Ethernet Cable

[sroxberg]

The previous home owner ran Ethernet from each room back to a central location and I thank them for that.

What they didn't do was identify the wires nor did they put connectors on them to save money.

So I can put the connectors on, and locating the correct one in the bedroom is easy.

How do I determine which of the 16 wires in the basement (unmarked) is the matching one without adding a connector to each one and hoping through blind luck that I get the correct one.

I do have a coax tone tester but I'm not sure how I could get that to work.

[Robert Adams]

Easy just get a 16 port router and plug them all in. Past that a cat 5 tester but takes just as long as just going through all of them. You could possibly use the coax tool if you made a connector from cat 5 to coax using one of the vat 5 wires but by the time you did that you would have already gone through the 16 and got it working.

So it comes down to plug them into the router one at a time till the lights on the router blink. Takes less time that typing this post.

[Gary G™]

He can't plug 'em in; he said they're not terminated.

[sroxberg]

Gary is right, I don't want to terminate 16 of them.

I was hoping there was a magic way to do it. But twisting together a pair and testing for continuity may be the best. That way when I have to wire the next room the ends in the supply room will already be stripped.

[DaveHuber]

This is a common problem.
Easiest solution is a tone and probe kit like this:
http://www.monoprice.com/Product?p_id=81...pid=108134

I'd be unsurprised if Home Depot or even Harbor Freight had a cheap one available.

The tone side is cheap. About $5 at a flea market I frequent. I bought 2. I set one steady, the other pulsed. Saves trips up and down the stairs by 2. A helper makes the job MUCH faster.

From experience: borrow a nice Dymo labeled so you only have to do this ONCE

Good news: your odds improve steadily as you go. The last one is easy!

Dave

[TDKPE]

Strip and twist together a pair you can identify in the room you want, then go to the locus and find the cable with continuity on that pair.

[3finger]

TDKPE said:

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Strip and twist together a pair you can identify in the room you want, then go to the locus and find the cable with continuity on that pair.

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This. Shouldn't take more than five minutes.

[Cub_Cadet_GT]

Just terminate all of them. That should only take like 30 minutes and cost you $2.

[EricU]

I wish I could terminate a cable that fast. I am not sure I could do one in 5 minutes to save my life.

One thing about checking for continuity is that you probably don't need to strip the ones in the closet, just jam a meter probe up against the end of the wire. Might help to make a shorting plug

[JDuke]

try these to make quick connections.

It may take a little longer than 5 minutes each, but not much.

Duke