sundance-communications.com/forum Forums Wiring - Telecom Carriers - Trunks & Services Cabling Telephones Systems Wiring how do you test your cables, if more than one installed

Hello,

How do you guys test your cable runs when you pull more than one?

I am not in the field, but have to run on occasion a few cable here and there at my job, sometimes more than one at the time.

Do you test each one individually, use multiple remotes?

I developed a method that seems to be working every time at least for me, one remote connected to dual gang plastic old work box, with 12 port cat5e jacks wired in a daisy chain?


this is just a method of testing proper pin crimp on one end and corresponding pins of the jack or another plug on the other end. Mostly cat5e, and occasional cat3

Constructive criticism welcomed.

Sounds to me like you've terminated your cables with modular plugs. :bang:

I take the time to test each one individually. When I walk out the door, if something doesn't work, it's the CG's problem with HIS equipment.

I use a Fluke DTX 1200, for larger jobs have a smaller continuity tester for smaller jobs.

Yes, the those are data terminations, modular rj45 plugs, as they just plug directly into the switch(es)in the server room ( which looks horrible due to several reasons, I have added a few pounds of tasteful blue and gray spaghetti to it, at least I labeled those cables. )
The room looks terrible due to lack of care on the owners part, I just have to sometimes make new runs and make it blend in with the rest mess that's already in there ,as the owner does not want spend money on making things look good and be organized so that future installs and troubleshoots would be easier.
Anyway, back to the testing of the cables, so one end has the plugs all plugged into the hommemade rig, and then I just walk to the other end of the cable run ( diff. offices) and use the tester to make sure all the wires are crimped correctly on both ends to 568B. This allows me only to use one remote on one end where all the cables are ran to, this eliminated the need of switching the remote from one tested cable on to the next one. This way I can test up to 11 cables only by going from one office on to the next one, and not back and forth from server room to the next office.

The test you're doing will only test continuity and proper pinout. It won't detect things like split pairs, nor noise, or a bunch of other things that can kill data.

I would never put 8p8c plugs (did I get that plugs on the end of building wiring cables - permanent wires should never be movable by the user, certainly not for routine work. They are expensive to put in, and things that move break. That's the reason for patch cables - they are cheap and replaceable, and they are what will get damaged when a user pulls on cables or runs over a cable with a chair - not the permanent wiring.

Fluke DTX 1800. One cable at a time of course.

I also scan every cable installed with a DTX1800

Cepega:

All data wires should be terminated on female 8p8c female jacks.

There should be jacks at the work station end, and a panel of jacks at the equipment room end. Then, there should be patch cords that plug into the female jacks at the following locations:

Back of the computer

Wall jack

Patch panel

Router / switch

The patch cords are expendable. The permanent wiring never gets touched after the initial installation.

If you use this method, and are careful, you will not need to test for correct placement of conductors, or continuity.

I do not have even one 8p8c male plug in my truck, nor do I have a crimping tool to use with them.

Do it the right way, and it will never give you a problem.

Let me clear up the confusion here, I installed the jacks in the offices, its the server room condition that bugs me every time I have to go inside there, there is no patch panel(s), all voice and data cables plugs in directly into merlin sys and few switches respectively. The owner does not care for the certification of the cable runs, just make sure it works, simple continuity is good enough for the price paid. I'd love to clean it up , but it seems like as long as it works, leave it alone policy is in place.




Here is my quick wiring of 12 port rig I setup, I also made a 5 port version of the same concept from siemon jacks that were salvaged



Here is how it works, plug remote into any port, and plug the rest of the cables in, now go to the other end of the cable where the jack are and just plug the tester into them using a patch cord.
Quick and easy

If there is a problem with 1 cable, then you have to unplug them one at a time to see which cable is at fault...and if there are two cables with problems, say a reversal on one cable and an open on another cable?

For wire mapping I use a STM-8 with 4 remotes, it doesn't take all that much time on small jobs.

On larger jobs Fluke DTX 1800.

First of all, Thanks for all the replies.

correct me if I am wrong , but the developed rig acts as a splitter, all ports are tested, and connected together.

If there is a problem with one or two cables it is easy to determine which one is the problem, as I see at the jack if the pins are mis-wired or have opens, etc.., going back to the server room (where all my cables are marked to correspond appropriately with their jacks) to the my 12 port box with remote connected to it, and all I have to locate the wire in question and re-crimp if thats required ( never have to do it as I have an OCD making sure its done right the first time around, checking for appropriate pin our color code scheme in the plug and jack before and after crimping/punching.) But, I guess things do happen sometimes, I leave room for error, to make it easier to determine which cable(s) if any are problem, I have my marking on the cables.

First of all, Thanks for all the replies.

correct me if I am wrong , but the developed rig acts as a splitter, all ports are tested, and connected together.

If there is a problem with one or two cables it is easy to determine which one is the problem, as I see at the jack if the pins are mis-wired or have opens, etc.., going back to the server room (where all my cables are marked to correspond appropriately with their jacks) to the my 12 port box with remote connected to it, and all I have to locate the wire in question and re-crimp if thats required ( never have to do it as I have an OCD making sure its done right the first time around, checking for appropriate pin our color code scheme in the plug and jack before and after crimping/punching.) But, I guess things do happen sometimes, I leave room for error, to make it easier to determine which cable(s) if any are problem, I have my marking on the cables.

