Testing Cat 5 Calbes...

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- SpreadTooThin
  
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posted
17 years ago

Wed, Sep 6, 2006 2:12 PM

Hi. How do you recommend testing cat 5 network cables once they have been fished through a house. It would appear that some cables in the house are not working. If the cable were not run I would be in able to have both ends very close together, but now one end is at one end of the house and the other end is in the basement. So I am thinking I need something to put in the RJ-45 female socket and something at the other end of the RJ-45 male connector. This must be a common problem. How is this normally tested?

TIA.

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- Dmitri(Cabling-Design.com
  
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posted
17 years ago

Wed, Sep 6, 2006 6:02 PM

It is a common problem indeed. They make specialized tools for that. The tools have a main unit and a remote unit that plugs into the other end of the cable. There are tools that only test wire maps (less than $100) and there are those that test all the standard electrical parameters (in excess of $5000). Have fun with using your favorite search engine and search for "cat5 tester". Literally millions of results come up. From what I can see you need a simple wire map test most of all because your cables are probably not long enough to make all other problems very significant. Unless, of course you stapled your cables flat or kinked them badly while installing.

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- DLR
  
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posted
17 years ago

Wed, Sep 6, 2006 10:56 PM

I've now seen this twice. Putting plugs on the home run end of home network wiring to save a few $.

You can get a wiring tester which will tell you if the wires are all connected and correctly pinned for under $50. I think I've seen cheap ones for $10 to $20.

But first I'd read my contract with the folks who did the wiring and see if there's a clause to get them back to do it right. Jacks (FEMALE) on each end.