Network cable tester recommendations.

[ojc123]

I've no particular expertise in this area. I've looked around and I'm a little overwhelmed by the range of kit on offer from £2.99 to £299.

 

Can someone please recommend a slightly more robust CAT5/6 cable tester? We've had a couple of variations on this kind of thing but they haven't lasted well. We're basically only checking continuity so we don't need lots of functions but we do need reliability.

 

Thanks in advance.

[xllx]

I've no particular expertise in this area. I've looked around and I'm a little overwhelmed by the range of kit on offer from £2.99 to £299.

 

Can someone please recommend a slightly more robust CAT5/6 cable tester? We've had a couple of variations on this kind of thing but they haven't lasted well. We're basically only checking continuity so we don't need lots of functions but we do need reliability.

 

Thanks in advance.

 

 

What are you testing?

 

If you are just checking cable continuity, then go for an almost disposable tester like the one you mention. Buy a couple, try and look after them, but don't worry too much if they get lost or broken.

 

Next step up is one that will measure cable length. Very useful in working out where a break is in a cable, or more usually, which end has a bad RJ45 crimp! I'm told by a colleague that these aren't bad, and just a little more useful than the basic models.

 

After that, your next step is into devices that do all of the above, probably have multiple cable identifiers, and can ping IP addresses and pick up an IP address from a DHCP server, which is very useful for checking that your devices are on the correct VLAN. Personally I use the older version of the Fluke Linkrunner

 

Finally, do you need to verify and certify cables? My old fluke can't certify cable, I use a separate Fluke for that, but the newer version of the Microscanner 2 will do it.

[ojc123]

We're basically just checking continuity. Thanks for your thoughts.

[dmxlights]

I have one of these and would not use any thing else as it can also tell you even if one of the pairs has a broken wire ie if it is one of the green pair as in pins 3 and 6 it can tell which one of them 2 pins is missing and where the break is. It also can tell you how long the cable is and if yo plug it in to a network cable that pluged in to a switch it will tell you what speed of that port

https://cpc.farnell.com/ideal-networks/vdv-ii-pro/network-cable-verifier/dp/IN06965

this can also do coax cable as well I have made adaptors to work with xlr mic leads as well

 

[andy™]

I use an ideal VDV2 pro

[Brian]

Studiospares do a cable tester, which along with your usual array of XLRs/Speakons/Phonos etc etc, does RJ45.

 

You can find them on eBay direct from Studiospares.

[ninjadingle]

I recently bought one of these - the functionality of being able to plug a few plugs into sockets then go to the cabinet and find out which is which appealed. Can also send tones for cable route tracing which is useful!

[sunray]

I've had one of these for 20 years. VERY basic and only tells a pair is good or bad but never had any problems with it.https://cpc.farnell.com/pro-s-kit/3pk-nt005/multi-network-cable-tester/dp/IN01747?st=network%20cable%20tester. I think I paid under £5 at the time with the expectation I'd have to replace it regularly. A quick scan of my orders tells me I've purchased over 3ooo plugs and a guestimation say it's probably tested 4 or 5 times that many circuits so not heavily used.

[TonyMitchell]

I bought this Fluke unit around a year ago, which has proved useful on many other cable locating/fault finding missions, beside the data duties it was bought for.