# Testing Cat5e cabling- tester suggestions



## electricalwiz

this is what I use and I have never had a problem

http://www.specialized.net/Speciali...nkMaster-RJ45-Cable-Tester-w-Remote-3745.aspx

I think you can get at Depot or Lowes


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## HARRY304E

Hippie said:


> Im bidding a job for a couple cat5e drops in a small office and the customer wants the runs tested after installation. I'm not sure if he means tested or certified, ill find out when I go look at it this afternoon.
> 
> I was looking at some of the testers online and there seems to be a lot of stuff out there, if anyone could point me in the right direction I would appreciate it, I'm looking for something that's not junk but I don't want to make a huge investment either



Take a look here hopefully it will help.:thumbsup:


http://www.datacomtools.com/lan_network_cable_tester/cable-testers.htm


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## BBQ

Hippie said:


> Im bidding a job for a couple cat5e drops in a small office and the customer wants the runs tested after installation. I'm not sure if he means tested or certified, ill find out when I go look at it this afternoon.
> 
> I was looking at some of the testers online and there seems to be a lot of stuff out there, if anyone could point me in the right direction I would appreciate it, I'm looking for something that's not junk but I don't want to make a huge investment either


If they are looking for certification reports I think you are screwed. The testers are big money.


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## BBQ

electricalwiz said:


> this is what I use and I have never had a problem
> 
> http://www.specialized.net/Speciali...nkMaster-RJ45-Cable-Tester-w-Remote-3745.aspx
> 
> I think you can get at Depot or Lowes


Yeah I use that one often, but it is just a simple pass or fail continuity test. 

If the customer is looking for certification reports I think it will be $2,000 or far more for the equipment.


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## BBQ

http://www.google.com/search?q=cat5....,cf.osb&fp=1d1705c9b4b5256e&biw=1024&bih=672


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## Hippie

BBQ said:


> Yeah I use that one often, but it is just a simple pass or fail continuity test.
> 
> If the customer is looking for certification reports I think it will be $2,000 or far more for the equipment.


Yeah that's what I need to find out, I think they just want it tested though


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## wildleg

if you don't want to spend the money, rent one.


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## Hippie

wildleg said:


> if you don't want to spend the money, rent one.


Thanks!! I didn't even think of that, do normal rental places have them? I would hate to buy something like that since I wouldn't use it too much. Ill call around and see if I can find one


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## B W E

Here's what I use, works perfectly, under $100
http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/wcs..._mmc=shopping-_-googlebase-_-D27X-_-202520422


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## chewy

BBQ said:


> Yeah I use that one often, but it is just a simple pass or fail continuity test.
> 
> If the customer is looking for certification reports I think it will be $2,000 or far more for the equipment.


The leads for perm link testing on our DTX 1800 are about $600 USD a pair alone and thats for just 1 kind of cable.


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## chewy

We have a fluke scanner that saves all results and you import them onto a letter head of our company and Fluke Networks and it gives in depth results laid out on a spreadsheet for the customer after we sign off on a job. Its very expensive though for all the gear that goes with it. You can get a mod tap for about $5 to just test continuity.


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## dthurmond

I have a Sperry Tt64202 cable tester from home depot for around $50.00. It tests cat -5 and coax continuity and correct pair wiring. It works great for me. Simple quick and easy .


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## mikeh32

You can rent the certifier, and charge them

Get the newest klein one. It does a lot, and distance now tooq


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## TOOL_5150

A cable certifier does MUCH more than a cable mapper. A good cable cert tool would be around $10K these days. The DTX by fluke is 10k alone, with both fiber probes its more like 20k.


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## captkirk

I have the ideal one that does cable, data or phone... it works well enough..... Im sure they just want the cables tested.... make sure they are lined up right... Unless its some kind of data center or something i doubt they want certification...


