Rugged RJ45 IP68 Military Ethernet Cable

Overview

A rugged military cable of this type takes a standard RJ45 Ethernet channel and makes it survivable outside a rack. Cat6 or Cat6A S/FTP construction with foil on each pair and an overall braid, ruggedized RJ45 plugs with metal locking boots, and a PUR drag-chain jacket that laughs at oil and works in the cold. The sealing is the part people misread: IP68 applies to a mated pair, so the plugs on this cable only seal when they are coupled to a matching ruggedized receptacle. One end into an office-grade socket and you have an ordinary patch cord with a very tough jacket.

Key Specifications

What IP68 does and does not cover

Two letters and a number carry more misunderstanding than anything else on a datasheet. The code describes a mated assembly under defined conditions, and the depth and duration are supposed to be stated by whoever specifies it rather than implied by the number. Read the table below before you write an ingress requirement into a drawing.

Cat6 or Cat6A: buy the bandwidth you will actually use

Cat6A costs more, is stiffer and has a larger bend radius, and there is no point paying for it on a 1 Gbit/s link. There is equally no point specifying Cat6 on a channel that has to carry 10 Gbit/s over any real distance. Category 6 and 6A are defined over a 100 m channel; the table is the practical version.

Stranded or solid, and why a patch cord is not a permanent link

Stranded conductors are what you want in anything that moves or gets re-plugged: they survive flexing where solid conductor work-hardens and snaps. The trade is that stranded has slightly higher resistance, and the structured cabling standards treat patch cords as a limited part of the channel budget rather than as an extension of the permanent link. If you are running 30 m to a camera on a mast, tell us the whole channel and we will tell you whether it fits rather than selling you the longest cord we make.

Where this cable dies on a vehicle or a machine

Construction

• Four foil-screened pairs with an overall tinned copper braid, drain wire terminated.
• Ruggedized RJ45 plugs with metal locking boots and the sealing for the receptacle series.
• PUR drag-chain jacket, oil and abrasion resistant, in the color you nominate.
• Stranded conductors for anything that moves or gets reconnected.
• Overmolded strain relief at each plug, which is where a field cable normally fails first.

What we need from you to quote

1. Cat6 or Cat6A, and the rate the channel has to carry.
2. The receptacle series both ends mate with.
3. Length and whether the run moves, drags or stays put.
4. Fluids and temperature range, including cold-flex requirements.
5. Quantity, and whether these go out under your part number and labeling.

Typical applications for this rugged military cable

• Field-deployable communications and shelter-to-shelter Ethernet runs
• Vehicle networks where the cable crosses a moving joint, alongside an M12 drag chain cable
• Camera and sensor feeds on masts and gantries, paired with a Cat6A and fiber hybrid cable
• Machine vision and inspection cells, next to a CoaXPress machine vision cable
• Industrial Ethernet in wash-down areas, with an M12 D-code PROFINET cable on the device side

Workmanship and testing

Build standard for Rugged RJ45 IP68 Military builds is IPC/WHMA-A-620 Class 3 under ISO 9001, with terminations from 32 to 12 AWG. continuity and pinout are checked on every Rugged unit before packing, and seal checking is quoted whenever an ingress rating is on the drawing.

Every production run can ship with RoHS and REACH declarations and the electrical report agreed at quotation; see certifications and material declarations. UL styles and other named approvals are built to drawing: we source to the style you specify and document it, rather than asserting a listing we do not hold. This build follows the continuous-flex practice documented under continuous-flex construction and flex-life testing, where cycle targets are agreed before the first part is made. More background: how we build and document first articles. Tooling is quoted separately, cut in-house rather than brokered out, and owned by you.

Custom builds and ordering

On Rugged RJ45 IP68 Military builds, prototype lots run from 1 to 50 pcs and leave in 3 working days. Production runs of 500 pcs and up ship 14 working days after approval. Tooling not already held adds around 10 working days. Rugged OEM and ODM shipments carry your part number and labeling, and material certificates with first-article reports are available.

Related Ethernet and field assemblies

• Custom Shielded Ethernet Data Cable
• Cat6A Fiber Hybrid Cable for Machine to Cabinet Runs
• M12 D-Code 4-Pin PROFINET Industrial Ethernet Cable
• M12 Drag Chain Cable, Continuous Flex Cordset
• Custom Industrial Robot Wire Harness

Full ranges: custom wire harnesses and signal and data cables.

Frequently Asked Questions