Cat5 question - I can hammer goods

[Madman]

Was finishing up the wiring in my basement this weekend and one of the last tasks was to run data.

Long story short, when I was hammering a staple into a floor joist to secure the Cat5, I awesomely missed the staple and totally hit the cable instead. The cable is visibly flatter where I hit it, but I have no idea if I've totally destroyed the cable internally or not.

So, am I screwed and should rip it out and replace it? Or can they withstand something like this without destroying the copper?

Of course this wasn't some short little run, this is across the basement as far as I could go, so I'd really rather not have to redo it if I don't have to.

[Envitro]

If it's flatter all that could mean is that the wires are flattened out instead of being in twisted pairs. I would think you're OK but I would use a ethernet tester if you have one to see if it's working or not. Maybe just connect a device to your hub/switch and plug it in to the end and see what happens. If it doesn't work then re-run the cable

[Hack&Lube]

If you didn't puncture the exterior shealth, it should still work. All the internal wires are also wrapped and extremely tight in twisted pairs.

What you might lose however, is speed. There is no real difference between ethernet cables (CAT5, CAT6, etc.) except that the wires inside have more twist.

The twist is neccessary to cancel the electromagnetic interference etc. that degrades speed. If you've squashed everything, the electrons will still flow but the interference and noise will degrade the speed of the cable.

Interestingly, if you make your own cables, custom crimp them to different lengths, have an electrician mess around with them, etc. you'll potentially turn your certified CAT6 into CAT5 or less because you can't twist the wires back to the degree and tolerances that they need to be at by hand.

[Rathji]

Assuming there is a connection like Envitro mentioned, there likely isn't anything to be concerned about.

However, you might get a slightly reduced transfer rate over that cable if one of the wires is slightly pinched or they are lined up in a manner which increases crosstalk between the wires, so if you are using it for a extremely data intensive task, you might want to rerun it, but hardly a certainty. There is, of course, the chance that a pinched or damaged wire could later break.

If it was me, I would do an additional pull and just leave it there without terminating it, or add an extra outlet, in case it breaks. Can never have too many connections, especially if it will be anywhere near a TV or computer Of course that depends on how much cable you have.

[Madman]

Thanks for the replies guys.

The ends are not terminated currently, so a quick test of some variety isn't really the easiest thing right now.

I guess the safest thing to do is make another run beside it and have 1 good one for sure.