Cable Tracing - how do you do it?

[soveryapt]

Ok, so doing some work at a rather posh large house. Basically, there has been a network installed for a while but it wasn't working, which meant internet access was limited. Anyway, got most of it sorted as the network points that weren't working were just wired REALLY badly so there were no common pins. Anyway, resolved that and was able to trace this easily.

 

I was also asked to trace back some other bare ended Cat5 as they were hopeful I could connect this in somewhere so they could plug in their Sky Box and their Apple TV when they get it. So, out comes my tone and trace to see if the thing comes anywhere close to their central distribution in the house, but no was the answer, so I spent my time wondering the house looking for any sign of any access panels where the cable might run through or any othe LAN points where it might come into etc, but to no avail. I tried speaking with one of the original contractors, but this has been run in by someone else.

 

Now, my issue is that where these cables go from go out the back of this rather expensive hard wood cabinet that can't be moved and on the other side of the wall is a sauna / pool etc, so I can't even get to find out whether these cables go up the wall, across the wall or down, so, how would you do it?

 

I'm thinking at the moment its probably going to be easier to just run through a new cable and I'm awaiting various drawings to be able to see the best way to do this, but if anyone has any rather splendid suggestions of how I might trace this some other way, I'm all ears!

 

Thanks

Andy

[plexer]

I'd use a tester that can measure length that'll give you an idea of if they run for any decent length and therefore are likely to be accessible somewhere if it reports they are short I wouldn't bother worrying about them.

 

Ben

[soveryapt]

Ah yes .. maybe I'll re-prioritise my "I must buy one of those" lists and move that up a bit .. any recommendations for one?

[Ric_]

I had one of these where I used to work... it was invaluable! JDSU - Validator

[soveryapt]

I had one of these where I used to work... it was invaluable! JDSU - Validator

 

*prioritises tools, de-prioritises food for the family .. lol*

 

Though there is a 905 on eBay for not too much..

[plexer]

TEST-UM NT750 kit is what I have.

 

Ben

[plexer]

JDSU Test-Um TP650 Testifier PRO All Cable Tester TP-650 TP 650 | eBay

 

Ben

[Ric_]

I had the 750... the reason for choosing that was that it certifies cables too (and give pretty graphs).

[john]

Must admit I would be going for what @Ric_ had at his last place if buying one now

 

As for finding this missing cable, how quality is your tone and trace tool? Cheap ones are usually not good over a long distance I have a fairly decent one and that is good at emitting a good tone through plaster and I can certainly walk using it as a true finding tool in a sea of rubbish and find the cable

[twin--turbo]

Put a new cable in.

 

Rob

[soveryapt]

Must admit I would be going for what @Ric_ had at his last place if buying one now

 

As for finding this missing cable, how quality is your tone and trace tool? Cheap ones are usually not good over a long distance I have a fairly decent one and that is good at emitting a good tone through plaster and I can certainly walk using it as a true finding tool in a sea of rubbish and find the cable

 

My tone and trace tool is usually quite good. Find cables over quite a distance very nicely. It's not a super expensive one, but neither is it a cheap and nasty one. I've managed to use it to trace cables through the ceiling at my own place (there are speaker cables running through the place as the previous owner was toying with putting in a home entertainment system with zones etc) so I wanted to know where they ran and this found them nicely in the walls and even helped me identify the other ends etc.

 

As for the cable tester, I'll keep my eyes open ..

[Kingstech]

We have got a http://www.flukenetworks.com/enterprise-network/network-testing/CableIQ-Qualification-Tester fluke this works really well. But it is not a cheap. Edited February 15, 2013 by Kingstech

[rich_tech]

would recommend the 905, previous tech insisted on getting it at the school I work at and whereas he could not/did not use it (several cable failures on wiring jobs that he and a previous DT technician did on the site) I can use it though and it saves a lot of time and effort, though its not cheap that's for sure, good for reporting though, I had to check a department and found 7 out of 28 cable fails with this device and could make a lovely report out of it all for the SLT

[soveryapt]

Ok, resurrecting this one briefly for what (I'm sure) is a really dumb ass question, but..

 

Now that I actually have a bit of cash spare to buy a cable do dah, what exactly is the difference between a cable validator and cable certifier? Is it just that one will verify you have done all the wiring correctly and thus it should run at the specification you've stated, where as the certifier will actually punish the line to make sure that it's capable?

[mac_shinobi]

I had the 750... the reason for choosing that was that it certifies cables too (and give pretty graphs).

 

What do you search for on ebay to find the 750 or 650 ?

[rich_tech]

Ok, resurrecting this one briefly for what (I'm sure) is a really dumb ass question, but..

 

Now that I actually have a bit of cash spare to buy a cable do dah, what exactly is the difference between a cable validator and cable certifier? Is it just that one will verify you have done all the wiring correctly and thus it should run at the specification you've stated, where as the certifier will actually punish the line to make sure that it's capable?

 

Yes thatis the basic difference between the two items, the certifier can check that cabling meets standards i.e. ours checks phone cables as well as Cat5, Cat5e and Cat6 standards and the line speeds (from 10meg through to 1 gbps)