Testing a long run of cable

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peter2407

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I have Cat 5 cable running from one end of my enormous boat, it being a boat on which I have long things, and dead boaty 'n all - what boaty related boaty thing might a boat boat from boatsville do with a boaty broken boat thing. There appears to be a break in the cable. Any advice on easy testing to see which of the internal components is broken? By which I mean which strand of the boat related cable ...
 
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peter2407 said:
I have Cat 5 cable running inside conduit to supply Internet access to the office. There appears to be a break in the cable. Any advice on easy testing to see which of the internal components is broken?
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Most likely one of the connections on the plug. If not you need a TDR to measure the distance to the fault.
 
sailorman said:
Non boaty is a lounge subject
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Lounge is for "non-boaty views, observations, ramblings, rants, jokes and banter". The question is none of those things

Reader to Reader is to "Share practical, hands-on information" therefore the correct place to ask for practical help with a problem, boat related or otherwise
 
I would suggest the easiest thing is to look at both ends and put a new socket on whichever looks more suspect.
Try it again and see if that cures it.
If you want to check out individual cores, the easiest way is to cut a patch cable in half plug half into each end, on one half short each pair, on the other measure the pairs with a multimeter.
Also make sure the system s not expecting a crossover connection.
 
peter2407 said:
Any advice on easy testing to see which of the internal components is broken?
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As said, very likely to be a plug. If you mean you suspect one of the conductors in the cable is open circuit, then finding out which is easy:

short two of the conductors at one end together.
look for continuity between that pair at the other end.
repeat for all possible combinations.

You can then deduce which, if any, conductor(s) is broken. (Check for shorts as well).
What you do about it if you have no spare conductor is another question ;)

Edit: Clearly LW395 and I are both on the same wavelength :D
 
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VicS said:
Lounge is for "non-boaty views, observations, ramblings, rants, jokes and banter". The question is none of those things

Reader to Reader is to "Share practical, hands-on information" therefore the correct place to ask for practical help with a problem, boat related or otherwise
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I think Vic the clue is in the title, Practical Boat Owner, or should it be Practical Office IT Manager
 
peter2407 said:
I have Cat 5 cable running from one end of my enormous boat, it being a boat on which I have long things, and dead boaty 'n all - what boaty related boaty thing might a boat boat from boatsville do with a boaty broken boat thing. There appears to be a break in the cable. Any advice on easy testing to see which of the internal components is broken? By which I mean which strand of the boat related cable ...
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Boaty enough for y'all? If those who object to the supposed non-boaty nature of my query would refrain from commenting, then those whose practical eye can see the potential boaty applications might be willing, able and not discouraged from providing advice subject to the shouty crew agreeing ...

Jumble, vic and lw - thank you. Yes, I am a boat owner with a practical problem ....
 
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sailorman said:
I think Vic the clue is in the title, Practical Boat Owner, or should it be Practical Office IT Manager
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I am sure that the OP is a practical boat owner but the title refers to Practical Boat Owner Magazine.

It could be argued that the YBW forums as a whole are not the right place for an IT question. Perhaps you should tell the OP to use the Webuser forums instead http://forum.webuser.co.uk/index.php. Webuser was at one time one of IPC's titles
 
Chaps - it's cable, of which I have shed loads on the boat, data, power etc. a problem that might be a break, is not uncommon, as are multistrand cables within which the problem might be with strand 1 - ok so use strand 2. I give up ..

Thanks to those whose input has been driven by a desire to be helpful ...
 
It is rare for a cable that has not been subject to corrosion or mechanical stress to fail other that at one end or t'other maybe within a couple of cm of the connector. With Rj45 connectors it is usually that the wires have not been inserted correctly. First call is cut plug of and remake. I always leave a bit extra when installing to allow this.

Otherwise use old cable to pull new through if possible.
 
peter2407 said:
I have Cat 5 cable running from one end of my enormous boat, it being a boat on which I have long things, and dead boaty 'n all - what boaty related boaty thing might a boat boat from boatsville do with a boaty broken boat thing. There appears to be a break in the cable. Any advice on easy testing to see which of the internal components is broken? By which I mean which strand of the boat related cable ...
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What you want, guv, is a boatie network cable tester. Here's a boatie one from Maplins (named after the well known boating hazard) at twenty boatie quid

http://www.maplin.co.uk/lan-network-cable-tester-45778

and here's a dubious looking version from Amazon (a river, with boats) at £3.65, which still manages to get good reviews

http://www.amazon.co.uk/ETHERNET-NETWORK-CAT5E-CABLE-TESTER/dp/B007CJUEDA

They both and indeed all work in basically the same way; you plug one end of the cable (the masthead one, perhaps, or the bow one) into a sender and the other end (deck level or stern as it may be) into a receiver which looks at the signals it gets from the sender and tells you what, if anything, is wrong. Very useful things on a boat. Can also be used on land, I believe.
 
This turned out to be a useful string. My mobo has approximately 15 miles of assorted cable, stretching back 33 years and three continents, 11 cable colours and 13 ampage ratings. What ever I do I have to factor in 100% extra hours to cover cable tracing! replacing and removing. To find that I can adapt a nerdy piece of kit to help is a revelation.
 
davidpbo said:
It is rare for a cable that has not been subject to corrosion or mechanical stress to fail other that at one end or t'other maybe within a couple of cm of the connector. With Rj45 connectors it is usually that the wires have not been inserted correctly. First call is cut plug of and remake. I always leave a bit extra when installing to allow this.

Otherwise use old cable to pull new through if possible.
Click to expand...

Rare but not unknown - if you have rodents about - The little b******s ate right through a six-core of mine!
 
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