CAT5E Quick-Feed RJ45 Connector – Pass-Through for Easy Install (PLG-R45-CAT5-EAS)

This is an unshielded pass-through RJ45 plug for Cat5e cable. It fits solid or stranded round cable, 23 to 26 AWG, with a jacket under 6.5 mm. The eight conductors slide in the back of the plug and out the front, so you check the color order by eye before the crimp tool trims them flush and closes the contacts. The channels hold the pairs straight and in line rather than staggered, and a strain relief bar closes around the jacket with the crimp. The one-piece housing is clear polycarbonate, and the contacts are 3-prong copper alloy with 50 µin of gold, so they bite on stranded conductors as well as solid. It's UL rated and good for 1,200 mating cycles, and it comes in packs of 25, 50, and 100 for making Cat5e patch cords to length. For Cat6 cable, the PLG-R45-CAT6-EAS is the same plug in the Cat6 version; for the EZ-RJ45 pass-through plug for Cat5e, the PLG-EZ45-C5U.

Features

• Pass-through. Conductors feed through the front of the plug so the wiring order is verified before the crimp.
• For solid or stranded round Cat5e, 23 to 26 AWG. Cable OD under 6.5 mm.
• In-line channels. Pairs sit straight across, not staggered.
• Strain relief bar. Closes around the jacket with the crimp.
• One-piece clear housing. Polycarbonate, UL94V-2; no separate insert.
• 3-prong gold-plated contacts. 8P8C, copper alloy blades, 50 µin gold.
• UL rated. 250 V AC at 2 A; 20 lb cable-to-plug tensile strength; 1,200 mating cycles.
• Packs of 25, 50, and 100.

Where It Fits

It suits structured cabling crews terminating Cat5e to plugs for the cameras, phones, access points, and point-of-sale gear that still run on Gigabit, data center and network techs making Cat5e patch cords to length and tired of cutting off plugs with two conductors swapped, security and AV installers who put a plug on the end of a run in the ceiling and can't afford a second trip up the ladder, telecom and datacom installers who want one Cat5e plug for every job in the truck, and a job that already has the bulk Cat5e, a pass-through RJ45 crimp tool, the boots, and the keystone jacks from the copper collections. For the boot, the BOT-R45-58 for cable up to 6.0 mm or the BOT-R45-68 for cable up to 6.8 mm; for Cat6 cable, the PLG-R45-CAT6-EAS; for the EZ-RJ45 version, the PLG-EZ45-C5U.

Good to Know

A pass-through plug needs a pass-through crimp tool, the kind with a blade at the front of the die that shears the conductors flush with the plug face as it crimps. A standard RJ45 tool closes the contacts but leaves the ends sticking out, where they short against each other or the jack. Check the face after every crimp and make sure no copper stands proud. Measure the cable before ordering: this plug is for 23 to 26 AWG conductors and a jacket under 6.5 mm, which covers most Cat5e patch and bulk cable, and 28 AWG slim cable is too thin for it to hold. Strip the jacket, untwist only as much as it takes to lay the eight conductors flat in T568B order, feed them through until the jacket is under the strain relief bar, confirm the order on the far side, then crimp; the bar is what gives the cord its pull strength, so don't strip so long that the bar closes on bare pairs. The boot goes on the cable before the plug, not after. The housing has no shield shell, so this is for unshielded cable; shielded cable needs a shielded pass-through plug. In-line channels mean the conductors have to be flat and in order going in; if one rides up over its neighbor, back it out and re-lay the row rather than forcing it.

Specifications

Usually ships the same day.