atcomsystems.ca/forum Forums Wiring - Telecom Carriers - Trunks & Services Cabling Telephones Systems Wiring cabling in sequence

Part of the speed of using the "Data Lights" is testing after IDing.

We use the Siemon STM-8. It's fast, and reveals any wiring errors, including split pairs.

Here's a simple switch box. It contains 2-AAA batteries to light up the Data Lite, and a switch to go from the batteries to the test dongle. With 3 patch cords, you send a guy up to the wall jack. Plug in all three cords (for a 3-plex). Put the switch in the first position, the 1st light comes on at the patch panel. Radio him the number from the panel, he switched to the 2nd position and starts inputting the label. At the same time, the testing dongle is now connected to the 1st jack and the 2nd jack is lit up for ID. You start testing the 1st one at the patch panel and radio him the 2nd number. When the test is done, the switch goes to the 3rd position, the 2nd is ready for testing, the 3rd is ready for IDing. After testing, the switch goes back to the 1st position, so the 3rd is ready for testing. By this time, the roving guy has the label done, and pasted to the faceplate. The switch box is ready to go to the next wall jack.



Seriously, we can ID, test, and label 30 to 40 3-plex wall plates in an hour!

Do you have information on where to get one of those?

Siemon STM-8 is a good tool for quick testing. It doesn't really certify anything and doesn't save test results. Basically a line map. Around $250 or so.

Sorry guys, but I'm totally with Hal and Skip on this one.

Sure it would be nice if V & D numbers matched. But all too often (and shortly after the job is finished and perfect) some guy comes along that needs an extra jack. Oh no! Now my numbering scheme is screwed up. I must now wring my hands during the day and toss and turn in my sleep at night.

From a blueprint perspective, it's really cool to be able to say, "There's 15V&D, next is 16, that's 17...see how we did it? We followed the cubicle space in order." In the end, no one but you can stand in the center of an office space and blindly point out the voice and data jack numbers. It's a neat trick, but you'll have forgotten the order by the end of your next two or three wiring jobs.

And really, what happens when someone suddenly decides to move to another work area? They call their IT department and, as instructed, lean over and report back the jack number under the desk. The IT person makes the appropriate patch and it's all done. And nobody cared that Karen's new desk was labeled V&D #72, yet her neighbor Sam uses #34.

Concentrate on making it look nice in the telco/data room; it may be one of the few showcase areas for the company's tourists and perspective customers. If you can make the station side line up in order, that's cool, but it's not nearly the end of the world if they don't. I am fastidious about many things, but this isn't one of them.

Cable in sequins if you must (show your girly side), but it's not necessary to cable in sequence.

a lot of customers don't need the cable certified they just want it to work

the STM-8 will verify that cabling is correct and often thats all thats needed

I have always cabled in sequence. My experience is that maps get lost. Make 10 copies, it still doesn't matter. Most offices like the big l-shaped desks that you can't get behind. If I can walk into tthe office to the left and see jack number 16 and the office to the right and see number 18, I can assume the middle one is 17. Some of the companies I used to work for did the random numbering and I got them converted. If you label as you go and put the cables into bundles of 24 it really does not take that much more time once you get used to it. Also, if you have to certify the cables the test results look much better if you can test them in order.

I will add a slightly different angle on the "prelabeling" of cable runs. We are in the process of finishing a data center in which both ends of the cable lands on a patch panel. In my opinion it was not really an option not to prelabel the cables before pulling in to place. We just keep them in groups of six to keep it orderly.

On our general cable jobs we also try to start with a numbered print, full well knowing when it is all said and done that the numbers will skewed by the time we finish.

From a professional standpoint I would never accept a job where the V and D jacks had numbers that were not sequential. I hope nobodies egos get hurt here but when I see comments that support sloppy, nonsequential, weird numbered faceplates, it makes me think of the guys who do this job that have no pride in it. The noob cabler, the too old lineman whos running cable still or the company who just burns and turns jobs and has no kind of quality control.

Any sparky can run cable and have it terminated in any order. Its our professionalism and attention to detail that should seperate us from them. Spend the extra minute, label the cables before pulling and terminate in order. Dress them in order and everything looks so much better and easier to work on.

Well, I cannot help but ask the obvious: Exactly whom is paying for these extra "minutes" in an extremely competitive environment where everyone and his brother is a cabling expert? Like I said earlier in this thread, I too like the numbers to match, but doing so is very expensive.

Let's take this "perfect world" scenario:

So, we go bouncing into Mr. Customer's new office build out and run twelve dual voice/data cable runs, everything matches, all numbers are perfect and the customer is happy. Two months later, Mr. Customer is expanding and needs three data runs for network printers in various places, two voice cables for fax machines in other various places and yet two more voice cables for a courtesy phone and an RJ31X. Should we tell Mr. Customer that he's going to have to pay for dual cable runs at all of these locations to keep our perfect cable numbering plan in effect? I'll bet that he won't agree with you if you even have the nerve to think like that.

There goes that perfect-world scenario completely out the window!

Sure, on a routine little job, say with a dozen pair of cables, that should be easy to accommodate. The key is being able to get the job done in one visit or at least by the same installers. This is not always an option.....Small jobs? Probably, but on larger jobs? It isn't always quite so simple:

The cables must be identified from the minute they are pulled from the reel and this marking must continue to flow throughout the project from the cradle to the grave. I don't know about you, but I don't have the luxury of always keeping the same installers on a given job. I can have four people on a job one day and a different four the next day. It's difficult to manage the logistics of multiple projects, traffic issues, people calling in sick, vacations, inspector issues and construction schedule changes.

Now back to the perfect world contractor, with one job a week and two employees, keeping everything uniform would be a piece of cake. Those extra "minutes" are in the bank, or so one would think:

The bean counter or cheap customer doesn't care about your level of quality or matching jack numbers. If someone else can beat your price by a few extra "minutes", they will get the job. If you are lucky, the customer will let you beat the competition's estimate of "minutes" in price to get the job. So then what happens? Do you lower your quality standards by mixing up the V/D numbering, do you maintain them and pay for those extra "minutes" out of your own pocket as a loss or do you just pass on the job?

I caught a bunch of lip from a customer recently because we didn't mark the pairs on the blocks for their appropriate assignments. My response to her was that a professional would know what they are doing and would not require these markings. The same holds true with jack numbering: Anyone who truly knows what they are doing won't have a problem with them not being paired or sequential. It is those people who truly don't know what they are doing that have the problems.

Hey, I'm sure that the telcos would love to have dedicated pairs assigned to every one of their customers, consecutively in order by street address with phone numbers similarly-assigned. Imagine that: 4365 Orange Street has the phone number XXX-4365 on cable pair 4365! That never did and never will exist for obvious reasons.

Again, I prefer voice and data jack numbers to be paired whenever logistically possible. At the same time, professionals do not need to have such simplistic architecture in place to be able to do their jobs.

Oh and yes, P. Alger, you did offend someone with your comments but it is OK. I hope that I didn't offend anyone with my soap box rant about this subject.

We always label as we pull. I throw a fit when my guys have V1 with D13 on the same wall plate.