OT LAN speed

Off topic.

Hi all,

In our home LAN, connected one switch to the other by a 30 m long CAT5E
cable. The cable was there already, but I made new connectors to both
ends, as the cable was longer than necessary. To my surprise I found at
the switch that only 1 LED was blinking, indicating that it was a 100
Mbps connection. All other connectors show 2 LED's, which means it is a
Gbps connection.
I made a test. From my pc (W10) via a switch to the server (W10):
201/512 Mbps (W/R).
From another pc (W7), via the 2 switches and the 30m cable to the
server, 73/92 Mbps (W/R).
Why is this connection so low? I tried several times to mount new
connectors to both ends of that cable, but it did not improve anything.
So the cable should be allright. Or should I place a CAT6 cable?

Curious as to what peaople here think about this.

Fokke

Fokke Nauta wrote:
Off topic.

Hi all,

In our home LAN, connected one switch to the other by a 30 m long CAT5E
cable. The cable was there already, but I made new connectors to both
ends, as the cable was longer than necessary. To my surprise I found at
the switch that only 1 LED was blinking, indicating that it was a 100
Mbps connection. All other connectors show 2 LED's, which means it is a
Gbps connection.
I made a test. From my pc (W10) via a switch to the server (W10):
201/512 Mbps (W/R).
From another pc (W7), via the 2 switches and the 30m cable to the
server, 73/92 Mbps (W/R).
Why is this connection so low? I tried several times to mount new
connectors to both ends of that cable, but it did not improve anything.
So the cable should be allright. Or should I place a CAT6 cable?

Curious as to what peaople here think about this.

Fokke

Do you have a Marvell NIC on one of your computers,
that has the Virtual Cable Tester ?

https://web.archive.org/web/20030320...hite_Paper.pdf

VCT can detect open or shorted or "properly terminated"
connections on the pairs in CAT5 cable. The white paper shows
electrical waveforms demonstrating various cable failures.

To use it, you power off the destination device
(so it cannot interfere with the measurements). The
Marvell NIC end sends "pings" down the cable, and like
a TDR (time domain reflectometer), the Marvell chip
looks for reflections coming back. The signal shape
determines the status message the VCT test shows
as a result.

Marvell NIC ---X----------------------------------X---- (Powered Off router,
(with VCT) (Put your test cable in place) terminates line)

I used that to detect a dirty pin on an RJ45 once.
It said "one pair was open", out of the four twisted pairs.

If the router itself had a problem (open connection or
cold solder joint inside the router), that part of the
hardware is in the test path too. Make sure you have
enough "reliable, tested" gear to use, before placing
a defective item into the circuit.

*******

100BT uses four wires, arranged in two pairs. These are
on pins 1,2,3,6.

To have GbE operation, all four pairs are used, a total of
eight wires and eight pins. If not enough wires are available,
because something is broken or dirty, the interface can drop
back to 100BT (which means a minimum of two working pairs
are required).

That could be what you're seeing.

You can also "force" NICs to sub-rates. This is a PHY
feature. The PHY will "auto-negotiate" the highest
available rate, but if you want, you could artifically
set the rate to 100BT full duplex or 100BT half duplex
just for fun. The setting might well be stored in the
registry somewhere.

Paul

On 13/05/2018 01:16, Paul wrote:
Fokke Nauta wrote:
Off topic.

Hi all,

In our home LAN, connected one switch to the other by a 30 m long
CAT5E cable. The cable was there already, but I made new connectors to
both ends, as the cable was longer than necessary. To my surprise I
found at the switch that only 1 LED was blinking, indicating that it
was a 100 Mbps connection. All other connectors show 2 LED's, which
means it is a Gbps connection.
I made a test. From my pc (W10) via a switch to the server (W10):
201/512 Mbps (W/R).
From another pc (W7), via the 2 switches and the 30m cable to the
server, 73/92 Mbps (W/R).
Why is this connection so low? I tried several times to mount new
connectors to both ends of that cable, but it did not improve
anything. So the cable should be allright. Or should I place a CAT6
cable?

