Odd "ethernet" cable - what is it?

I've been working on a Unifi installation in France and the way I generally do things is to work with local electricians so that they do the cable runs and I do the rest. I always specify Cat6 or Cat6A U/FTP cable and I've never had a problem before.

This time, one of the cable runs has been done using this and I've never seen anything like it. It's really bizarre

Three pairs (orange, blue, green) have cores with an insulation diameter of 1.00mm and are bundled together in one foil screen. The brown pair is in a separate foil screen and has an insulation diameter of 1.30mm. The conductor diameter is greater too.

The overall cable sheath is oval.

We ended up with this cable from the electrical wholesaler because the previous cable (of more usual construction) had all eight cores of 1.30mm diameter and it won't fit the RJ45 plugs I have. It needs to in order to plug into the rear of Unifi in wall access points comme ça.

Off the top of my head, could it be intended for a proprietary POE system?

Not the usual POE where 7 & 8 are joined as one conductor and 4 & 5 as the other. Using just two thicker conductors would release a pair for something else. Perhaps a Press Switch for a Door Entry Video system or Door Bolt release?

Are there any marking on the cable sheath?

Good Luck.

Cheers!

It could be a manufacturing error.

Some years back had problems with the exhaust gas themocouples and wiring on a ship which had been converted from twin steam turbine to two rather large diesel engines.

Time after time we tried setting up the data logging and control system only to find the displayed temperatures were incorrect. One day noticed that one core was rusty and also magnetic which did not fit in with the colour code of the cable. I brought a few inches of cable home to identify and from a few phone calls found that a batch of cable had been manufactured with the core and sheath colours of the previous production run of a different type..... I'm not sure what happened in the end, for the amount of cable involved would have been expensive.

Cheers!

Running dodgy websites again:



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Your links won’t open for me either Sarah.

In reply to a post by Zarjaz:

Your links won’t open for me either Sarah.

Same here.

In reply to a post by MHC:

Running dodgy websites again:



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Ooops!

I did a kernel update, restarted the server and forgot to restart the web server. I'm not very good with technology.

It should be working now

In reply to a post by busterboy:

In reply to a post by Zarjaz:

Your links won’t open for me either Sarah.

Same here.

'twas a PBKC problem

In reply to a post by Zarjaz:

Your links won’t open for me either Sarah.

Working fine here

https://imgur.com/a/CGXUTTq

It may well be that it isn't ethernet cable at all but as you suggest something for door entry.

Unfortunately, I didn't see enough of the sheath to find any useful markings. It's all hidden in flexible conduit inside walls with just 30cm sticking out of each end. TDR reports a length of 11m.

I've ordered some larger connectors and when I get back there in about three weeks I'll see if I can get a reliable connection. I have a small sample of it here so that I can test whether the connectors work. If I can't get a good connection with the TUK PXCAT6S8XL RJ45s (which I might not be able to) then I'll have to go for the nuclear option of the TUK PGSXL plus a new TUK T2079 crimp tool. I'd rather not have to do that because all that expense is just for one cable. Or I'll ask the electrician to put some new cable in.

If I get a termination on both ends I can run a bit error and speed negotiation test to see whether it supports gigabit without errors (using a Pockethernet tester).