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RJ45 Color Coding

This document discusses color-code standards for Ethernet cables. There are two common standards - EIA/TIA 568A and EIA/TIA 568B. These standards define the color order of the wires in an RJ-45 connector. Straight-through cables follow one standard, while crossover cables switch the green and orange pair to follow the other standard. Proper twisting of wire pairs is important for network cables to work correctly.

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Paul Yarcia
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956 views3 pages

RJ45 Color Coding

This document discusses color-code standards for Ethernet cables. There are two common standards - EIA/TIA 568A and EIA/TIA 568B. These standards define the color order of the wires in an RJ-45 connector. Straight-through cables follow one standard, while crossover cables switch the green and orange pair to follow the other standard. Proper twisting of wire pairs is important for network cables to work correctly.

Uploaded by

Paul Yarcia
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOC, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

COLOR-CODE STANDARDS

Last updated: 8/9/2004

Again, please bear with me... Let's start with simple pin-out diagrams of the two
types of UTP Ethernet cables and watch how committees can make a can of
worms out of them. Here are the diagrams:

Note that the TX (transmitter) pins are connected to corresponding RX (receiver)


pins, plus to plus and minus to minus. And that you must use a crossover cable
to connect units with identical interfaces. If you use a straight-through cable, one
of the two units must, in effect, perform the cross-over function.

Two wire color-code standards apply: EIA/TIA 568A and EIA/TIA 568B. The
codes are commonly depicted with RJ-45 jacks as follows (the view is from the
front of the jacks):

If we apply the 568A color code and show all eight wires, our pin-out looks like
this:
Note that pins 4, 5, 7, and 8 and the blue and brown pairs are not used in either
standard. Quite contrary to what you may read elsewhere, these pins and wires
are not used or required to implement 100BASE-TX duplexing--they are just plain
wasted.

However, the actual cables are not physically that simple. In the diagrams, the
orange pair of wires are not adjacent. The blue pair is upside-down. The right
ends match RJ-45 jacks and the left ends do not. If, for example, we invert the
left side of the 568A "straight"-thru cable to match a 568A jack--put one 180 twist
in the entire cable from end-to-end--and twist together and rearrange the
appropriate pairs, we get the following can-of-worms:

This further emphasizes, I hope, the importance of the word "twist" in making
network cables which will work. You cannot use a flat-untwisted telephone cable
for a network cable. Furthermore, you must use a pair of twisted wires to
connect a set of transmitter pins to their corresponding receiver pins. You cannot
use a wire from one pair and another wire from a different pair.

Keeping the above principles in mind, we can simplify the diagram for a 568A
straight-thru cable by untwisting the wires, except the 180 twist in the entire
cable, and bending the ends upward. Likewise, if we exchange the green and
orange pairs in the 568A diagram we will get a simplified diagram for a 568B
straight-thru cable. If we cross the green and orange pairs in the 568A diagram
we will arrive at a simplified diagram for a crossover cable. All three are shown
below.

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