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cat5 cable testing...any inexpensive ways to do so?

S

sohcrates

Diamond Member
howdy, i've been troubleshooting the network that I installed at my parents house...it worked great till recently, and i've pretty much determined that the only thing left to do is check the cat5 runs through the house.

but i DON'T want to buy a 100 dollar cat5 tester, and at the same time i don't want to take a battery and a paper clip on one end and a multimeter on the other (though it may come down to this)

does anyone know of either

1) online instructions for building my own basic tester or

2) any place that sells a SIMPLE, inexpensive cable tester?

btw..it needs to have a separate transmitter and receiver end, because the wiring goes through 3 floors of the house

thanks a lot!
 
What exactly do you want to test? If you simply want to verify that the cable isn't broken you can always just twist two cables together on one end and test for continuity from the other end. Hint - sacrifice a cat5 cable and cut it in half - Test with the cut ends instead of pulling it off the jack. That way you test the jack AND the cable.

Before you get too exotic you might want to verify the punch downs haven't come loose or somebody didn't mess with the conductors in the jack. (I've seen too many bent pins in jacks - Always check that first!)

- G

 
rock on!

yeah, all i'm testing for is continuity basically. i hadn't thought of 'sacrificing' an extra cable...that's a good call.

think a 9 volt battery on one end will be enough to go through 3 floors to a multimeter at the other end? actually, now that i think about it....what do i use for a ground?
 
They?re two forms of Cat5 tester.

Very cheap one that can test a cable only if you have the two ends in your hands.
With the above you can not test cables that are in the wall.

I saw the cheap unit for $26, but I don?t remember where.


The more expensive that has a transmitter unit to plug on one side, and receiver tests on the other side.


http://cyberguys.com/cgi-bin/sgin0101.exe?UID=2001061515050160&GEN5=icom&GEN6=00&GEN9=&FNM=24&T1=115+3109&UREQA=1&UREQB=2&UREQC=3&UREQD=4
 
Most multimeters have continuity test setting on them. If not just measure the resistance.
 
Do note that Cat5 is real fickle. Continuity can be fine, but all you need is a crimp somewhere or a sloppy connection at a connector of keystone and it won't work. So if you get continuity, you may next want to check each connection point. If that doesn't do it for you, I guess you'll need to get a tester.
 
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