atcomsystems.ca/forum Forums Wiring - Telecom Carriers - Trunks & Services Cabling Telephones Systems Wiring Cat 6 Cable Certifier or Qualifier

Our company uses Flukes. Mostly DTX-1800s but we have a few DSX-5000s. Those testers really fly.

Would anyone know if cabling next to LED canned recessed lighting, is subject to Electrical interference?

I know halogen, fluorescent, dimmers, cause issues, but not sure about LED lighting?

Have you ever seen that to be a fact or is it hearsay from other people/internet forums?

-Hal

Depends. LED lighting uses a transformer and rectifier to reduce the voltage to 12 VDC. In all of the better quality fixtures, I have detected no radio or emf interference from those fixtures and, therefore, there is no concern to data cable proximity.

However, some cheaply made junk (read that and translate ANY way you want) there is significant emf radiation, even 6 inches away from the fixture. These use a cylindrical transformer/rectifier unit rather than a well built and shielded "good quality" unit. I took one apart and found the transformer is a toroidal type and those are very well designed with proper filters to be clean, however the "junk" are notorious for being extremely "noisy" because they have zero filters or chokes.

A quick check for "dirty" fixtures is using an AM radio, place it within a foot of the fixture. If it is making a lot of noise, steer your data cable clear of the fixture. If it's quiet, wrap a few turns around the fixture for a "drip loop." (If you don't get the joke, don't install the "drip loop").

Rcaman

Thanks so much, helps a lot. I think they have drywalled us in, so I am at mercy of, are these fixtures of good quality. Wasn't sure if there is anything to wrap around cable to protect from interference.

Answer to previous post: In one instance, we were getting major interference from Halogen light or dimmers. We were certifying cable in day. In evening, cable would not pass.

UTP is UTP for a reason. If one would try and "shield" the cable from interference, the "shield" would be a metallic wrap and that would render the cable Shielded twisted pair and your capacitance would be out of tolerance resulting is data corruption.

The BEST method of avoiding interference is distance away from the source.

Rcaman

Ok, fair enough. My question was based on the fact that I never get involved with certification, reason being that it often opens a can of worms and this is a prime example. My bet is that the interference disrupts the test but will have no effect when the network is used to transmit data. But try and tell that to the IT geek to whom certification is everything. So now, after you finished the installation you are faced with additional costs out of your pocket to "make it work" through no fault of your own.

In many instances it's almost impossible to avoid the so called sources of interference. My opinion is that UTP has outlived it's usefulness and it's time to move on to fiber.

-Hal

Hal, people have been predicting the end of copper for years now. Then they look at the cost of fiber network cards and especially fiber switches and go right back to Cat- whatever.

Personally I think that the manufacturers are working magic to get the bandwidth they have out of copper. Cat 7 is out in Europe (Level F) and should be approved here soon (if it's not already).

I remember when they brought out Cat 5. We thought we'd never run a piece of data cable again. Who'd need it? And here we are 25 years later, still putting in the latest and the greatest.

With the decline of the Telephone business, it's given us something to do.

Sam

I think the reason for that is twofold. First, the copper manufacturers have a vested interest in copper. Not only does data cable probably represent a large percentage of their business, every few years they come out with something that makes the existing obsolete, generating more money. With fiber, once it's installed there is virtually no obsolescence.

Second, the skillset to work with and install fiber is limited. You won't find a corner trunkslammer, sparkie or IT geek to install it for next to nothing like you can for UTP. So there is going to be a higher installation cost and that is what causes a backlash- until they start selling it at Home Depot.

If fiber were to come into more common use the cost of the associated peripheral equipment would come way down.

-Hal