# Resistance test experiment



## Komodo (Dec 20, 2015)

I conducted a resistance test on a twenty-five pair CAT 3 cable from BIX panel to BIX panel. The cable was only twelve feet long, AWG = 24. The results were between 31 and 31.2 ohms.

How do I interpret these results?


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## B-Nabs (Jun 4, 2014)

Where were you measuring this resistance? As in, between what and what reference points?


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## emtnut (Mar 1, 2015)

Komodo said:


> I conducted a resistance test on a twenty-five pair CAT 3 cable from BIX panel to BIX panel. The cable was only twelve feet long, AWG = 24. The results were between 31 and 31.2 ohms.
> 
> How do I interpret these results?


Cheap cable :whistling2:


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## Komodo (Dec 20, 2015)

B-Nabs said:


> Where were you measuring this resistance? As in, between what and what reference points?


I used two QTBIX17A Test Probes directly in the BIX wafer QCBIX 1A, one in each punch-down blocks.


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## Rowdy (Mar 26, 2010)

Sounds quite high to me.

It should measure about 3 ohms per 100'

Some things to check\try.

Did the IDC get a good bite into the wire at both ends.

Take an unused bix rail, and use your probes to measure straight through it. This will rule out bad meter and probes.

Take the cable off the box rail, strip the conductors and measure with regular probes


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## joebanana (Dec 21, 2010)

Did all 25 pr. read the same? Did you check each pair, or one conductor to the other 24-1/2 pairs? What made you decide to do a resistance check, on a 12' cable? Why was it terminated on a BIX? and not a 66 block? Or a 110 block? I would re-terminate it on 66 block since it's only a Cat3. You should only get a small fraction of an ohm.


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## emtnut (Mar 1, 2015)

Ditto on what Rowdy said ...

If measuring the pairs is still high, I remember a ways back where a supplier gave us a 'replacement' cable made in China ... the readings were very high, like what you are seeing now.


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## emtnut (Mar 1, 2015)

joebanana said:


> Why was it terminated on a BIX? and not a 66 block?


BIX is THE thing up here. (Canadian thing ? I think Northern Telecom developed them)

I've only seen 66 blocks on tel lines, not for data, around here anyways


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## joebanana (Dec 21, 2010)

emtnut said:


> BIX is THE thing up here. (Canadian thing ? I think Northern Telecom developed them)
> 
> I've only seen 66 blocks on tel lines, not for data, around here anyways


So.....that's where them dern BIX, with their silly scissor punch tools came from? 
Cat3 is for voice, not data. Unless they're still using Apple II work stations. jk :blink:


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## emtnut (Mar 1, 2015)

joebanana said:


> So.....that's where them dern BIX, with their silly scissor punch tools came from?
> Cat3 is for voice, not data. Unless they're still using Apple II work stations. jk :blink:


I did a lot of work for traffic controllers ... you'd be surprised how much Cat3 municipalities have in their infrastructure for data.

Bell Canada still uses it for DSL in older areas, for the last mile runs


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## joebanana (Dec 21, 2010)

emtnut said:


> I did a lot of work for traffic controllers ... you'd be surprised how much Cat3 municipalities have in their infrastructure for data.
> 
> Bell Canada still uses it for DSL in older areas, for the last mile runs


Yeah, Cat5, 5e, and 6 are for the people who live on the hill, not us commoners.


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## emtnut (Mar 1, 2015)

joebanana said:


> Yeah, Cat5, 5e, and 6 are for the people who live on the hill, not us commoners.


Nope .... Fiber for them :laughing:


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## Komodo (Dec 20, 2015)

Thank you all for considering my problem. I’m studying structured cabling and my setup is for practice and testing. Anyways, I found my problem, it’s the test equipment. 
Would you believe one of the two QTBIX17A Test Probes read 29.7 ohms? I also forgot to double the distance since the QTBIX17A Test Probes connects to a set of cables it must make a round trip. 

I changed one of the probes, doubled the distance and I now read 0.742 ohms.
Thanks again.


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