atcomsystems.ca/forum Forums Wiring - Telecom Carriers - Trunks & Services Cabling Telephones Systems Wiring When to use/buy a LAN cable qualifier

Just wondering other then a request from the owner on a performance test of a LAN cable qualifier does one really need to use one? I mean I have used them. The one I used was the Agilent Wirescope prp. I have not seen in the readout any performance degradation of any kind. The only issue was wired crossed or no continuity.

I use my standard cat5 pair test-um tester that works fine but dread the day I would need a $4,000 qualifier which I do not have the funds right now to purchase.

I know I had another thread where I discussed this, but you should make sure you know the difference between a Qualification tester and a Certification meter. Your standard wire-map tester is a Verification tester. If you do a search on the Fluke Networks site you can find explanations of what each type of unit will do and how they differ. Here is my breakdown of when you use them:

Verification: This is what you do 90% of the time. Most problems with new cable installations, assuming the installer makes even a reasonable attempt to follow best practices, will be mistakes related to wire-map.

Qualification: This is a good troubleshooting tool. If a customer thinks your cabling may be the reason why their applications are slow, a qualification tester can be used to prove that the cabling will work with their specific network technology, ie. 1000Base-T. You can diagnose lots of different problems with a Qualification tester, and they aren't overly expensive.

Certification: Some clients absolutely require certification results before they pay the bill. We could discuss why they want it, or if it's reasonable, but it really doesn't matter. If you want to do the work, you use the meter. These ARE expensive, but you can often rent them when required. Some clients may be very fussy and require a record of the last calibration as well as the certification results. Compared to a Qualification test, Certification makes an even stronger argument that your cabling is not the reason for network issues, should that situation arise.

What I cannot stress enough is that you, and your client, understand what they are asking for regarding a "performance test". You don't want to make claims that a Qualification test is actually Certification, and you don't want to rent or purchase a Certification meter if you don't need to.

Run the test with your test-um tester. I user a Fluke Microscanner, and Seiemens makes a wire mapper, as well as others. Most of the time, like Clinton said, if it passes the wiremap, you are good. In those cases where our customers want certification, we rent a scanner from our local cable supplier and we charge the customer extra. I haven't rented a Cat 6 scanner, but I think we were paying $100 a day for the Cat5 scanner

I would say that you should always do a certification test and include that in the cost of the project. You can get reliable 100 meg connections by just being careful with your terminations, not pulling too hard on the cable and minding your distances but the minute you go gigabit all hell can break loose. And with even faster speeds around the corner the quality of the links becomes even more important. And of course it is a good CYA for when you get blamed for something unrelated to the cabling.

that is good that it is a 90% reliability rate. I find that proper lighting where one makes the connections is part of the blame. This is good about the rent aspect of the qualifier. I will have to call around to see what the cost are and include it in the job. As far as saving on labor of hiring a second person in some of the smaller SMB's that perhaps do not have the type of budget for me to hire a second person, Are there pulleys That are cheap and can allow the cable to flow freely through wall openings, over wall edges and around wall corners?

if there isn't enough light to see what your doing you might want to look into picking up a flashlight

Or getting an eye exam (vision weakens with age)...

Or change the brand of cable being used. I don't use Nordx cable exactly for that reason. Orange & Brown pairs are hard to distinguish even in decent lighting.

Lighting is not always the issue. Mostly, it all works out on the test Are there cat5 testers that are immune to the POE voltage if pluging in the tester into the wrong jack by accident?