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anyone have experience with the slim ethernet cabling? I see a lot of atricles stating they are limited to around 30ft. Does this footage include the in-wall cat6 run from Patch panel to Desk drop? For example, if I have a 10ft slim and a 100ft in-wall run, will this not work?

Notes these two articles state not to use them for horizontal or backbone cabling..So even though a cheap tester may say its fine, not sure if its worth the risk.

https://community.fs.com/blog/the-slimmer-the-better-4-faqs-for-using-slim-patch-cables.html https://community.fs.com/blog/horizontal-cabling-vs-backbone-cabling.html

CableMeThisBatman
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  • Did it get tested and pass the category test suite? – Ron Maupin Feb 28 '23 at 16:12
  • The in-wall runs are tested and working fine, tested by third party and we tested a few oursleves with a cable tester of amazon. Just concerned if adding a slim in the "chain" adds the limitation across then entire run from endpoint to switch. – CableMeThisBatman Feb 28 '23 at 16:30
  • Did you test to the category suite? See [this answer](https://networkengineering.stackexchange.com/a/42697/8499) for the required basic tests. I think you only did a wire map with a cheap "tester." It takes a lot more than simple electrical connectivity. – Ron Maupin Feb 28 '23 at 16:59
  • Ok, I can see if i can do that. Just seeing if others have used slims before...any caveats. – CableMeThisBatman Feb 28 '23 at 17:07
  • If it passes all the required category test suite, then it should work correctly. That is the point of all those tests. – Ron Maupin Feb 28 '23 at 17:43

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As per IEEE 802.3 Ethernet specifications, 1000BASE-T allows a maximum of 90m solid-core (panel-to-wall) cable plus a maximum total of 10m stranded path cable, all category 5 or better.

Given that "slim" cable is stranded, anything beyond 10m is outside the standard and any answers would be opinion based (explicitly off topic here). If the terminated cable is certified, then yes, up to 10m/33ft (including closet patching) should really work.

Exceeding the standards may quickly leave you in shallow water, depending on the exact cable type, the type and quality of its termination, your environment (in regard to side-by-side deployment and crosstalk), and even the weather (no kidding). Category 6 provides you with some more headroom above cat 5, but there's only so much.

One general caveat with slim patch cable is PoE. IEEE 802.3at upwards ("PoE+" and "4PPoE") limit the maximum for serial pair-to-pair resistance to 12.5 Ohms - you can easily exceed that with a not-so-short run of slim cable which often uses 32AWG or worse. It becomes critical with a power requirement beyond 5-8 Watts and more than 3m. Make sure you evaluate your use case before deploying.

Zac67
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