Curious as to what peaople here think about this.

Fokke

Do you have a Marvell NIC on one of your computers,
that has the Virtual Cable Tester ?

https://web.archive.org/web/20030320...hite_Paper.pdf


VCT can detect open or shorted or "properly terminated"
connections on the pairs in CAT5 cable. The white paper shows
electrical waveforms demonstrating various cable failures.

To use it, you power off the destination device
(so it cannot interfere with the measurements). The
Marvell NIC end sends "pings" down the cable, and like
a TDR (time domain reflectometer), the Marvell chip
looks for reflections coming back. The signal shape
determines the status message the VCT test shows
as a result.

Marvell NIC ---X----------------------------------X---- (Powered Off
router,
(with VCT) (Put your test cable in place) terminates
line)

I used that to detect a dirty pin on an RJ45 once.
It said "one pair was open", out of the four twisted pairs.

If the router itself had a problem (open connection or
cold solder joint inside the router), that part of the
hardware is in the test path too. Make sure you have
enough "reliable, tested" gear to use, before placing
a defective item into the circuit.

*******

100BT uses four wires, arranged in two pairs. These are
on pins 1,2,3,6.

To have GbE operation, all four pairs are used, a total of
eight wires and eight pins. If not enough wires are available,
because something is broken or dirty, the interface can drop
back to 100BT (which means a minimum of two working pairs
are required).

That could be what you're seeing.

You can also "force" NICs to sub-rates. This is a PHY
feature. The PHY will "auto-negotiate" the highest
available rate, but if you want, you could artifically
set the rate to 100BT full duplex or 100BT half duplex
just for fun. The setting might well be stored in the
registry somewhere.

Paul

Thanks, Paul.
We don't have Marvel equipment here. But I looked into cable testers,
never thought of that. For about 20 euro's I can have a reasonable UTP
cable tester. Gonna try that.

Fokke

Fokke Nauta wrote:
On 13/05/2018 01:16, Paul wrote:
Fokke Nauta wrote:
Off topic.

Hi all,

In our home LAN, connected one switch to the other by a 30 m long
CAT5E cable. The cable was there already, but I made new connectors to
both ends, as the cable was longer than necessary. To my surprise I
found at the switch that only 1 LED was blinking, indicating that it
was a 100 Mbps connection. All other connectors show 2 LED's, which
means it is a Gbps connection.
I made a test. From my pc (W10) via a switch to the server (W10):
201/512 Mbps (W/R).
From another pc (W7), via the 2 switches and the 30m cable to the
server, 73/92 Mbps (W/R).
Why is this connection so low? I tried several times to mount new
connectors to both ends of that cable, but it did not improve
anything. So the cable should be allright. Or should I place a CAT6
cable?

Curious as to what peaople here think about this.

Fokke

Do you have a Marvell NIC on one of your computers,
that has the Virtual Cable Tester ?

https://web.archive.org/web/20030320...hite_Paper.pdf



VCT can detect open or shorted or "properly terminated"
connections on the pairs in CAT5 cable. The white paper shows
electrical waveforms demonstrating various cable failures.

To use it, you power off the destination device
(so it cannot interfere with the measurements). The
Marvell NIC end sends "pings" down the cable, and like
a TDR (time domain reflectometer), the Marvell chip
looks for reflections coming back. The signal shape
determines the status message the VCT test shows
as a result.

Marvell NIC ---X----------------------------------X---- (Powered Off
router,
(with VCT) (Put your test cable in place) terminates
line)

I used that to detect a dirty pin on an RJ45 once.
It said "one pair was open", out of the four twisted pairs.

If the router itself had a problem (open connection or
cold solder joint inside the router), that part of the
hardware is in the test path too. Make sure you have
enough "reliable, tested" gear to use, before placing
a defective item into the circuit.

*******

100BT uses four wires, arranged in two pairs. These are
on pins 1,2,3,6.

To have GbE operation, all four pairs are used, a total of
eight wires and eight pins. If not enough wires are available,
because something is broken or dirty, the interface can drop
back to 100BT (which means a minimum of two working pairs
are required).

