Locate cable break

[sdc]

Hi

 

Does anyone have any ideas as to how to locate a break in a cable? I can think of plenty of ways to do so with a twisted pair, but this is a single flat cable run under a large area of carpet tiles (it's an induction loop for hearing aids). The ends of the cable are accessible, and there's no continuity across them, and rather than unglue hundreds of carpet tiles, I'd like to have a bit more of an idea of whereabouts the fault is.

 

Has anyone come across any equipment to do this on a single cable? Or any clever ways of trying to work it out, please?

 

Many thanks for any suggestions!

Stephen

[plexer]

My network tester a lanscaper NT700 can put a tone on a single cable which can then be traced to the break.

 

Ben

[Mcshammer_dj]

if it is inside a duct? or is is it glued down under the tiles?

[SYNACK]

You may be able to use some old school telephone testing technology, a tone generator at one and with a non-contact detector and you may be able to detect the cables run path all the way until it looses continuity.

 

Untitled Document

Cyberguys.com - Test-Um KP100 Tone and Probe Kit

[plexer]

erm yeah that's what I said.

 

Test-Um High Power Tone and Test Field Kit KP105

 

Ben

[sdc]

Thanks, I have a telephone testing kit - tone generator with inductive amplifier - but I was under the (possibly mistaken!) impression that they required a pair of wires to work properly...?

 

I'd be very pleased to hear if this isn't the case, however, and I can simply send the tone down a single "leg" of cable.

 

The cable isn't ducted, it is specifically designed for "under carpet" induction loops, and has a thin clear plastic sheathing with a narrow strip of double-sided tape on one side (see attached picture). We then covered this with gaffer tape to protect it, and then the carpeting company laid tiles directly over the top of the lot. The whole thing's only been installed for about a year, which is why it's a bit surprising to have it fail like this..!

[CyberNerd]

You need a Time Domain Reflectometer (TDR) some network testers have them built in.

Time-domain reflectometer - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[SYNACK]

erm yeah that's what I said.

 

Test-Um High Power Tone and Test Field Kit KP105

 

Ben

 

Yeap, saw that when I came back to view the thread later as the posts were quite close together and the ajax stuff did not update previous posts. I haven't deleted it as yet but can if the presence of duplicate data is problematic.