Nope. Been there, done that. At least for the Leviton connectors, the Cat5E connectors do not work well with Cat6 cable. The tolerances are close enough that the greater thickness of the wire will break the connector. I accidently ordered the wrong connectors on a Cat6 job, and couldn't figure out why I was so fumble-fingered all of a sudden. I was breaking connectors left and right until I figured out the goof.
Keystones and Wallplates
- Thread starter felixrosbergen
- Start date
PaulD
Active Member
Interesting. Although I have not tried 23ga Cat6 wire in a Cat5e device, Cat5e specs say that components should work with 22-24ga wire. Performance may vary by brand.
beelzerob
Senior Member
STAY AWAY!
Monoprice rocks on most things, but not their keystones. That is, assuming you're talking about their "toolless" cat5 and cat6 connectors. They're far from toolless, and even farther from easy to work with. The simple leviton cat5 keystones I bought a while ago at Lowes were a lot easier to use.
If you can get a keystone that you actually punch down in, I think you'll be happier. With those monoprice ones, you have to line up all the wires, and then close the keystone to get it to clamp onto the wires. Very annoying. I'm using mine just because I paid for 'em, and they DO work....but they are a pain, in my opinion.
Monoprice rocks on most things, but not their keystones. That is, assuming you're talking about their "toolless" cat5 and cat6 connectors. They're far from toolless, and even farther from easy to work with. The simple leviton cat5 keystones I bought a while ago at Lowes were a lot easier to use.
If you can get a keystone that you actually punch down in, I think you'll be happier. With those monoprice ones, you have to line up all the wires, and then close the keystone to get it to clamp onto the wires. Very annoying. I'm using mine just because I paid for 'em, and they DO work....but they are a pain, in my opinion.
beelzerob
Senior Member
Heh...well, that's always the battle. How much is your time worth? The monoprice keystones are a pain to wire...but once wired, they appear to work just fine. Because of that, and since I'm a cheap SOB, I'm going to suffer through these ones I bought instead of chucking 'em. Of course, I also bought a new ez-rj45 crimper to make that experience easier, and now I swear by it, sooo....
Depends on how many of these you have to do (how much $$$) vs how much time.
Depends on how many of these you have to do (how much $$$) vs how much time.
Neurorad
Senior Member
I've put a lot of pressure, with a screwdriver, on the Leviton keystone insert tabs (multiple times), removing the keystones from the plates, and I haven't broken one yet. Very reliable, well made. Solid stuff. Plates haven't cracked yet, either (unlike most other wall plates I touch - dunno, maybe I'm learning).