That could be what you're seeing.

You can also "force" NICs to sub-rates. This is a PHY
feature. The PHY will "auto-negotiate" the highest
available rate, but if you want, you could artifically
set the rate to 100BT full duplex or 100BT half duplex
just for fun. The setting might well be stored in the
registry somewhere.

Paul

Thanks, Paul.
We don't have Marvel equipment here. But I looked into cable testers, never thought of
that. For about 20 euro's I can have a reasonable UTP cable tester. Gonna try that.

Fokke

My employer installs and monitors SCADA equipment for customers.
We have to make up the CAT5/6 cables.
Almost every failure in com was due to improper rj45 install.
Sometimes a wire was not in all the way, two wires were swapped, or
one wire was slightly off center and thus the conductor did not get pierced.
I have several line testers but my most used one is a simple round trip
conductivity tester: plug the terminator into one end and the tester into the
other end and watch the lights. It was $6 USD from EBay including shipping.
It does not have auto shut off though so remove the battery when not in use.

On Sat, 12 May 2018 20:44:57 +0200, Fokke Nauta
wrote:

Off topic.

Hi all,

In our home LAN, connected one switch to the other by a 30 m long CAT5E
cable. The cable was there already, but I made new connectors to both
ends, as the cable was longer than necessary. To my surprise I found at
the switch that only 1 LED was blinking, indicating that it was a 100
Mbps connection. All other connectors show 2 LED's, which means it is a
Gbps connection.
I made a test. From my pc (W10) via a switch to the server (W10):
201/512 Mbps (W/R).
From another pc (W7), via the 2 switches and the 30m cable to the
server, 73/92 Mbps (W/R).
Why is this connection so low? I tried several times to mount new
connectors to both ends of that cable, but it did not improve anything.
So the cable should be allright. Or should I place a CAT6 cable?

Curious as to what peaople here think about this.

Fokke

1G Ethernet needs all 4 pairs connected.
100M only needs 2

10/100/1000 ports will "try" for 1G by checking all 4 cable pairs work
and are connected to another 1G port, and if 1G cannot be supported
will fall back to 100M

so you may have
- a cable which was only only wired for 2 pairs for 100M
- a 4 pair cable with 1 wire or pair not connected / damaged.
- a device at 1 end that is only 100M

As Paul suggested a tester is pretty useful for finding this kind of
fault - everything depends on layer 1 and a surprising number of
issues in LANs come down to flaky cabling.

--
Stephen

On Sun, 13 May 2018 12:45:18 -0500, Paul in Houston TX
wrote:

Fokke Nauta wrote:
We don't have Marvel equipment here. But I looked into cable testers, never thought of
that. For about 20 euro's I can have a reasonable UTP cable tester. Gonna try that.

Fokke

My employer installs and monitors SCADA equipment for customers.
We have to make up the CAT5/6 cables.
Almost every failure in com was due to improper rj45 install.
Sometimes a wire was not in all the way, two wires were swapped, or
one wire was slightly off center and thus the conductor did not get pierced.
I have several line testers but my most used one is a simple round trip
conductivity tester: plug the terminator into one end and the tester into the
other end and watch the lights. It was $6 USD from EBay including shipping.
It does not have auto shut off though so remove the battery when not in use.

+1
I bought a cheap Chinese cable tester in 2009 for $4.95 and free
shipping from China. It arrived in 3 days, so it must have been on the
fast boat. It still works perfectly and it came with a cool little
leather pouch.

On 13/05/2018 23:20, Stephen wrote:
On Sat, 12 May 2018 20:44:57 +0200, Fokke Nauta
wrote:

Off topic.

Hi all,

In our home LAN, connected one switch to the other by a 30 m long CAT5E
cable. The cable was there already, but I made new connectors to both
ends, as the cable was longer than necessary. To my surprise I found at
the switch that only 1 LED was blinking, indicating that it was a 100
Mbps connection. All other connectors show 2 LED's, which means it is a
Gbps connection.
I made a test. From my pc (W10) via a switch to the server (W10):
201/512 Mbps (W/R).
From another pc (W7), via the 2 switches and the 30m cable to the
server, 73/92 Mbps (W/R).
Why is this connection so low? I tried several times to mount new
connectors to both ends of that cable, but it did not improve anything.
So the cable should be allright. Or should I place a CAT6 cable?

