Toning Cat5e cables


  #1  
Old 12-31-08, 01:22 PM
O
Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Dec 2008
Location: Richmond, TX
Posts: 41
Upvotes: 0
Received 0 Upvotes on 0 Posts
Toning Cat5e cables

Second owner of fairly new house - builder's sub who did the structured wiring failed to label any of the cables, and punched all down to voice modules. So, I have dial tone on every $#%! jack in the house.

I bought some Suttle data modules so I could repunch the second cable from each room for network access, but none of the cables are labeled. I got a tone generator and probe to try and get this done.

However, as the cables come into the main box, they are all tightly wound and bound. As a result, the probe seems to pick up the tone on several cables at once, and it is difficult to determine which has the strongest signal.

My first question is: am I doing something wrong? I plug the tone generator into one of the jacks and then use the probe at the other end to try and find it. Is there a technique to make certain I found the right line? I don't even mind narrowing it down to two, but I'm getting tone on 5 or 6 at a time and my old ears can't determine a strength difference.

Second: is this signal crossover going to be problematic for my data uses? It doesn't appear to affect the voice, but I know data is much more sensitive to signal quality. If a problem, is there a solution other than trying to unbundle this mess and get some separation?

Sorry for the long post, and I hope there aren't too many questions in there for this one topic.

Thanks - Jim
 
  #2  
Old 12-31-08, 01:46 PM
mango man's Avatar
Member
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Sw FL
Posts: 1,990
Upvotes: 0
Received 0 Upvotes on 0 Posts
Is there a technique to make certain I found the right line?
experience and quality of the tone/probe

try shorting the white/blue pair that should kill the tone

that's what I do to be sure I'm on the right cable



if there all currently terminated to voice mocules you could take a cord and short out the center pins
Second: is this signal crossover going to be problematic for my data uses? It doesn't appear to affect the voice, but I know data is much more sensitive to signal quality. If a problem, is there a solution other than trying to unbundle this mess and get some separation?
not quite sure what your asking but having the voice and data cables bundled together will be just fine
 
  #3  
Old 12-31-08, 02:37 PM
O
Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Dec 2008
Location: Richmond, TX
Posts: 41
Upvotes: 0
Received 0 Upvotes on 0 Posts
Thanks; I'll give that a go and see if that helps find the right pair. And it will be easy to short on the modules. You're right about the tone/probe quality - cheesy. Didn't want to spend so much on a single-use deal, but probably shot myself in the foot by not spending more.

Acutally, at first I cut a headphone cable and crimped the plug end into the center pins of an RJ45 plug. Hooked an MP3 player to it and inserted into a jack. Used the stripped/tinned headphone end at the panel to try and find the music. Had the same crossover issue so I bought the probe.

Re the signal crossover and data question - I was concerned that noise like that would cause a high number of retransmissions, resulting in significantly less than 100mbps. I guess we'll see.

I will repost with the results after the holiday.

Thanks - Jim
 
  #4  
Old 12-31-08, 03:05 PM
mango man's Avatar
Member
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Sw FL
Posts: 1,990
Upvotes: 0
Received 0 Upvotes on 0 Posts
Jim

heres another thought , toss the tone and probe , rig somehting with a 9 volt battery and a light bulb

plug battery in at the room , go to the panel and plug the light bulb in until it lights

I have one of these
Ideal Datalite Cable Identifier

I have 200 plugs I can plug them all into a patch panel then send helper to room to plug in power source and VIOLA I have a positive ID , no trying to pick a tone out

all it is a dual color LED crimped on a rj 45 plug and a couple of battery boxs with a switch so I can reverse polarity and light the led either red and green

works really well

you obviously don't need anything tha complex but you could cobble together a simple version for next to nothing
 
  #5  
Old 01-01-09, 12:48 AM
R
Member
Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: Near Buffalo, NY
Posts: 4,070
Upvotes: 0
Received 1 Upvote on 1 Post
If all of the blue pairs are terminated in parallel you'll obviously have tone on all the lines. However, if the orange, green or brown pairs aren't terminated at the head end you have your isolation. You'll have to strip them & connect the toner at the wall plates, but you'd have to open the plates to terminate them to the data jacks anyway.

The only time I've ever seen any issues at all with data and phone lines in close proximity were when the blue pair of a Cat 5 is feeding a telephone and the data lines are in the same cable. Even then it only happens when the phone rings, which is only a second or two at a time. Certainly not enough to be concerned with in a residential environment.
 
  #6  
Old 01-03-09, 11:57 AM
O
Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Dec 2008
Location: Richmond, TX
Posts: 41
Upvotes: 0
Received 0 Upvotes on 0 Posts
Thanks for all the advice. I feel very dumb for not realizing that since they were all punched onto the modules already I didn't have isolation (slaps forehead sharply). When I pulled them all off the modules, toning was a breeze. They are all now labeled and repunched. Stupid, stupid, stupid... Y'alls' comments turned on the light - Thanks!
 
 

Thread Tools
Search this Thread
 
Ask a Question
Question Title:
Description: