Posts: 2,565
Threads: 0
Joined: Mar 2001
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.
Posts: 5,733
Threads: 2
Joined: Dec 2004
Location: Fort Worth
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.
Posts: 16,604
Threads: 0
Joined: Oct 2002
Location: Ra-cha-cha, NY
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.
Tom
“This place smells like that odd combination of flop sweat, hopelessness, aaaand feet"
Posts: 21,879
Threads: 0
Joined: Oct 2003
He can't plug 'em in; he said they're not terminated.
Gary
Please don’t quote the trolls.
Liberty, Freedom and Individual Responsibility
Say what you'll do and do what you say.
Posts: 2,565
Threads: 0
Joined: Mar 2001
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.
Posts: 62
Threads: 0
Joined: Jan 2012
This is a common problem.
Easiest solution is a tone and probe kit like this:
http://www.monoprice.com/Product?p_id=81...pid=108134I'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
Posts: 6,681
Threads: 0
Joined: Jan 2008
Location: Richmond, VA
Just terminate all of them. That should only take like 30 minutes and cost you $2.
There are 10 types of people in the world: those who can read binary code and those who can't.
"To be against hunting, fishing and trapping you have to be spiritually stupid." Ted Nugent
Posts: 2,940
Threads: 0
Joined: Jan 2004
TDKPE said:
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.
This. Shouldn't take more than five minutes.
A retirement dedicated to fine woodworking and bad golf.
Posts: 5,653
Threads: 0
Joined: May 2005
Location: Centre County Pennsylvania
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
Posts: 2,574
Threads: 0
Joined: Feb 2001
try these to make quick connections. It may take a little longer than 5 minutes each, but not much.
Duke
