Join two or more of our Premium Shielded Ethernet Cables together with this coupler. It is very simple - it has an RJ45 (standard Ethernet jack) on each side. It is a straight-through coupler. If you need to temporarily or permanently add length to a run, you can use this to join two or more cables together. The maximum run for Ethernet is typically 100 meters (328 feet). So don't worry about degrading your signal for short runs - this coupler can handle 10 gigabit Ethernet 10/100/1000/10000 even.
This WHITE PLASTIC ISOLATOR coupler is different from our Shielded Coupler. The isolation coupler separates the ground from one cable to the other. So when you plug in two shielded cables, the ground is separated by this coupler.
An example of where we would use this: If you have a metal Ethernet switch/router that is already grounded and all of its ports are grounded, and you wish to connect it to another device such as a desktop computer or a printer with 3 prong-power cord. The desktop computer and the grounded printer are examples of devices that have metal trimmed Ethernet ports and are already grounded. You still should use one of our Premium Shielded Ethernet cables to connect, but it's better to use two cables and use this isolation coupler in between.
Why? If you connect two devices that are already grounded and have metal trimmed Ethernet ports, you will create a "ground loop" or a complete loop which acts like an antenna. These ground loops cause noise and EMF/EMR issues. So we like to avoid them. Use this coupler to stop a ground loop. We like everything to be shielded and grounded, but only at one end or in one location. We want to avoid creating loops by grounding a cable at each end or by bringing more than one ground to a device.