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I’m looking for a CAT5 network cable with RJ45 connectors. It needs to have good strain relief to handle repeated bending. The bending occurs just behind the connector. The cable is installed in a machine operated by a person, so the number of bends isn’t excessive—perhaps around a hundred times per day.
I did some searching on you site and fund this cable, is it suitable or is there a better one?
I’m also try to attaching a picture to help you get a better understanding of the setup.
Hello peter.davidsson, welcome to the DigiKey TechForum. The E507003 010S1 is a RJ45 cable with plugs on both ends. It is listed as cat5 but I don’t see anything that calls out a strain relief that are you looking for. We do have some other options with a strain relief found HERE. These are all rated for cat5 or greater and come in a variety of lengths, the length parameter can be found at the top of the search page to narrow down the results.
@peter.davidsson Looking at the cable in your included photo, the ethernet cable is a standard ethernet cable. For the environment and use case that you describe, you may want to consider using an industrial environment ethernet. Here are options that we carry.
Make sure the Cable is made with PUR ( Polyurethane ) or TPE ( Thermoplastic Elastomer )
I would consider 100 bends per day a rather high frequency for any network cable. Considering that bend frequency, in addition to using one of the cables offered above with integrated strain relief, one might also consider adding heat shrink tubing if you think you might need some extra reinforcement.
Use of flex-friendly cabling and added strain relief are all good ideas, though I suspect that the next-weakest link would soon show itself, that being the RJ45 connector itself; it’s not really meant to stand up to any significant stress passed on through the cable.
I’d suggest looking in to the possibility of replacing the whole connector system with something more like one of these, which can pass mechanical stresses from the housing to the cabling directly, without it going through the RJ connector body. They’ll also provide better protection against airborne factory schmoo.
Pointers to mating connectors/cabling/etc. are generally found at the bottom of the respective product pages.
@Steven_14444 Thanks for good advices. Found this cable 2181-523359-3-ND
It sees like a good cable, it has Polyurethane jacket as you mentioned and it is stranded to make it more flexible and bendresistent if I understand it correctly. It’s also mentioned in the datasheet that it’s for motion applications.
