Network cable finder/tester

rampantbunny

I've run a good deal of CAT6 throughout my house all routed to my attic. Nothing is terminated at the moment. The cables are not labelled at either end, so I'm looking for something to help me 'find' each one.

1. Anything cheap and cheerful that will do this?
2. Will I have to terminate each cable first before I can test?

I'm not concerned (yet) about testing cable damage/performance as I've been pretty careful with the runs but if a tester was available on the cheap for this it would be a bonus.

wait4me

I use one of these: Network cable tester but you do have to terminate the cables to use it. Great value for about 3 euros (plus delivery)

rampantbunny

wait4me wrote: »

I use one of these: Network cable tester but you do have to terminate the cables to use it. Great value for about 3 euros (plus delivery)

Very good wait4me. Where's me wallet...

wait4me

Yeah watch the delivery is 6 euros or something like that - but you do get it delivered to your door. The only problem now is that you are going to have to terminate them all! You eventually would have to do this anyways..........

Risteard81

I find it hard to believe that the tester could be useful at that price. The Fluke instruments, for example, cost substantially more than that!

rampantbunny

I don't think I'd be putting complete faith in it to help me diagnose my network but I'm only after something to help in finding the cable ends. If it does that it is certainly useful.

Edit...bit more searching and what I'm after is a cable tracker/toner. No cable termination required.

wait4me

Risteard81 wrote: »

I find it hard to believe that the tester could be useful at that price. The Fluke instruments, for example, cost substantially more than that!

I have runs of Cat5 and Cat6 around the house; and I used this yoke to ensure all was well with the wiring. It found the problems when there were problems. And my connections are working so I thought it was a cheap way of checking.

Tow

It will tell you if each wire in the cable is connected, disconnected, shorted and in the correct order. In the OPs case he can connect it to two ends of a cable to check if they are the same cable and all the pins are connected properly.

It will not tell you if the wires are connected to pins in their proper (twisted) pairs and signal loss/reflections/interference etc. But then again it is 100+ times cheaper than a Fluke.

2011

Risteard81 wrote: »

I find it hard to believe that the tester could be useful at that price. The Fluke instruments, for example, cost substantially more than that!

Yes but the Fluke does far more than test continuity. It or similar would be required for an industrial installation where all points are certified. When doing your own home cheap and cheerful is sufficient. This is the kit I used for doing my own home:



Everything works, it found all faults and it only cost €20 for Eurosales.

evosteo

Your after a tone generator and reciever. Connect the tone generator to 1 pair of the data cable and use the probe to trace and id the loose end.

http://m.ebay.com/itm/201749431985

Or something similar to above

Risteard81

2011 wrote: »

Yes but the Fluke does far more than test continuity.

Absolutely, but that's because continuity is not the only test required. You also want to avoid noise and losses. To simply identify which cable is which any low resistance ohmmeter will achieve that.

2011

Risteard81 wrote: »

Absolutely, but that's because continuity is not the only test required. You also want to avoid noise and losses. To simply identify which cable is which any low resistance ohmmeter will achieve that.

Most people are not prepared to pay for CAT5 / 6 cables in their home to be tested to that extent.

All I know is that my network cables are connected correctly and they work thanks to a cheap tester.

Risteard81

Risteard81 wrote: »

I find it hard to believe that the tester could be useful at that price. The Fluke instruments, for example, cost substantially more than that!

Not having a go here but its a few CAT6's he's sorting out in his house. He's not wiring a data center. The cables will either work or they won't. Those cheap things do the job for home use. Ideally, a high end Fluke tester would be the way to go but not in this case.

Risteard81

Snotaul Goodman wrote: »

Risteard81 wrote: »

I find it hard to believe that the tester could be useful at that price. The Fluke instruments, for example, cost substantially more than that!

The cables will either work or they won't.

I have to disagree on that point. They will either work well to their capabilities, or much slower and poorer, or they won't work at all.

Risteard81

Risteard81 wrote: »

I have to disagree on that point. They will either work well to their capabilities, or much slower and poorer, or they won't work at all.

In a house?

Risteard81

Snotaul Goodman wrote: »

Risteard81 wrote: »

I have to disagree on that point. They will either work well to their capabilities, or much slower and poorer, or they won't work at all.

In a house?

Yes, potentially, if it has been terminated poorly and twists not maintained on the pairs etc.