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## BBQ

captkirk said:


> I have the ideal one that does cable, data or phone... it works well enough..... Im sure they just want the cables tested.... make sure they are lined up right... Unless its some kind of data center or something i doubt they want certification...


Many large companies will want certification, from insurance companies to office buildings, it is just part of their SOP.


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## chewy

BBQ said:


> Many large companies will want certification, from insurance companies to office buildings, it is just part of their SOP.


Also for manufacturers warranties and to cover the installer from call backs, its a win win for everybody to get the stuff certified.


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## reddog552

*Cable certerfier*

We rent this 1 http://www.flukenetworks.com/datacom-cabling/copper-testing/dtx-cableanalyzer-series $26.000 New fifth 1 with case ,does fiber too,


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## Hippie

reddog552 said:


> We rent this 1 http://www.flukenetworks.com/datacom-cabling/copper-testing/dtx-cableanalyzer-series $26.000 New


Wow imagine dropping 26k off a ladder


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## reddog552

*Network analizer*

I have also used this, we have had it at 2000 ft on tower to test TV antenna $70.000 http://www.metrictest.com/product_info.jsp?mfgmdl=HP E5071







C-4K5-1E5(N)


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## GPM

The primary issue is as others have said is what the customer needs. If they just want you to prove that all the wires are correct that is easy with the many test kits mentioned.

If they want it certified then it was also mentioned to rent the gear. We rent expensive gear on for one time use. There are places that specialize in renting electrical test equipment. We just rented a high end 3 phase tester and it was easy and inexpensive.


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## Hippie

They just want it checked for correct wiring, I saw some crappy testers for 5$ on eBay and similar name brand ones for 50 to 100+ so I'm looking for something like that that will work good and isn't going to be a huge investment. Good to know they rent the high dollar ones though, I had no idea and if I need one at some point that's definitely the route ill go. Thanks to everyone for all the helpful input


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## sbrn33

If you have any kind of decent relationship with a data company you can sub out the testing to them. It's kind of nice when you do it also because it's a second set of eyes looking for anything wrong.


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## chewy

sbrn33 said:


> If you have any kind of decent relationship with a data company you can sub out the testing to them. It's kind of nice when you do it also because it's a second set of eyes looking for anything wrong.


But then you may as well sub out the terminating to them also especially if you suspect they will end up fixing a lot of stuff.


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## Hippie

Picked this one up for 60 bucks, should do everything I need it to


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## vlatva

Hi everyone. I specialize in structural cabling, so there is two way of testing it: the cheap or the expensive way!

If your customer wants to know just how much loss or cross-talk there is in every cable pulled on job, then your will need a proper tester. Fluke makes some great ones and a pretty much alone in the field. Fluke DTX are great machines, and cost a lot of money especially if you want the fiber add-on. Otherwise, Agilent use to make excellent testers, especially the Wirescope pro. You could probably get your hands on a used unit. I bought one from Electro rent corporation and they are a reputable company, as far as I am concerned. Still, LAN testers are expensive, and even second hand one's will cost more than 5K for a basic model. Plus, you need to get it calibrated every year (another 500$). So, only buy one if you have a lot of customers who request proper tests. Otherwise, stick with a simple continuity cable tester (we call them 'mode tap'). Siemon make a nice one and it sells for a few hundreds dollars. It will tell you if all pairs are ok, but nothing else. Still, most of the time that's all you and your clients need to know. If your customers wants a full range of tests to be done, chances are they will also need a full site certification, only to be done by someone who is a Certified installer. So it's either a simple and inexpensive test, or the real McCoy.


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## Signalservice

"Byte Brothers" have a whole line of LAN testersavailable at the low voltage houses, (adi, ses here in the midwest)their = to the ideal boxes you purchased is @$50. They also offer a speed tester for around $200. I just finished a 1 gig rated lan for some game writers: they were happy, and I did all with the basic tester! They had software to test it.


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## A Little Short

I have an Ideal VDV Mulitmedia. It has voice, data, video, and tone. Works well and not that expensive, about $90 from Amazon.


