Crossover Cable Wiring Pinout and Diagram

A crossover cable also known as "Xover cable" follows the T568A scheme at one end, and T568B scheme at the other. This effectively crosses over the connections between transmit and receive pins.

Crossover Pinout Configuration

	Pin	T568A		T568B	Pin
TX+	1				1	TX+
TX-	2				2	TX-
RX+	3				3	RX+
	4				4
	5				5
RX-	6				6	RX-
	7				7
	8				8

• Pin 3 (RX +) connects to pin 1 (TX +)
• Pin 6 (RX –) connects to pin 2 (TX –)
• Pin 1 (TX +) connects to pin 3 (RX +)
• Pin 2 (TX –) connects to pin 6 (RX –)

Used For

Used for making back-to-back connections between two similar interfaces or pieces of communications equipment.

Used for connecting similar network communications equipment that does not have crossover or uplink ports.

• Hub to hub
• Router to router / between two routers
• Switch to switch / between switches
• For computer to computer
• PC to PC

Example use

If you were building a home network for transferring files between two computers, then a crossover cable connected to their network interface cards would facilitate the communication.

If you needed to network two computers, such as laptop-to-laptop file sharing, then providing they both have RJ45 interfaces, you could use a crossover cable for data communications.

Modern operating systems such as Windows 7 provide very simple and easy to use software for data communication between two computers.

How to identify a crossover cable

• Such a cable has letters marked on the sockets. One end marked with "A" and the other end "B".
• Such a cable may have a yellow jacket.
• Visual side-by-side comparison of the colour sequence reveals green and orange pairs reversed.

Buy

These cables are readily and cheaply available from many online sources such as eBay, Amazon, and Maplin.

These days, the cost of the connectors, wires, and time, works out more expensive than a ready-made wire.

Instead of making your own using a crimping tool, it is more economical to buy machine manufactured ones. The ones with rubber-moulded plugs will be far more robust.

This Article Continues...