Cable Testing

[enjay]

Like most people, I have one of those £2.99 cable testers which says if a cable is mis-wired or badly damaged. The next step up in testing would appear to be the Fluke Linkrunner for £1300!

 

Can anyone recommend any other products for testing CAT5 and fibre, looking for damaged cables, interference, poor quality, etc? Alternatively, can anyone reassure me the Fluke really is the product of choice...

[rich_tech]

We have a JDSU Validator NT which does telephone/cat5e/cat6 cables here, it cost a fair whack and is a few years old, I think it was a region of £800-1000 back then.

 

Think this is the type of device your looking for nowadays - SmartClass Ethernet | Viavi Solutions Inc. - most decent devices that do that are not cheap, though I would say a tester laser to shine down a fibre is a cheaper alternative for fibre testing gear and a decent cat5/6 tester

[snagrat]

We have the Fluke DTX-1800......but that is probably out of your price range

[mikeyd101]

We have a Fluke Intellitone Pro 200, its great for testing and finding cables. We have nothing for fibre.

[john]

I also have a Test Um unit wasn't cheap but got it 2nd user from a cabling firm who upgraded to the new JDSU unit (which is very nice!) maybe worth talking to your cabling firm they maybe able to come in and test for you or do you a deal to hire one of the units they are using if you want to DIY it when they are on a big cabling job where they are not testing if they are not big enough to have lots of units.

[Oaktech]

The fluke is the boss, but the boss is expensive. There aren't really any super cheap alternatives. A Test-Um Validator off ebay is probably your cheapest good option.

[enjay]

maybe worth talking to your cabling firm they maybe able to come in and test for you

 

I did ask them, and they charged me £600/day, so it wouldn't take long before I could have bought a Fluke myself.

 

if you want to DIY it when they are on a big cabling job where they are not testing

 

Interesting idea. I hadn't thought of borrowing kit while they're on site not using it. Not ideal though.

 

- - - Updated - - -

 

The fluke is the boss, but the boss is expensive.

Who is second in charge, and how much do they cost?!

 

- - - Updated - - -

 

A Test-Um Validator off ebay is probably your cheapest good option.

That doesn't test fibre though, right?

[john]

Some Test-um's do fibre depends on the model, tbh fibre testing if you are not sure what you are doing can be a dark art to work out if its good bad iffy or ugly its probably worth just paying someone to do your fibre testing for you.

[Gaz]

I've got this, it doesn't do fibre but it will be more than sufficient for anything that doesn't need a cert.

Peak Electronic Design Limited - Atlas IT - Network Cable Analyser - Model UTP05

 

I really want a fluke linksprinter 300 though

LinkSprinter Network Tester | Troubleshooting DHCP, DNS, Gateway, and PoE Tester | Fluke Networks®

[newpersn]

There was a fluke device I used when I was at college

 

It was a mono screen but could tell you distance, type of cable, damaged or not.

 

Can't think of it now

[Sylv3r]

We had a cracking fluke tester but the Network Manager dropped a switch on it during the 6 week holidays and bust it. Fluke are refusing to provide us with the part number for a replacement screen, and are wanting to charge us nearly £600 for repair, I paid just over that when I bought it brand new!

[m25man]

We had a cracking fluke tester but the Network Manager dropped a switch on it during the 6 week holidays and bust it. Fluke are refusing to provide us with the part number for a replacement screen, and are wanting to charge us nearly £600 for repair, I paid just over that when I bought it brand new!

 

I laugh at your quote....

I pay close to £2000 pa for Gold support for my most valued Fluke kit which includes all updates NBD swap out including accidental damage and with Fluke you have to take Gold from day 1 not after a year oh no...

 

In 3 years I've had 2 battery packs and 3 firmware updates!

 

The kit is great but it's probably cheaper to maintain a Ferrari....

[NotSoFast]

My brother in law used to work for Fluke. Their margins are incredible, but they seem to know they're the only game in town.

[localzuk]

We have a GreenLee NETcat Pro NC-500 here.

 

Does Cat5e and (weirdly, IMO), coax.

 

Doesn't do all the certification stuff, but tells you wire layout, length and can do tone generation for pairing with a tone detector for cable tracing. It also has network device capability detection, but only up to 100 Base T

 

We paid around £180 for it a few years back when it was on offer. It came in a kit with 8 numbered remote probes, so that you can plug them all in and go to the panel, and get an ID back for each line you test. There's also a probe with crocodile clip tails, for single pair wire testing.

 

NC-500 NETCAT PRO 2 - GREENLEE COMMUNICATIONS - NETWORK TROUBLESHOOTER | CPC UK

[crc-ict]

We had a cracking fluke tester but the Network Manager dropped a switch on it during the 6 week holidays and bust it. Fluke are refusing to provide us with the part number for a replacement screen, and are wanting to charge us nearly £600 for repair, I paid just over that when I bought it brand new!

 

I'd be opening it up personally, there's bound to be a part number on the screen itself.

[Sylv3r]

I'd be opening it up personally, there's bound to be a part number on the screen itself.

 

Already tried it - nothing. It looks so simple to fix as well, I guess even if we found the part number they probably wouldn't sell it to us anyway!