On Sunday 06 November 2005 01:56 pm, James Knott wrote:
Ypu also need to make sure any bends are just that and not acute kinks. If you have to go round a corner make sure the cable takes the longest possible route to do so. i.e make it a long sweeping curve rather than a 90 degree angle. cat5(e) cable can be very easily damaged yet you wouldn't know it by looking at it.
While the above is true, it's not relevant to the question.
I would consider the need to provide extra cabling around corners (an increase in length) relevant to the question regarding length.
Why not? We don't know the full in's and out's of the question. We have been asked the maximum length of a network cable. Ok, but how many network cables actually run from point A to point B without any turns? Not many. So any bends really do need to be taken into account as they will cause a degradation of signal if they are not taken into account properly. It may seem silly but I have actually experienced a cable near to its theoretical maximum length that failed sending a signal. We took some rather sharp bends (not kinks or we would have changed the cable entirely) out and hey presto, full signal to a workstation.
He asked distance in a general sense. Tight turns and such are installation details not maximum lengths. A properly installed cable should not affect the maximum distance.
If the OP needed the answer for a test, he now has that information and some additional information that will be of little use (and no harm) to him. If the OP is going to do something in the real world, the additional information may help. It is the additional information that makes this forum so useful. -- Louis Richards