Curious as to what peaople here think about this.

Fokke

1G Ethernet needs all 4 pairs connected.
100M only needs 2

It's a CAT5E cable with 4 pairs.

10/100/1000 ports will "try" for 1G by checking all 4 cable pairs work
and are connected to another 1G port, and if 1G cannot be supported
will fall back to 100M

so you may have
- a cable which was only only wired for 2 pairs for 100M
- a 4 pair cable with 1 wire or pair not connected / damaged.

Possible ...

- a device at 1 end that is only 100M

Both ends are 1 Gbps switches.

As Paul suggested a tester is pretty useful for finding this kind of
fault - everything depends on layer 1 and a surprising number of
issues in LANs come down to flaky cabling.


I'll get a cable tester!

Fokke

On 13/05/2018 23:22, Char Jackson wrote:
On Sun, 13 May 2018 12:45:18 -0500, Paul in Houston TX
wrote:

Fokke Nauta wrote:
We don't have Marvel equipment here. But I looked into cable testers, never thought of
that. For about 20 euro's I can have a reasonable UTP cable tester. Gonna try that.

Fokke

My employer installs and monitors SCADA equipment for customers.
We have to make up the CAT5/6 cables.
Almost every failure in com was due to improper rj45 install.
Sometimes a wire was not in all the way, two wires were swapped, or
one wire was slightly off center and thus the conductor did not get pierced.
I have several line testers but my most used one is a simple round trip
conductivity tester: plug the terminator into one end and the tester into the
other end and watch the lights. It was $6 USD from EBay including shipping.
It does not have auto shut off though so remove the battery when not in use.

+1
I bought a cheap Chinese cable tester in 2009 for $4.95 and free
shipping from China. It arrived in 3 days, so it must have been on the
fast boat. It still works perfectly and it came with a cool little
leather pouch.


Thanks.
I see a tester of 10 euro and one of 17 euro. Looking for the
differences now. I'd rather have a good tester than a cheap one with
shortcomings.

Fokke

On 14/05/2018 10:13, Fokke Nauta wrote:
On 13/05/2018 23:22, Char Jackson wrote:
On Sun, 13 May 2018 12:45:18 -0500, Paul in Houston TX
wrote:

Fokke Nauta wrote:
We don't have Marvel equipment here. But I looked into cable
testers, never thought of
that. For about 20 euro's I can have a reasonable UTP cable tester.
Gonna try that.

Fokke

My employer installs and monitors SCADA equipment for customers.
We have to make up the CAT5/6 cables.
Almost every failure in com was due to improper rj45 install.
Sometimes a wire was not in all the way, two wires were swapped, or
one wire was slightly off center and thus the conductor did not get
pierced.
I have several line testers but my most used one is a simple round trip
conductivity tester: plug the terminator into one end and the tester
into the
other end and watch the lights. It was $6 USD from EBay including
shipping.
It does not have auto shut off though so remove the battery when not
in use.

+1
I bought a cheap Chinese cable tester in 2009 for $4.95 and free
shipping from China. It arrived in 3 days, so it must have been on the
fast boat. It still works perfectly and it came with a cool little
leather pouch.


Thanks.
I see a tester of 10 euro and one of 17 euro. Looking for the
differences now. I'd rather have a good tester than a cheap one with
shortcomings.

Fokke

What do you think of this one:

http://www.solfon.nl/pictures/untitled-1.jpg

This tester quickly identifies continuity problems such as shorts, open
wires, reversed pairs, crossed pairs and miswiring for 10BASE-T,
100BASE-T, EIA/TIA 568A/568B and Token Ring cables.
(I don't see 1000BASE-T here)
Moreover, this tester will verify shield integrity for all STP cables.
Use the included remote terminator to test installed cables.
Features:
l Tests continuity of UTP/STP cables
l Verifies adherence to 10BASE-T, 100BASE-T, TIA-568A, TIA-568B and
Token Ring wiring standards
l Verifies shield integrity
l Clear and simple LED display
l Tests installed cables with included remote identifier

Costs: 17 euro.

