Network Cable Tester & Wire Tracer

MahdiC · May 4

Hi all,

I remember Linus talked about Infinite Cables and their quality cables before, but have anyone had any experience with their Network Cable Tester & Wire Tracer for RJ45? I want something that’s reliable and can do CAT6A and 8 for runs up to 200 feet. We are trying to label some existing untagged cables and also test some recently punched terminals.

They have these two models:

https://us.infinitecables.com/products/network-cable-tester-wire-tracer-for-rj45-utp-stp-cables

this one is much more expensive and probably an overkill but longer ranges looks better (on paper):

https://us.infinitecables.com/products/network-cable-tester-wire-tracer-for-bnc-rj11-rj12-rj45-8-remotes

If these don’t worth it, what would be the alternatives?

Thanks for your help!

johnt · May 4

I have no experience with sponsors. I own this one: https://www.homedepot.com/p/Klein-Tools-Tone-and-Probe-Tester-and-Tracer-Set-VDV500-705/311456018

edit: it’s extremely reliable. You can do it audibly and visually by the testing sequence. But the audio is better in cases where the wire is partially severed.

Needfuldoer · May 4

I haven't used that one specifically, but I've used something similar from Fluke. As long as it can give you NEXT and FEXT readings, map the pairs out, and tell how long the runs are, it should be fine.

It already has a leg up on those "cable testers" that just blink lights in sequence. Those things are useless for everything except verifying continuity, they can't tell you if a run will pass spec.

FlyingPotato_is_taken · May 4

7 hours ago, MahdiC said:

CAT6A and 8 for runs up to 200 feet.

Are you looking just for a test that does pinout or a full certification?

CAT8 is 2 GHz. Add two zeros to the price of those devices and you could start talking about it (approx. $15k give or take on seller and accessories): https://www.tequipment.net/Fluke-Networks/DSX2-8000/Copper-Cable-Certifiers/

I have an old 100Mhz (1Gbit/s) cable tester from JDSU laying around. These things are used more than the expensive one you linked.