Is there a way to test machine made vs. hand crimped network cables?
- Thread starter amdskip
- Start date
Nothing definitive for under several thousand dollars.
Cheaper testers do no sweep the cable for signal compliance, they usually only give pair continuity and polarity, the more expensive ones (~ hundreds of dollars) have a TDR (Time Domain Reflectometer) to tell you where a break or kink is.
The compliance testers are ~US$2500.00 and up, with the usualy prices hanging in around US$4500.00 and up.
FWIW
Scott
Cheaper testers do no sweep the cable for signal compliance, they usually only give pair continuity and polarity, the more expensive ones (~ hundreds of dollars) have a TDR (Time Domain Reflectometer) to tell you where a break or kink is.
The compliance testers are ~US$2500.00 and up, with the usualy prices hanging in around US$4500.00 and up.
FWIW
Scott
Scotts on the ball here. The scanner will actually "sweep" the cable from 1 Mbs to 350 Mbs or higher and provide the ratings for the various criteria (crosstalk, pair order, impedance, far-end crosstalk, etc)
- Oct 25, 1999
- 29,553
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Hey jack!
I have one of those! It's a great box (doesn't do cert scans though).
One of the nicer features is the jack ID (you plug numbered modules into plates in several locations, and the MS Pro will tell you which cable goes to which plate - the standard pack is 5 or six modules).
The TDR is dead nuts on for length.
I'd recommend it to anyone for basic continuity, polarity, and problem location determination (this end of the cable or the other). It's got a "toner" too - with a handheld probe, you can locate a cable behind a wall (without making a hole first).
Excellent unit.
For Cert scans, I have an MT350 (only goes to Cat5) or I use the WaveTek from work.
AMDSkip: What kind of info are you looking to publish? Anixter.com technical library is a good source for most cable-related info.
Good Luck
Scott
I have one of those! It's a great box (doesn't do cert scans though).
One of the nicer features is the jack ID (you plug numbered modules into plates in several locations, and the MS Pro will tell you which cable goes to which plate - the standard pack is 5 or six modules).
The TDR is dead nuts on for length.
I'd recommend it to anyone for basic continuity, polarity, and problem location determination (this end of the cable or the other). It's got a "toner" too - with a handheld probe, you can locate a cable behind a wall (without making a hole first).
Excellent unit.
For Cert scans, I have an MT350 (only goes to Cat5) or I use the WaveTek from work.
AMDSkip: What kind of info are you looking to publish? Anixter.com technical library is a good source for most cable-related info.
Good Luck
Scott
For patch cables, a cheezy but cheap & effective way to test them is to do as follows:
1. Use one of those $50 widgets to make sure the pairs are connected right - no point in testing if the pairs aren't connected, and to the right place
2. Connect it with a known-good crossover plug between two good PCs with NICs / device drivers that will report errors (on Windows, you might be SOL). Check for link!
3. netperf. Or ftp a large file, if the systems are fast. Fully load the link, 100BaseTX-FDX, or as much as you can 1000BaseT (even better), for a while. Check for no reported CRC/runt/etc. errors.
4. Repeat, but wiggle the cable a little, especially at the ends. This is one of the big differences between hand-made cables and machine-made cables where problems are (beyond basic working or not).
(You can substitute an IXIA or SmartBits for the PCs if you have one, but if you had those, you'd probably have or be able to afford a cable tester)
This is not nearly as good a signal quality test as using real test equipment as folks have discussed earlier. However, this will give you some assurance that the cable itself is functional for the signalling you're trying to run over it, and on a hobbyist's budget (since most folks on this forum are solidly hobbyists and have to make do with what's around, and I'd rather see folks doing some not so good testing than none at all!).
What it DOES NOT test for is whether the cable's insertion loss, crosstalk, etc., are worse than normal in ways that will help push you out of spec when combined with a cable plant that may be imperfect. This is where you really need a cable tester. You can kinda sorta test this by doing PC-PC tests as above but to have the patch cable going into your real cable plant, at which point you're testing the entire cable system end to end, which might actually be a better test all around (after all, that's what you really want to know - does this entire system give me an error-free link).
Food for thought, I'm sure some of the folks here who use cable testers every day will flame me to a crisp for such a cheezy solution
1. Use one of those $50 widgets to make sure the pairs are connected right - no point in testing if the pairs aren't connected, and to the right place
2. Connect it with a known-good crossover plug between two good PCs with NICs / device drivers that will report errors (on Windows, you might be SOL). Check for link!
3. netperf. Or ftp a large file, if the systems are fast. Fully load the link, 100BaseTX-FDX, or as much as you can 1000BaseT (even better), for a while. Check for no reported CRC/runt/etc. errors.
4. Repeat, but wiggle the cable a little, especially at the ends. This is one of the big differences between hand-made cables and machine-made cables where problems are (beyond basic working or not).
(You can substitute an IXIA or SmartBits for the PCs if you have one, but if you had those, you'd probably have or be able to afford a cable tester)
This is not nearly as good a signal quality test as using real test equipment as folks have discussed earlier. However, this will give you some assurance that the cable itself is functional for the signalling you're trying to run over it, and on a hobbyist's budget (since most folks on this forum are solidly hobbyists and have to make do with what's around, and I'd rather see folks doing some not so good testing than none at all!).
What it DOES NOT test for is whether the cable's insertion loss, crosstalk, etc., are worse than normal in ways that will help push you out of spec when combined with a cable plant that may be imperfect. This is where you really need a cable tester. You can kinda sorta test this by doing PC-PC tests as above but to have the patch cable going into your real cable plant, at which point you're testing the entire cable system end to end, which might actually be a better test all around (after all, that's what you really want to know - does this entire system give me an error-free link).
Food for thought, I'm sure some of the folks here who use cable testers every day will flame me to a crisp for such a cheezy solution
I wouldn't go that far, at the college I used to work at we have a nice wavetek that could do certification and after doing it for a little bit nearly all the cables I made certified as cat5e.
I wish I had that in my tool bag, it was awesome
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