Fokke

Fokke Nauta wrote:
On 14/05/2018 10:13, Fokke Nauta wrote:
On 13/05/2018 23:22, Char Jackson wrote:
On Sun, 13 May 2018 12:45:18 -0500, Paul in Houston TX
wrote:

Fokke Nauta wrote:
We don't have Marvel equipment here. But I looked into cable
testers, never thought of
that. For about 20 euro's I can have a reasonable UTP cable tester.
Gonna try that.

Fokke

My employer installs and monitors SCADA equipment for customers.
We have to make up the CAT5/6 cables.
Almost every failure in com was due to improper rj45 install.
Sometimes a wire was not in all the way, two wires were swapped, or
one wire was slightly off center and thus the conductor did not get
pierced.
I have several line testers but my most used one is a simple round trip
conductivity tester: plug the terminator into one end and the tester
into the
other end and watch the lights. It was $6 USD from EBay including
shipping.
It does not have auto shut off though so remove the battery when not
in use.

+1
I bought a cheap Chinese cable tester in 2009 for $4.95 and free
shipping from China. It arrived in 3 days, so it must have been on the
fast boat. It still works perfectly and it came with a cool little
leather pouch.


Thanks.
I see a tester of 10 euro and one of 17 euro. Looking for the
differences now. I'd rather have a good tester than a cheap one with
shortcomings.

Fokke

What do you think of this one:

http://www.solfon.nl/pictures/untitled-1.jpg

This tester quickly identifies continuity problems such as shorts, open wires, reversed
pairs, crossed pairs and miswiring for 10BASE-T, 100BASE-T, EIA/TIA 568A/568B and Token
Ring cables.
(I don't see 1000BASE-T here)
Moreover, this tester will verify shield integrity for all STP cables. Use the included
remote terminator to test installed cables.
Features:
l Tests continuity of UTP/STP cables
l Verifies adherence to 10BASE-T, 100BASE-T, TIA-568A, TIA-568B and
Token Ring wiring standards
l Verifies shield integrity
l Clear and simple LED display
l Tests installed cables with included remote identifier

Costs: 17 euro.

Fokke

It looks like a standard cheap tester but they hyped the description
and tripled the price. Push button on / off is not recommended.
Get one with a slide or rotary switch instead.
I have this one: Nothing has gone wrong with it in 8 years of using it:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Multi-Netwo...EAAOSwzXBZfR3J

On Mon, 14 May 2018 09:21:57 -0500, Paul in Houston TX
wrote:

Fokke Nauta wrote:
On 14/05/2018 10:13, Fokke Nauta wrote:
On 13/05/2018 23:22, Char Jackson wrote:
On Sun, 13 May 2018 12:45:18 -0500, Paul in Houston TX
wrote:

Fokke Nauta wrote:
We don't have Marvel equipment here. But I looked into cable
testers, never thought of
that. For about 20 euro's I can have a reasonable UTP cable tester.
Gonna try that.

Fokke

My employer installs and monitors SCADA equipment for customers.
We have to make up the CAT5/6 cables.
Almost every failure in com was due to improper rj45 install.
Sometimes a wire was not in all the way, two wires were swapped, or
one wire was slightly off center and thus the conductor did not get
pierced.
I have several line testers but my most used one is a simple round trip
conductivity tester: plug the terminator into one end and the tester
into the
other end and watch the lights. It was $6 USD from EBay including
shipping.
It does not have auto shut off though so remove the battery when not
in use.

+1
I bought a cheap Chinese cable tester in 2009 for $4.95 and free
shipping from China. It arrived in 3 days, so it must have been on the
fast boat. It still works perfectly and it came with a cool little
leather pouch.


