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Cat 5 cable colour coding

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by dreaded mahn Apr 16, 2002 last reply Apr 21, 2002 1 view

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Could anyone tell me what each wire on a Cat 5 cable is for. I know the colour coding but I'd like to know the purpose of each wire.

5 replies

by hughesm1 Apr 16, 2002

Pin 1 is receive+, 2 is receive-, 3 is transmit+ & 6 is transmit-. 4, 5, 7 and 8 aren't used in standard Cat 5 applications, they are used in the Cat5e (GigE) standard for full-duplex communication. Also on standard Cat5 applications using a CiscoCatalyst switch that is inline-power enabled, I believe it is pins 7 and 8 that are used to supply power to devices such as VoIP phones.