Identify cat6 ends

[ramsham]

Hi,

What is the best way to identify the ends of cat6 cables? Currently they don't have RJ45 connectors installed, so just loose wires

My installers ran bunch of wires (approx 30 of them) to a central location but didn't label them. Now I am trying to figure out which wire is which?

Thanks.

 

[digger11]

If they all came from the same spool of cable, you might be able to tell by looking at the markings at each end of the cable. Most bulk cable is marked with a measurement every couple of feet. On a 1000' roll it might start at 1000 and go down by 2 every 2 feet. If you can see a "distance" marking at each end of every cable you ought to be able to figure out which cable is which.

If not, and you are going to terminate all of the cables anyway, I'd terminate them and then use one of my new favorite tools... this $10 tester. It kept me from pulling out my hair when I was trying to get two existing cable runs in my house to run 1gb instead of 100mb. Turns out both cables had a bad pair in them.

 

[zero-degrees]

Hi,
What is the best way to identify the ends of cat6 cables? Currently they don't have RJ45 connectors installed, so just loose wires

My installers ran bunch of wires (approx 30 of them) to a central location but didn't label them. Now I am trying to figure out which wire is which?
Thanks.

Tone them out, by either putting connectors on them and connecting the toner to one end and using the wand on the other - since you'll need connectors anyways. Or simply using the alligator ends on the pairs and using the wand on the other end. The cable itself will not identify which is which unless the installer marked them.

As someone pointed out you can look for footage marks, most quality cables have them, but that seems like it would take forever and be confusing for 30 lines, also this would mean the AVG length of 30 runs would have to be 30' or less to have all come from the same box to not have overlap. Also if one is pulled one directly and another pulled a different direction from central point out and point out to central point, etc - this just seems like a bad/time consuming idea... sorry.

High Quality toner - love these, quick alligator clips and wand so you don't have to terminate and then plug in and unplug every cable: http://www.amazon.com/Fluke-Networks-26000900-Pro3000-Generator/dp/B000FTADX0/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1456863661&sr=8-4&keywords=cable+toner

More economical version - http://www.amazon.com/VicTsing-Telephone-Network-Electric-Tracker/dp/B00MWR6XE6/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1456863661&sr=8-5&keywords=cable+toner

 

[ramsham]

Thanks for the reply guys.

1) Doesn't look like they all came from same spool.
2) I was going to go with the termination route, but then I got the issue of missing the proper identification, if termination was incorrect .
3) I tried the home-depot tone and probe kit, Sperry-Lan-WireTracker-Tone-and-Probe-Wire , but it seems to be getting confused in the media closet, because all I hear is a continuous beep, when I touch any wire. I assume it is getting confused since they are all lumped together?

Thanks.

 

[pozzello]

if you are unterminated at both ends, you can use a simple multimeter to ID them one at a time.
you can short together any two wire on one end and check the other ends for continuity across that same pair of wires.
with 8 wires, you've got 7! or 28 different ways you can short any two wires...

on one end, label your wires 1-28 (or by unique name).
for #1, short together wires 0 & 1.
for #2, short together wires 0 & 2.
...
for #7, short 0 & 7
for #8 short 1 & 2, etc...

the mapping doesn't matter as long as each is unique.
just write down which wires you shorted for each number/name,
then on the other end, you can see which wires are shorted to get your number/name.

viola.

 

[mcorzine]

Yes it very well could be picking up the noise in the bundle. Try this, hold the probe in one hand and hold it away from your body (probe yourself). Now use the other hand as the wand. Using my body as a noise filter has helped me identify wires in this exact situation before.

 

[ramsham]

great, will try the suggestions. I will need to figure out how to use a multimeter as well

 

[digger11]

2) I was going to go with the termination route, but then I got the issue of missing the proper identification, if termination was incorrect .

The Tonor tester checks connectivity across each conductor in the cable. Unless you miss all eight conductors when you terminate the cable you should still get at least some of the LEDs to light up when the master and slave units are connected to the two ends of the same cable. It will still be a tedious process, as you'd have to put the remote unit at the far end, and then plug the master into each unidentified cable in turn at the central location until you get LEDs to light up, but on the plus side, once you are connected to both ends of the same cable, you get to check and confirm whether or not the cable is properly terminated.

 

[pozzello]

less tedious to do as i suggested.
at one end you short various pairs of wires to each other and keep track em.
then you just id each wire at the other end. you don't have to go back/forth
to move the toner around at the home-run end...