Thanks.
I see a tester of 10 euro and one of 17 euro. Looking for the
differences now. I'd rather have a good tester than a cheap one with
shortcomings.

Fokke

What do you think of this one:

http://www.solfon.nl/pictures/untitled-1.jpg

This tester quickly identifies continuity problems such as shorts, open wires, reversed
pairs, crossed pairs and miswiring for 10BASE-T, 100BASE-T, EIA/TIA 568A/568B and Token
Ring cables.
(I don't see 1000BASE-T here)
Moreover, this tester will verify shield integrity for all STP cables. Use the included
remote terminator to test installed cables.
Features:
l Tests continuity of UTP/STP cables
l Verifies adherence to 10BASE-T, 100BASE-T, TIA-568A, TIA-568B and
Token Ring wiring standards
l Verifies shield integrity
l Clear and simple LED display
l Tests installed cables with included remote identifier

Costs: 17 euro.

Fokke

That one looks fine to me. While it doesn't specifically mention
Gigabit, it does have indicators for all 4 cable pairs so Fokke should
be covered.

It looks like a standard cheap tester but they hyped the description
and tripled the price. Push button on / off is not recommended.
Get one with a slide or rotary switch instead.
I have this one: Nothing has gone wrong with it in 8 years of using it:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Multi-Netwo...EAAOSwzXBZfR3J

That looks just like mine! It even ships from Hong Kong.

I'm not sure what a person gets for 17 Euros that he doesn't get for
less than $5, but some peace of mind, perhaps, which could be worth it.

Consider the fact that some motherboard makers throw a crude cable
tester right into their product, so there probably isn't a whole lot to
it. Send a voltage or signal down 'this' wire and expect it to come back
on 'that' wire. Opens, shorts, and mismatched pairs are all easy to
spot.

Char Jackson wrote:
On Mon, 14 May 2018 09:21:57 -0500, Paul in Houston TX
wrote:

Fokke Nauta wrote:
On 14/05/2018 10:13, Fokke Nauta wrote:
On 13/05/2018 23:22, Char Jackson wrote:
On Sun, 13 May 2018 12:45:18 -0500, Paul in Houston TX
wrote:

Fokke Nauta wrote:
We don't have Marvel equipment here. But I looked into cable
testers, never thought of
that. For about 20 euro's I can have a reasonable UTP cable tester.
Gonna try that.

Fokke
My employer installs and monitors SCADA equipment for customers.
We have to make up the CAT5/6 cables.
Almost every failure in com was due to improper rj45 install.
Sometimes a wire was not in all the way, two wires were swapped, or
one wire was slightly off center and thus the conductor did not get
pierced.
I have several line testers but my most used one is a simple round trip
conductivity tester: plug the terminator into one end and the tester
into the
other end and watch the lights. It was $6 USD from EBay including
shipping.
It does not have auto shut off though so remove the battery when not
in use.
+1
I bought a cheap Chinese cable tester in 2009 for $4.95 and free
shipping from China. It arrived in 3 days, so it must have been on the
fast boat. It still works perfectly and it came with a cool little
leather pouch.

Thanks.
I see a tester of 10 euro and one of 17 euro. Looking for the
differences now. I'd rather have a good tester than a cheap one with
shortcomings.

Fokke
What do you think of this one:

http://www.solfon.nl/pictures/untitled-1.jpg

This tester quickly identifies continuity problems such as shorts, open wires, reversed
pairs, crossed pairs and miswiring for 10BASE-T, 100BASE-T, EIA/TIA 568A/568B and Token
Ring cables.
(I don't see 1000BASE-T here)
Moreover, this tester will verify shield integrity for all STP cables. Use the included
remote terminator to test installed cables.
Features:
l Tests continuity of UTP/STP cables
l Verifies adherence to 10BASE-T, 100BASE-T, TIA-568A, TIA-568B and
Token Ring wiring standards
l Verifies shield integrity
l Clear and simple LED display
l Tests installed cables with included remote identifier

Costs: 17 euro.

Fokke

That one looks fine to me. While it doesn't specifically mention
Gigabit, it does have indicators for all 4 cable pairs so Fokke should
be covered.

