Keystone jacks are small inserts made from plastic or metal designed for simple customization projects. They are designed to go along with keystone compatible products such as wall plates, surface mount boxes, and patch panels. A keystone ready product is made with square holes where the keystones are inserted. Each keystone simply snaps into place and can be taken out with a simple release tab if they ever need to be removed.

A keystone wall plate with three ports

The main advantage and purpose of keystones is customization. Take wall plates as an example. There are plenty of pre-made wall plates out there that have one RJ45 Ethernet jack and one RJ12 phone jack. But what if a room needs both of those for a computer and phone plus a second RJ12 jack for a fax machine? One extra jack seems like a small thing but finding a pre-made wall plate exactly like that can be a challenge. But by using a keystone wall plate, it is as simple as popping that extra jack into place. Using keystones can turn a drawn-out product hunt into a quick fix.

REVConnect – A New and Improved Keystone

Belden’s new REVConnect keystone design

There are two main types of keystones available, couplers and punchdowns. A coupler allows users to plug a cable into the back of the keystone. These are typically used for temporary, short-term installation projects. Punchdowns allow cables to be directly wired into the keystone, allowing for a more permanent and secure connection. While punchdown keystone jacks are nothing new, they can be a bit tedious. An experienced installer would not have any problem installing one but for the common layman, they can be a little tougher. Recently, Belden has introduced a new design on the classic coupler to make this job easier on professionals and new users alike.

While REVConnect may expand in the future, it is limited to RJ45 Ethernet jacks for now. That being said, it is a definite step up from traditional RJ45 keystone options. Conventional RJ45 keystones require the user to lay out the individual conductor wires and secure them with a punchdown tool. Keystone jacks do have color-coding diagrams to ensure this step goes smoothly, they are just somewhat delicate to work with. REVConnect jacks eliminate the need to separate the twisted pairs and work with each conductor individually. Instead, the twisted pairs are folded back as-is and secured with a secondary plastic piece. Using the special REVConnect Termination Tool, the conductors are then secured and any excess wiring is removed in one simple step. The main body of the connector then slides over this piece and locks itself into place, completing the keystone assembly.

REVConnect Keystone Jacks at ShowMeCables

ShowMeCables is pleased to carry the new REVConnect Jacks, which Belden themselves estimates are installed twice as fast as conventional keystones. Different colors are available for color-coding projects and different models are available for Cat5e, Cat6+, and 10GX signal ratings. With this new innovation to keystone technology, it has never been faster to complete a keystone installation project.

Have questions about REVConnect, keystones in general, or any of our other products? You can reach our Sales team at 1-888-519-9505 or Sales@ShowMeCables.com