Risteard81

Risteard81 wrote: »

Yes, potentially, if it has been terminated poorly and twists not maintained on the pairs etc.

I honestly think he'll be fine. The fact that he's ran these cables tells me he has a fair idea on what he's expecting despite the lack of labeling :pac:

2011

Risteard81 wrote: »

Yes, potentially, if it has been terminated poorly and twists not maintained on the pairs etc.

When connecting / punching down you can simply ensure that the twists are maintained, the test kit won't do this for you.

My technique is simple by:

1) Ensuring that the punch down tool is aligned properly with each termination point when punching down.
2) Punching each termination down at least twice.
3) Ensure that the twists are maintained.
4) Carefully inspecting the connections.
5) Test with my super cheap tester.

This works first time almost every time. In the event that a particular network point performed poorly I would disconnect and start again, but this has never happened.

I used a fancy Fluke tester in the distant past when working as an electrician for a well known electrical contractor in a data center.
It was a phenomenal piece of kit but completely OTT for a domestic installation.

If an electrical contractor were to a high end Fluke network cable tester in someones house this would have to be reflected in the price :eek: resulting in an uncompetitive quotation.

eurokev

Why over complicate it. If you're only looking for ends short out different cores in each room. Make a note of which colours were shorted in each room. Go up to the attic and test with a meter. One trip to each room and 5 mins in the attack and wallah you're done

KeRbDoG

Another cheap toner tool which I've used - this. Might just need a RJ45 coupler.

On crimping testing mentioned earlier in the thread, 'maintaining twists' would be just trying to ensure they are kept in the last centimeter or so. Complete PITA and a pointless to worry about. The twists throughout the cable are what matters, when the cable might past a source of interference. Once the cable is to spec, ran correctly (not hugging AC cabling when possible etc) and not a el'cheapo knockoff cable then you should be fine.

I ran 1000's of 20~90m 'home run' patches (structured copper cabling was OTT in the one company owned/ran data centers) and there was never a need to test other than the quick cable wiring check. All ran enterprise grade 1GigE equipment all on (wait for it!) cat5e oh the horror!

Payton

2011 wrote: »

Yes but the Fluke does far more than test continuity. It or similar would be required for an industrial installation where all points are certified. When doing your own home cheap and cheerful is sufficient. This is the kit I used for doing my own home:

Everything works, it found all faults and it only cost €20 for Eurosales.

Can't see it on Euro sales site as I'm looking for something similar but can't find one near that price.

Risteard81

KeRbDoG wrote: »

Another cheap toner tool which I've used - this. Might just need a RJ45 coupler.

Complete PITA and a pointless to worry about.

Maintaining the twists is not pointless, along with securing the sheath etc. to avoid strain on the connections. I have seen a lot of poor attempts at data wiring over the years. Poor practices terminating can have significant negative effects on bandwidth and reliability.


[/quote]

Mech1

put a small battery say 9v onto two cores of a cable remember the colours, try a 9v bulb across those colours in the attic

rampantbunny

Payton wrote: »

Can't see it on Euro sales site as I'm looking for something similar but can't find one near that price.

I think something like this would be equivalent...
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B01IP6FZAK/ref=ox_sc_sfl_title_1?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A1IVM2ELSF23AS

Cerco

Risteard81 wrote: »

Maintaining the twists is not pointless, along with securing the sheath etc. to avoid strain on the connections. I have seen a lot of poor attempts at data wiring over the years. Poor practices terminating can have significant negative effects on bandwidth and reliability.

[/QUOTE]

+1

Maintaining the twists is essential to minimise crosstalk.

durtybit

Snotaul Goodman wrote: »

In a house?

Make sure the cables aren't fakes for a start, anything that says CCA or (copper clad aluminium) wont make specs for CAT6 (or CAT anything)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ojFPdg7DGvk

KeRbDoG

Risteard81 wrote: »

Maintaining the twists is not pointless, along with securing the sheath etc. to avoid strain on the connections. I have seen a lot of poor attempts at data wiring over the years. Poor practices terminating can have significant negative effects on bandwidth and reliability.

Cerco wrote: »

+1
Maintaining the twists is essential to minimise crosstalk.

Twists in the last 1cm of the cable its negligible in terms of crosstalk and of course you secure the sheath within the connector *if* the connector secures the cable by pinching the cable sheath