It looks like a standard cheap tester but they hyped the description
and tripled the price. Push button on / off is not recommended.
Get one with a slide or rotary switch instead.
I have this one: Nothing has gone wrong with it in 8 years of using it:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Multi-Netwo...EAAOSwzXBZfR3J

That looks just like mine! It even ships from Hong Kong.

I'm not sure what a person gets for 17 Euros that he doesn't get for
less than $5, but some peace of mind, perhaps, which could be worth it.

Consider the fact that some motherboard makers throw a crude cable
tester right into their product, so there probably isn't a whole lot to
it. Send a voltage or signal down 'this' wire and expect it to come back
on 'that' wire. Opens, shorts, and mismatched pairs are all easy to
spot.

I consider the Marvell implementation (VCT), to be superior,
because it's using (homegrown) TDR. And not just an open/short test.
It has the ability to determine the line is terminated properly
at the other end. It can "see" the characteristic impedance
and whether the termination resistor matches the line or not.

---------\||/---------+
/||\ termination
\||/ resistor
---------/||\---------+

It can also give a distance indication. Say I have a 100 foot
cable. VCT can indicate "open at 70 feet, on pair 1-2". Just
as you'd use a TDR tester to find a broken wire and roughly
where in the wall the break might be located. If it said
"open at 100 feet, all four pairs", then you'd know the
wire was unplugged :-) The resolution won't be quite as good
as a real TDR, but the scheme should work well enough.

You could in that case, cut off the last 35 feet of wire,
re-terminate, and put the 65 foot remaining cable back
in your stock room for next time.

The user still has to interpret "hey, my wire is 100 feet long",
to make sense of the results, and whether it indicates the cable
is actually broken internally. If the cable is open on all
four pairs, at the 100 foot distance, the user has to figure
out that it means the connector isn't plugged in.

I've had at least one Ethernet cable that suffered "furniture
damage", so it happens.

Paul

Fokke Nauta wrote:
On 13/05/2018 23:22, Char Jackson wrote:
On Sun, 13 May 2018 12:45:18 -0500, Paul in Houston TX
wrote:

Fokke Nauta wrote:
We don't have Marvel equipment here. But I looked into cable
testers, never thought of that. For about 20 euro's I can have a
reasonable UTP cable tester. Gonna try that.

Fokke

My employer installs and monitors SCADA equipment for customers.
We have to make up the CAT5/6 cables. Almost every failure in com
was due to improper rj45 install. Sometimes a wire was not in all
the way, two wires were swapped, or one wire was slightly off
center and thus the conductor did not get pierced. I have several
line testers but my most used one is a simple round trip
conductivity tester: plug the terminator into one end and the
tester into the other end and watch the lights. It was $6 USD from
EBay including shipping. It does not have auto shut off though so
remove the battery when not in use.

+1
I bought a cheap Chinese cable tester in 2009 for $4.95 and free
shipping from China. It arrived in 3 days, so it must have been on the
fast boat. It still works perfectly and it came with a cool little
leather pouch.


Thanks.
I see a tester of 10 euro and one of 17 euro. Looking for the
differences now. I'd rather have a good tester than a cheap one with
shortcomings.

Did you have a look on Conrad.nl? They have quite a range of
electronics stuff. They're not cheap like the Chinese web shops, but
have good specs and documentation which makes a buying decision much
easier. My latest purchase was a USB power (V and A) meter.

On 14/05/2018 19:56, Frank Slootweg wrote:
Fokke Nauta wrote:
On 13/05/2018 23:22, Char Jackson wrote:
On Sun, 13 May 2018 12:45:18 -0500, Paul in Houston TX
wrote:

Fokke Nauta wrote:
We don't have Marvel equipment here. But I looked into cable
testers, never thought of that. For about 20 euro's I can have a
reasonable UTP cable tester. Gonna try that.

