Splicing CAT5 Cable

If you absolutely have to splice, have 2 suggestions;

1. Cut the wire at each end of the damaged section.
Install female Cat 5 connectors on each of the free ends.
Make a custom cable to bridge the distance.

2. Cut the wire.
Place a 9" length of 3/8" heat shrink tubing over the wire.
Peel the jacket back 6".
Stagger cut the wires so that the ends are 1" away from each other.
Strip 1/2" of each wire.
Prepare the splice wire with a mirrored cut pattern.
Slide a 1" long piece of 1/8", or smaller, heat shrink over each wire.
Overlap the ends of the wires, twist the sets of wires together, (5 or 6 twists) and solder the splices. (Use a 25 - 40 Watt iron, and electronics grade solder)
Slide the small heat shrink tubes over the soldered splices.
Shrink the tubing.
Twist the wires, (in the same direction as, and at about the same twists per inch as the cable) and place the large tubing over the bundle.
Shrink the large tubing.

You can also check and see if Black Box, or L-Comm has splicing kits.

As an old electronics tech, I hate crimp type splices. A soldered and sealed splice is always the most reliable connection.

Chas

Another option (a variation on Option 1 in Answer 1): place RJ45 male connectors at the free ends and connect them with quality Data Couplers (this maybe what TheChas was alluding to).

Just a thought, but if you have more than 1 damaged location, physically splicing the wires could turn into a long, painful process (especialy if you aren't experienced with soldering). I'm not sure that any potential signal loss experienced from a physical splice would be any different than using a qualityData Coupler. I will defer there to TheChas and his electronics experience.