Cheapy cable tester: what do you guys think of this one?

[MichaelD]

It's a cheapie.

But all I want is a basic tester to check pair order (i.e. is it an "A" or "B" cable) and connection verification (no shorts).

Is this decent for the money? Thank you.

 

[ScottMac]

No electronic / electrical meter will tell you 568A or 568B, all you need to do is look at the cable. Holding the end with the clip down / away from you, if the leftmost color is orange, it's a 568B ... if it's green, it's 568A.

For order, continuity, and polarity, the unit you linked to is probably fine.

Good Luck

Scott

 

[MichaelD]

Thanks Scott.

BTW, my half-rack/patch panel/cable management D-ring bars come in today. I wont' be installing it all anytime soon, but I think I'll just set it up in the living room, throw some cables over it and take a picture anyway.

me<--all excited. How sad. Hahaha!! Later. :beer:

 

[WannaFly]

Micheal D,
that tester would work fine for what you want to do. BUT if you dont mind spending about twice that to get a WAY better tester, then get an Ideal Telecom Linkmaster tester. I got mine off of ebay for ~$36. IT tests all eight wires, and if there is a short, miswire, or reveral of pairs it will tell you which wires. I highly recommend it if you going to be using the tester more then a few times.
Heres a link for you just to see:
Linkmaster on ebay

Ideal makes great tools, crimpers, testers, scissors. All my tools are Ideal.

BTW, the ideal linkmaster is $~80 at home depot. Go with ebay!

 

[MichaelD]

Hey, thanks, Wannafly! I appreciate the info and linkage. The guys at work have a Fluke...it does everything including making breakfast tacos...and it's also $5K. :Q A bit out of my league.

I'll look into your suggestion. $40 is not a lot to spend on a quality device or tool.

 

[WannaFly]

mmm....fluke *drool*

oh, sorry. Yea, theres some awesome flukes out there! There was a thread here about a Fluke Microscanner Pro also, i cant seem to find it now, but it was a little over $100 if I remember correctly.

Are you planning on doing an entire home wiring? I see you've got lots of posts here. Just interested in what kind of setup your going for.

 

[MichaelD]

Originally posted by: WannaFly
mmm....fluke *drool*

oh, sorry. Yea, theres some awesome flukes out there! There was a thread here about a Fluke Microscanner Pro also, i cant seem to find it now, but it was a little over $100 if I remember correctly.

Are you planning on doing an entire home wiring? I see you've got lots of posts here. Just interested in what kind of setup your going for.

The whole nine yards, actually. Two or more CAT5e data drops in every room, one video drop and one voice (phone) over another piece of Cat5e as well. All going to a central location...a closet or a self-built closet in the corner of a room.

I already have a half-rack (36" tall, standard 19-inch mount rack), a 48-port Cat5e rated patch panel and 2K feet of Cat5e. Also, all the jacks, wallplates, keystones and patch cables.

Just need to buy quad shield coax, video distribution amplifier, a 24-port switch and the punchdown block for the phone.

Oh, one minor detail...I need to buy the house to put it all in. No, I'm not joking....I start looking next week. This is important to me to get all the materials first.

My apt lease runs out 30 May. If I buy in Apr/early May, I can have 1-2 weeks to get everything wired BEFORE moving any furniture in. Much, much easier to do it all in an empty house. Nothing to move, and no worries about making a mess.

I have been reading everything I can get my hands on AFA doing the "whole enchilada" goes.

 

[WannaFly]

Sounds like you got a good plan!
I gotta questions for you. (Becuase i've thought abou doing the same thing as you doing)
Your gonna drop cat5e for phone, i understand taht b/c it only uses two wires so you can just punch them down onto phone jacks instead of cat5e jacks. Right?

Also, how are you doing the video? Can video go over cat5? I've watend to do this also - have a central distribution point for audio/video. Any details or good websites? Thanks!

 

[MichaelD]

I'm new to this...so I don't think I'm too qualified to give advice.

I've read that the whole point of doing voice (phone) over Cat5 as opposed to Cat3 phone wire is STANDARDIZATION. This way, in the future, if you decide you no longer want/need "this jack" to be voice or data, you can easily switch it to the other, b/c the wire is already there.

I.E. Cat3, which is what phone wire is, only has 3 pairs, not 4, so you can't use Cat 3 for data, but you can use Cat5 for voice. I'm sure my wording isn't the best, but the idea is there. <--tha't's also the rationale behind using a PATCH PANEL instead of running the wires straight to the switch. If this data wire needs to be a phone wire, you simply unplug that patch cord from the panel, rewire it and punch it down on the phone distro block. Sounds way cool to me.!

I've read that video can go over CAT5, but I don't know how that is done...I'd be interested in finding out, though. (Maybe yet ANOTHER thread I'll post!)

All of the "this is what I did in my house" websites or tutorials I've seen have RG6 cable runs for the video. Don't know if that's just what I saw or if there's a specific reason for that. I'd like to know, though.

 

[JackMDS]

In very general terms, evaluating CAT5e cables for Home LANcan be done by:

1. Measuring DC continuity.

2. Using RF signal.

3. Commercially Certifying the Cable.

The 1st method is basically useless, since DC continuity can be OK yet the Cable will be very poor RF conduit. (The cable has to deal with a 100Mb/sec. signal).:Q

The 3rd method involved Testers that cost over $1000 so it is your call. :brokenheart:

To employ the 2nd method. For about $50-$100 you can find a Tester that is constructed of two units.

One unit is placed at one end and inject RF signal to the Cable, the second unit receives the signal (or not).

Cables tested by this method are fairly safe to use.

Example: KTCT-902 Lan Cable Tester.

 

[MichaelD]

Originally posted by: JackMDS
In very general terms, evaluating CAT5e cables for Home LANcan be done by:

1. Measuring DC continuity.

2. Using RF signal.

3. Commercially Certifying the Cable.

The 1st method is basically useless, since DC continuity can be OK yet the Cable will be very poor RF conduit. (The cable has to deal with a 100Mb/sec. signal).:Q

The 3rd method involved Testers that cost over $1000 so it is your call. :brokenheart:

To employ the 2nd method. For about $50-$100 you can find a Tester that is constructed of two units.

One unit is placed at one end and inject RF signal to the Cable, the second unit receives the signal (or not).

Cables tested by this method are fairly safe to use.

Example: KTCT-902 Lan Cable Tester.

Thanks very much, Jack. I've been looking at a few different ones...hard to tell which one is better when they are all competitively priced and under $100. I know $100 doesn't buy you a whole lot of testing quality...but we'll try our best.