Cheap LAN tester

Just after a cheap one for when I have not got the works proper one.

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were the first two I could find.

Any other suggestions are welcome. I have no problems with paying a bit more for a better one if it has any benefits.

Reply to
ARW
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I got one like this:

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As it has a tone tracer. Also useful for finding which mains cables goes where!

Reply to
Fredxx

In article , ARW scribeth thus

Works fine that one does all you need for wiring..

Reply to
tony sayer

And the reason I am asking is that I wired up a new and unplanned data point on Friday in Leeds. Normally I would take the works tester with me and test any new points I have installed.

A simple enough job but I f***ed it up and I had no tester.

I patched it into no 23 and not 24 - my head was upside down in the back of the cabinet:-)

Reply to
ARW

Should've used 69?

Reply to
F

I have the Toolstation one and have used it a good deal: it's always worked flawlessly.

Bert

Reply to
Bert Coules

Mine, about ?4 from ebay has been invaluable for years now. It tests RJ45, RJ11 and usb cables. I think the usb test has been used a couple of times. I haven't ever tested RJ11 with it, but it appears to do so by having small blanking plastic plugs for the RJ45 sockets. I'd imagine that if I'd ever used these, I'd have lost them by now. Some RJ45 testers on ebay now are under ?3 with free delivery, one or two from "UK sellers".

Reply to
Bill

For checking you have the right pin wired to the right pin they will usually do the job nicely.

They probably wont spot things like split pairs - where the right connections are made, but with wires not in the right pairs, and they can't give any indication of the "quality" of the connection (near and far end crosstalk, bandwidth etc).

For new install stuff, the basic testers are fine (assuming you are not going to be running 10G ethernet over the wires)

The next level up testers, e.g:

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Add some handy bits like split pair detection, a tone injector, and possibly a capacitive cable length indication. Of those, tone injection is the most handy for finding which wire out of the many identical looking ones you are after.

I have one made by Ideal, with an add on pack of 8 remote modules. That's quite nice for new installs since you can do multiple connections at one end, and connect up the remote modules, then go do a bunch at the other end, and it will identify which module its connected to as well as testing the pinout. Alas they don't seem to do that one any more... ISTR it was a couple of hundred with the extra modules. This is probably comparable though, and included the modules:

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On vary rare occasions I wish I had access to a "full on" lan analyser - or something that at least contained a TDR, and could do frequency and noise performance tests. I have had a couple of times where connections have probably been nibbled by rodents, and the basic lan testers can't see any problem. However the connections no longer function reliably when in use. I expect a proper tester would show a fault here.

Reply to
John Rumm

Are you are one that that just buzzes the 4 pairs through or one that can certify the installed cable to a standard (Cat5e, 6a etc)? The latter won't be cheap :-o

Reply to
Tim Watts

Yep but avialable for half Toolstation/Screwfix prices without too much bother. I've got a cheapy as above but my reach for first is one of these:

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/B00LUIJGBA

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31LRL6

(Grabbed to illustrate the product. not the sellers).

The dongles strike me as rather expensive at a fiver each (they are nothing but a couple of handfuls of surface mount diodes resistors capacitors and a beeper). They have been reverse engineered though and I'm making my own(*), with a switch for the beeper. The tester itself works well and shows miswires clearly and which end is wrong. The cable length is pretty good it also doubles a cable fault/damage locator. Best to measure from both ends though.

(*) Would already have if CPC hadn't sent me 7.5 V zener diodes instead of 3.3 V. Packet labled with right order code, diodes inside incorrect, order recieved yonks ago and didn't discover the picking error until the ID function on my just constructed dongles didn't work last week.

Reply to
Dave Liquorice

ARW explained :

Those are both the same unit and the same as the one I use. It works absolutely fine, you can test a short cable or a long one with remote ends.

Mine came with a bag of crimps, a fair crimper and the unit for around £5 from China.

Reply to
Harry Bloomfield

I have one of these:

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It also does USB cables and (basic) checks on coax cables.

Reply to
Brian Reay

I am looking at buying this (or something similar) as well very soon.

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I am still replacing kit from the van break-in last year.

Reply to
ARW

For you that fact they can tolerate being connected to the mains is good, tone tracers designed for LAN/telecoms works tend to let the magic smoke out in such circumstances.

They know how to get maximum money from you though. The FFCB200UK sender is the more versatile as it has an IEC on the sender so can be simply plugged into a socket or clipped on with the supplied clips/probes lead but it doesn't have a battery, so by implication works on live circuits.

The sender in the DCF200 is clips only but has a battery and some extra pretty lights to say the circuit is live or short but the manual says it's not for use on a live circuits.

Reply to
Dave Liquorice

Well its two totally different units (for two different jobs) sold in one package to save a few quid. I am also looking at Kewtech and Martingale products.

Basically these two kits sold as one.

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and

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But I need such kit. ATM I am borrowing it from the office as and when needed.

Reply to
ARW

Not quite sure I follow the "two different jobs", both are a signal injector with a tracer probe. Surely what one can do the other can as well? Any limitations are down to deliberate design decisions, one needs a live circuit for the sender and maybe the other supresses it's output when connected to a live circuit. ie they are flogging you 4 boxes when they could design a system that only requires two.

Reply to
Dave Liquorice

It does seem a lot for what it is. Can you not get something from China on fleabay for £15?

NT

Reply to
tabbypurr

Everything they sell seems miles overpriced. The name grates, too.

What's the advantage over a > £20 tone tester pair?

Reply to
Jim

A £20 tone tester pair senders don't like being connected to the mains. Even if it did I'm not sure how well it would work as all they do is inject an audio tone onto the pairs. On live mains the 50 Hz at

+48 dBV swamps my ordianry tone tracer probe. Reading between the lines of the description/manuaI for the Soocket and See kit I have a suspicion they may be RF based.
Reply to
Dave Liquorice

It doesn't blow up when you connect it to mains by mistake at a rough guess.

Its something an electrician might want but most telecoms would be fine if it survived 50V and ringing voltage.

LANs need to survive PoE these days.

Reply to
dennis

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