Welcome to the board Cepega. Time for the constructive criticism You'll notice that no one has said "wow! awesome idea" because for the most part larger installations are certified which requires testing each run separately and to walk back and forth a few times when testing smaller jobs is not really that big of a deal is it? That testing rig makes me nervous. hehe

It's not a bad idea, but it's not awesome either. If one of your cables had a short it would cause all the tests to fail. But yes, plug the dongle into one of the jacks, and plug up to 11 cables in and run the tests at the other end. Doesn't help you ID the cables at all.

The hanging cables with crimped on ends it absolutely terrible. There is no reason to keep it up. Make a new policy that any new cables get punched down on a patch panel, and patch cords make up the rest of the connection. Eventually, everything will get cleaned up.

Get a "blank" patch panel, that takes keystone jacks. Terminate your existing cables a little at a time on it, and patch them back in. Won't take long, but doesn't need to be done all at once.

I use a Test-Um Lancaster pro with 8 remotes. It tests all pairs, identifies the cable and will test data speed if plugged into a network. It will also ping and request an ip by DHCP.

I recently decided to use mod patch panels. In other words I terminate a jack on both ends of the run, plug the mdf end into the patch panel and the other into a faceplate. Makes access to the back of the patch panel practically unnecessary and a lot easier to add cables later.

Here is an idea install an unloaded patch panel for the new runs that you are installing. You start out on the right foot. Plan your back board so if at some point in time you do get to clean it up it will look great when done. Just an idea. I tell new customers that I don't crimp end on cables I do it right and terminate in patch panel they can get someone else if they dont like that idea. I install quite a few unloaded patch panels, cost effective (cheap). Good luck

If I'm not mistaken, I see lots of cut-off blue wires in that photo. They can be pulled out, and you will at least have a little better chance at making things easier to trace.

Explain to the customer (use my remarks above, if you wish) that you need to gradually change the wiring in the closet over from lunacy to sanity.

24-port and 48-port patch panels appear for sale on Ebay regularly, at very reasonable prices.

As far as saving steps doing tests, the job we do entails exercise in the form of walking, climbing, squatting, kneeling, bending and lifting. Exercise is good for you.

I am also in Cleveland. I'll come clean the whole thing up for ya

I still this this should have been filed under "Pictures of Ugly Work"

"Pictures of Typical Work"

I don't do a lot of cable installs right now, so it's been a while...but 5 years ago I used a Fluke meeter that had 8 remotes. The really nice thing with the 8 remotes is that they all had IDs that showed up on my cable tester on the other end, so I knew if I mislabeled a cable or put it in the wrong position on a wall plate.

If there is noise/crosstalk/split-pairs/attenuation on the line, your meter probably wont' detect it - so long as the cable is wired straight through. If you reversed (on both ends) say the orange and brown wires (not the striped ones, just the solid ones), your tester would say things were fine. But it wouldn't work for ethernet.

I've worked for cheap employers before who won't fix things if they think it's working right. So I feel your pain. All I would suggest is to do any additions correctly - the first thing to do when in a hole is to stop digging!!! A patch panel can be bought for $100 or so, and is well worth the expense. Maybe fix one or two old cables when you put in new ones. You'll be amazed at how soon things can get fixed. The room you pictured could look very nice - something you'd be proud of.

One more thing I noticed - the short blue patch cable you use for your remote is improperly crimped - too much of the cable jacket is stripped off. It should continue so that it is also under the strain relief (the plastic wedge that gets crimped by the tool) in the plug body. This will make the plug last longer. Otherwise the strain relief on the plug can't do its job and someone can too easily pull the cable out of the plug.

I think I last "cripmed" a cable about 5 years ago in my amusement park installation. We ended up digging it back up and using a Cat-5e splice kit instead :-)

Here's how I solved my problem of identifying cables https://www.techtoolsupply.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=TP314 It won't test them, but it works to finding where the cables are in a mystery installation. I still use the old 3 or 4 toner method (pair of 77's, and a couple of random toners) to find cables.

Carl

I use the datalite with 100 remotes and two units , one light red one green

using a homemade cable here is foolish , you can be a factory 6" cord for next to nothing . in a failure You would always have to suspect that cord (I would )

I haven't crimped a network cable in ages either - at least 5 years as well. Patch cords are cheap (provided you get them some place like Graybar and not someplace like OfficeDepot or Wal-Mart). One caution though - don't buy the cheap stuff online (I had a coworker that caused an outage to 6,000 nodes with a cheap patch cable that failed months after putting it into service; he thought he saved money by finding a cable for 50 cents).

But I'm surprised that people say they haven't crimped a cable in 5+ years...don't you guys also end up with someone saying that their Polycom conference phone's cable got yanked out of the wall? (at least the older ones don't have a user-replaceable cord) I've lost count of the number of connectors I've re-crimped on them - and I'm not a phone guy. I could probably set up a side business fixing the things!

Seems to be discontinued.

Doh! Posted this one in error.