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## jeffmoss26

I bought one of the Ideal VDV testers (used) for 15 bucks on another forum. It works perfectly!


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## Mshea

electricalwiz said:


> this is what I use and I have never had a problem
> 
> http://www.specialized.net/Speciali...nkMaster-RJ45-Cable-Tester-w-Remote-3745.aspx
> 
> I think you can get at Depot or Lowes


Ewiz
That is not a tester but a wire map. It only checks continuity and wire mapping IE the wires go to the right termonal, are not shorted and are not open.

A real cable tester also does next and fext as well as signal speed, length, and integrity. Those are a lot of money and the only tools that will verify performance.

The cheap tester won't certify performance and I have seen plenty of correctly wired cables that will completely kill the performance of a network. Depending on the topology a bad cable can reduce a 100mbs networh to less than 10 mbs. Any customer that does not care will eventually wonder why they spend thousands of dollars to install or upgrade a network and don't see performance improvements or worse get decreases.
Frankly if they don't care they could probably do as well with a wireless network.
My favourite story about network cabling was related to a start up gaming software developer. They have huge data requirments and need very fast networks but like a lot of IT guys they spend too much time on the internet looking for ways to wire a network and add voice phones on the same cable. The wires were all installed by an electrical contractor with the customer terminating. I got there to inspect the cable installation and i watch this young guy terminating the two cables. 6 inches of strip back, unwound the pairs and pulled 2 wires out of the termination to connect to an rj-11 for a telephone. No cable tests and real crappy termination work.
I say to the guy what are you up to and he explains he read on the internet how a data cable only uses 5 or so of the 8 wires and the remainders could work for telephone.
I laughed and told him to call me when he wants to know why his data is always corrupted, why the network is crashing and the transfer speeds are slow and low. Not a week later he cannot get any performance much beyond email and they were running around the office with portable hard drives to transfer data and programming while trying to figure out their performance issues. 

I explained what I saw and why I thought they were going to have trouble. At the same time the Electrical contractor is fighting to get paid as the internet/gaming guys are all over the place from blaming the contractor for supplying defective wire and other sabotage scenarios.

Long story shortened they eventually went to another cabling specialist that came in and reterminated all the cables without the telephone and gave a test report. A couple of small glitches and they were up and running except now they don't have telephone cables installed and of course no space for the wires. Of course now we have VOIP phones but they didn't exist then.


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## halfamp

Thats a funny story mshea. I've seen a lot of networks hacked up by customers as well. I strongly recommend anyone doing network cabling invest in the fluke DTX to certify your install, as that certification alone covers your ass from angry customers looking top blame you. Someone once told me that over 90% of networking problems are related to the cable, and having your work certified takes the heat off of you


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## Ty Wrapp

Mshea, good story. I'm a lowly phone guy and have a question...I have a roll of 6pr cat 5, could 4 prs be used for data and 2 prs for phone? Does 6pr have any value in the data world? I'm familiar with 4pr, just curiuos about 6pr.


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## jeffmoss26

I've never seen 6 pair cat 5...only cat 3.


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## chewy

Ty Wrapp said:


> Mshea, good story. I'm a lowly phone guy and have a question...I have a roll of 6pr cat 5, could 4 prs be used for data and 2 prs for phone? Does 6pr have any value in the data world? I'm familiar with 4pr, just curiuos about 6pr.


Is there a slate pair in the cable? How do they orientate the pairs in the cable?


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## jeffmoss26

Well, you learn something everyday...
http://www.spsx.com/uploadedFiles/C...t_Information/Premises_Copper/6pair_CAT5e.pdf
I'd be concerned about maintaining the twists and minimal pair separation with one set of 4 pair and one set of 2 pair.


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## CDN EC

Who offers the really expensive ones for rent?


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## jeffmoss26

TRS-Rentelco is one that I often get emails from.


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