Fokke

My employer installs and monitors SCADA equipment for customers.
We have to make up the CAT5/6 cables. Almost every failure in com
was due to improper rj45 install. Sometimes a wire was not in all
the way, two wires were swapped, or one wire was slightly off
center and thus the conductor did not get pierced. I have several
line testers but my most used one is a simple round trip
conductivity tester: plug the terminator into one end and the
tester into the other end and watch the lights. It was $6 USD from
EBay including shipping. It does not have auto shut off though so
remove the battery when not in use.

+1
I bought a cheap Chinese cable tester in 2009 for $4.95 and free
shipping from China. It arrived in 3 days, so it must have been on the
fast boat. It still works perfectly and it came with a cool little
leather pouch.


Thanks.
I see a tester of 10 euro and one of 17 euro. Looking for the
differences now. I'd rather have a good tester than a cheap one with
shortcomings.

Did you have a look on Conrad.nl? They have quite a range of
electronics stuff. They're not cheap like the Chinese web shops, but
have good specs and documentation which makes a buying decision much
easier. My latest purchase was a USB power (V and A) meter.


Yes, I did. I have an account there.
I like especially this one:
http://www.solfon.nl/pictures/image.jpg
And here are the specs:
http://www.solfon.nl/pictures/KABELT...e_en_fr_nl.pdf

Price is € 10,74 ex VAT.

I'm seriously concidering buying this one. Looks better than the cheap
China stuff.

Fokke

On 14/05/2018 16:21, Paul in Houston TX wrote:
Fokke Nauta wrote:
On 14/05/2018 10:13, Fokke Nauta wrote:
On 13/05/2018 23:22, Char Jackson wrote:
On Sun, 13 May 2018 12:45:18 -0500, Paul in Houston TX
wrote:

Fokke Nauta wrote:
We don't have Marvel equipment here. But I looked into cable
testers, never thought of
that. For about 20 euro's I can have a reasonable UTP cable tester.
Gonna try that.

Fokke

My employer installs and monitors SCADA equipment for customers.
We have to make up the CAT5/6 cables.
Almost every failure in com was due to improper rj45 install.
Sometimes a wire was not in all the way, two wires were swapped, or
one wire was slightly off center and thus the conductor did not get
pierced.
I have several line testers but my most used one is a simple round
trip
conductivity tester: plug the terminator into one end and the tester
into the
other end and watch the lights. It was $6 USD from EBay including
shipping.
It does not have auto shut off though so remove the battery when not
in use.

+1
I bought a cheap Chinese cable tester in 2009 for $4.95 and free
shipping from China. It arrived in 3 days, so it must have been on the
fast boat. It still works perfectly and it came with a cool little
leather pouch.


Thanks.
I see a tester of 10 euro and one of 17 euro. Looking for the
differences now. I'd rather have a good tester than a cheap one with
shortcomings.

Fokke

What do you think of this one:

http://www.solfon.nl/pictures/untitled-1.jpg

This tester quickly identifies continuity problems such as shorts,
open wires, reversed
pairs, crossed pairs and miswiring for 10BASE-T, 100BASE-T, EIA/TIA
568A/568B and Token
Ring cables.
(I don't see 1000BASE-T here)
Moreover, this tester will verify shield integrity for all STP cables.
Use the included
remote terminator to test installed cables.
Features:
l Tests continuity of UTP/STP cables
l Verifies adherence to 10BASE-T, 100BASE-T, TIA-568A, TIA-568B and
Token Ring wiring standards
l Verifies shield integrity
l Clear and simple LED display
l Tests installed cables with included remote identifier

Costs: 17 euro.

Fokke

It looks like a standard cheap tester but they hyped the description
and tripled the price. Push button on / off is not recommended.
Get one with a slide or rotary switch instead.
I have this one: Nothing has gone wrong with it in 8 years of using it:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Multi-Netwo...EAAOSwzXBZfR3J



OK, thanks!
So this is not the tester I'm gonna get.

Seen something else:

I like especially this one:
http://www.solfon.nl/pictures/image.jpg
And here are the specs:
http://www.solfon.nl/pictures/KABELT...e_en_fr_nl.pdf

Price is € 10,74 ex VAT.

I'm seriously concidering buying this one.

Fokke