should work, but....
It might be less work/money to buy components and make your own cables.
 
QQ~ said:
Get all of your cables at monoprice.com you can get a 10ft cat6 with boot cover for $2.11 + Shipping.
Click to expand...

Sorry but this doesn't really answer my question.
Indeed prices are very attractive, however I would still have to pay:
- VAT + duties (~10-20% depending on weigth)
- Shipping ~ 40$ (for 1 cable, more may need higher shipping because of weight)

So it's not that attractive after all.
A CAT6 2m (~ 6.5 ft) cable here goes for around 2.5$ (without boot cover unfortunately).
Can't beat this price too much if you factor in VAT, duties and shipping ...
 
rays87turbo said:
Anything's possible.
What you're proposing should work, but....
It might be less work/money to buy components and make your own cables.
Click to expand...

You mean that creating an Ethernet cable from scratch may need less work than "just" adding a boot cover?
About money I'm not so sure ... I once bought a 100m Ethernet CAT6 cable for 190$ although that was a few years ago. Once you factor in the other components I think it doesn't change that much ...
My favorite reseller now sells it for 90$ / 100 meters (or even 200 $ / 300 meters) so it went down. Still that's only grey :eek: no colors :(

I need a whole bunch of cables for a server / router build. I was thinking of buying pre-built cables but you make make wonder ... Still it's a lot of work to build them from scratch I suppose. Not really difficult and many tutorials are available on the net ...
 
luckylinux said:
...but I was thinking of cutting the boot along its length, put the cable in it, glue the boot cover and heat it in order to rebuild it (or melt it "correctly").
Click to expand...

luckylinux said:
Still it's a lot of work to build them from scratch I suppose.
Click to expand...

I've built a few cables. I think the first process you proposed sounds like a lot more work than building them from scratch.
 
I would second building your own cables. Bulk ethernet cable is SUPER cheap (At least here in Canada). A few years ago I got something like 250 feet of Cat5e for $40 or so. RJ-45 connectors were like $0.25 each, and boot covers can be had for a similar price. Not the highest quality cable certainly, but still good quality and a great price at the time.

These days you can get 1000 feet of bulk Cat6 for like $100-200 in some places.

Making the cable itself is easy, though if you don't do it a lot, it can be a little time consuming.

If you have some large pre-existing cable runs that will be very annoying to re-run, then sure, you can try "cutting" the boot cover and gluing it back on, but that does indeed sound like just as much work as just making a new cable, one that you can be sure the boot covers will last.
 
Better question is why do you want boot covers? Most usually just cause more issues than they are suppose to solve. I.E. not able to fit 2 side by side, can't depress the locking tab, etc.

Only reason they exist is to prevent snagging the locking tab when pulling the cable, but really how often does this become an issue for people?
 
To add boot covers, you have to cut off at least one end then add the jack connector back on. So, it's 1/2 of the work of making a new cable from scratch.
 
hate boot covers, especially the ones that become hard over time, makes it almost impossible to get them out of a switch without a screwdriver.
 
I wanted to use boot covers to protect the locking tab. I already had a few locking tabs snap off one (or both) end of the cable. It's true it's rather rare that they break though ...
The cables should be used in a rack to connect servers or switch between them. In this case boot covers might indeed be more trouble than the advantage they bring since once in place it shouldn't be touched at all ...

Bulk CAT6 shielded cable can be had around here (as said before) for down to ~ 0.5 $ / meter. No color is available though (and I have lots of cables to route). For instance a 2m CAT6 cable with RJ45 connectors but no boots it's around 2$. If you put this into perspective it's true that building your own cables is cheaper.
 
No.

Make your own, or buy new ones.

You have to crimp boots on when you're making the cable otherwise it's not going on.
 
Just easier to replace the end with the missing tab. Cut the end off, crimp a new one on (optionally adding boots if you swing that way), test, back in business.
My guess is less time spent cutting, glueing, melting- and a much better product.
 
m1abram said:
Better question is why do you want boot covers? Most usually just cause more issues than they are suppose to solve. I.E. not able to fit 2 side by side, can't depress the locking tab, etc.

Only reason they exist is to prevent snagging the locking tab when pulling the cable, but really how often does this become an issue for people?
Click to expand...

So if I use these cables in a switch and normally I should never pull them out of it, cables without boot covers may even be better? Maybe then in my case boot covers are not needed at all ...
 
Yep, most switches do not have the space between ports to support bulky boots, which are pretty much the only boot types that can be installed DIY.
 
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