New Home Pre-Wired ... Where is the other end of the cable?

[Saicho]

My family recently purchased a new construction that was supposedly pre-wired with ethernet in every room. I was upset when I found out the cables are CAT 5e (I was hoping for CAT 6 or better), but here is the real problem:

There is a panel in an upstairs bedroom that contains a panel for all coax and phone lines wired to every room in the house. It also contains a coax input from the outside of the house that feeds in the FiOS. In addition, there are 2 ends of CAT 5e. Basically, I have no idea where the other ends of these cables are...

The living room downstairs has a large panel that contains 3 CAT 5e cables whose other ends go to the master bedroom, kitchen, and office. There is also a 3rd bedroom upstairs that doesn't seem to contain any CAT 5e at all. 😡 Nothing that I've found connects back to the bedroom with the panel...

How can I find where the other ends of the two mystery wires in the panel are? They're wired inside the wall so there's no way to tell just by looking. Are there devices that can send some RF signal through the wire and be able to have a signal receiver follow the cable through the outside of the wall that will lead me to the other end of the cable? I'm hoping there's another large panel I've missed somewhere 🙁

Thanks!

 

[JackMDS]

How can I find where the other ends of the two mystery wires in the panel are? They're wired inside the wall so there's no way to tell just by looking. Are there devices that can send some RF signal through the wire and be able to have a signal receiver follow the cable through the outside of the wall that will lead me to the other end of the cable? I'm hoping there's another large panel I've missed somewhere 🙁

Thanks!

Contact the seller there might be some blue prints of the wiring.

Otherwise, there is inexpensive cable checkers.

Example, http://www.microcenter.com/single_pr...uct_id=0209845
.

 

[Saicho]

Contacting the builder yielded nothing. I think he contracted the wiring out to a 3rd party and never got the blueprints, he suggested we "contact an expert" to help us. 🙄

Will that cable checker you linked be able to detect through walls?

 

[tonyyy]

You can purchase a toner that can help you tone out the ends of the cable but if you can't find the other end or have a idea where the other ends are it will be tough...

have you tried opening all the wall plates to make sure there is no hidden unused cable or a dangling cable outside the house where the cable comes in?

Are you able to access the attic and spot the cables?

It won't be cheap if you hire someone to find it...

I have done a lot of cable tracing at work due to mislabeled patch panels and I end up running back in forth sometimes I find the end in a couple of minutes or hours or I just give up hah.

Good luck tho.

 

[Saicho]

have you tried opening all the wall plates to make sure there is no hidden unused cable or a dangling cable outside the house where the cable comes in?

Yep, I've tried all of that, no luck 🙁

Are you able to access the attic and spot the cables?

Yep, I've looked in there, not much to see.

It won't be cheap if you hire someone to find it...

🙁

Good luck tho.

Thanks! 😀

 

[JackMDS]

Contacting the builder yielded nothing. I think he contracted the wiring out to a 3rd party and never got the blueprints, he suggested we "contact an expert" to help us. 🙄

Will that cable checker you linked be able to detect through walls?

These type of device (that I linked to) has two parts.

One is a signal injector that you plug into the RJ-45 in a room, the other you use in the panel trying to find the cable with the signal. When you find the signal you mark it, and go to the next one.

It takes some leg work, but it can be done.

 

[xSauronx]

My family recently purchased a new construction that was supposedly pre-wired with ethernet in every room.
Thanks!

contact whoever the warranty is with on the house and have them pitch a fit to get someone else to sort this out. theres not one single good reason this should be left up to you or your family.

 

[Saicho]

These type of device (that I linked to) has two parts.

One is a signal injector that you plug into the RJ-45 in a room, the other you use in the panel trying to find the cable with the signal. When you find the signal you mark it, and go to the next one.

It takes some leg work, but it can be done.

I can do that sort of thing myself without the use of that device. Just hooking up a battery to two wires and then using a multimeter on the other end will tell me which wire is which.

The problem is I have no idea where the other ends of the wires are, they seem to be missing.

 

[Saicho]

contact whoever the warranty is with on the house and have them pitch a fit to get someone else to sort this out. theres not one single good reason this should be left up to you or your family.

That's a great point. I'm going to call the insurance company shortly.

 

[ccbadd]

Use a "Fox and Hound" to put a tone on each of them one at a time and follow the tone.
Something like this: http://cableorganizer.com/triplett/tone-generator/fox2-hound2kit.htm

 

[Nuwave]

Yea a toner will let you follow the cable, as opposed to using a multimeter at the termniation of the cable.