[lug] ethernet cable tester

[Deva Samartha]

>At 11:36 AM 12/18/00 -0700, you wrote:
>
>I would bet that it has 2 jacks and you plug both ends of the cable in to
>check
>for miswires.  Otherwise you just about have to have at least a passive device
>on the
>other end.

It has a passive device with LED's to be hooked on the other end of the 
cable and it has two jacks on the main unit to test a cable without using 
the second unit.

As for using an ohm meter (to find the broken waar) in order to accomplish 
the same task as the tester does - yes possible, in theory, practically - 
not me.

First, getting the Cat 5 cable ( round, wired come out rather arbitrary ) 
stripped and the 8 wires correctly fitted in the jack by color code and 
crimped proved at somewhat challenging - the stripes are hard to see, 
obviously, the cable manufacturer is saving on paint.

Second - to test the 8 wires, one would either need a needle thin probe tip 
to go on the jack contacts - possible in theory, practically - not me. A 
jack with a short cable and some kind of  breakout box would be thinkable, 
but then, how would one test a cable pulled through the attic two rooms 
further? One would need another wire  - connected to the ohm meter running 
to the plug in the second room from here, a person there to please test the 
first wire  - which one? - first from left or right - yea, plug facing up 
or down - cable coming from left....
.. or a second cable running on the floor to the next room with a jack 
receptacle to do the broken waar finding alone.

Or make some kind of loop back plug looping individual pairs back to be 
able to test conductivity - 4 pairs, 8 wires??  Figuring this out - 
possible in theory, practically - not me.

With the cable tester - after getting the wires in the jack ( I've done it 
and I am proud of it!)
plug the tester on one end, switch it on, got in the other room, plug in 
the secondary unit and watch the LED's lighting up in sequence - works, if 
not, check again the jacks with with a magnifying glass to find the problem.

I am not expecting to run into impedance problems or any other signal 
impairment issues  at this point where I would need something more 
sophisticated ( and $$++ ).

Of cause, the construction yellow may cause some illusions I am not willing 
to face just yet.

Samartha