"Fox and Hound" wire tester recommendations

[jmark71]

Guys,

I'm looking for recommendations for line testing hardware - i.e. fox/hound tone tracking and/or continuity etc. testing. We've just got our new house all pre-wired etc. and the drywall goes up later next week, so I wanted to quickly go around and make sure all the pre-wired CAT5e, speaker and coax cable is all in good shape before the drywall goes into place. Any suggestions on a good tool for the job - Google comes up with thousands of suggestions, but I figured you guys would have better suggestions.

Thanks,
Mark

 

[JeffCharger]

I received a simple tester when I bought a reel of CAT5 cable. I don't know the name of it, but it has 2 components, one that the RJ45 connector plugs into and has a set of 5 lights (I think) and a second unit that you plug into the other end. It checks for continuity of each of the pairs in the CAT5. Works very nicely. One of the devices uses a 9v battery.

 

[fcwilt]

I'm looking for recommendations for line testing hardware - i.e. fox/hound tone tracking and/or continuity etc. testing.

Here are a number of such items:

http://www.cyberguys.com/product-listings/?categoryid=443

http://www.hometech.com/hts/products/tools...cers/index.html

 

[gatchel]

A tone generator (Fox and Hound) is best used for identifying wiring. If you want to test CAT5 cabling you can get as mild or wild as you want. A simple pair tester should be fine for home use. A DVOM (Meter) would be best for testing continuity or resistance. The continuity test function on most tone generator devices are pretty simple. Just an LED that lights up. That's where a meter comes in.

Pair tester (CAT5)

http://www.cyberguys.com/product-details/?productid=17779

Meters can be obtained just about anywhere.

 

[fcwilt]

While not what you asked about these are helpful too:

http://www.cyberguys.com/product-details/?productid=6263

http://www.cyberguys.com/product-details/?productid=18358

 

[TXFlatLander]

Not sure what your budget is, but I have a Fluke Intellitone 200 Probe & Toner (MT-8200-60A). You can tone RJ11, RJ45, coax, bare wire along with RJ45, RJ11 wire mapping. They have the Intellitone 100 set that doesn't include the wire mapping feature but everything else.

It features a digital toner (two different melodies) that works with the 200 probe and analog mode toner that works with your generic analog probes. The digital toner is nice because it doesn't skip cables/wires as bad as analog can and you get precise tone. The probe has two hunting sensitivity levels on the digital side that you can adjust for finding a cable in different bundles down to finding the specific cable. The probe also has a meter from 1 (lowest) to 8 (highest) signal strengh that helps when you have two or three cables with equal tone volume.

The wire mapping feature is not all that great to me; however, I also own a Fluke Microscanner Pro that gives results that are easier to interpret.

I highly recommend buying the separate case carrying case (MT-8202-05) for the Intellitone line of probes & toners.

I bought the case and set from Provantage. Currently $169.99 for the set and $21.64 for the case. I can't post URLs due to my post count. Search by the model numbers (Set: MT-8200-60A, Case: MT-8202-05) on Provantage dot com and you will see them.

 

[Steve]

Links for above:

Toner

Case

 

[TCassio]

Keep in mind that all test equipment used for testing cable is designed to be used after the cables have been terminated. Any wire with more than 2 conductors will be a pita to test until terminated as I am sure you would want to test all conductors in a cable.