I have 'lost' a length of CAT5 cable, one end is where it should be,
but the other it does not appear where it should in the comms
cupboard.
My assumption is that the company I had in to fit the fitted furniture
in the study have trapped this behind one of the built in units at
some point.

I don't want to rip out all the units - not an option. I could cut an
access hole in the back or base of one of them - where for example it
would be hidden when drawers are in place.


But it would help if I could get a good idea of where the cable is (or
where it's held up) ... I have tried using a tone-tester down the cable,
but that won't work as soon as tone lost as soon as cable disappears
into the wall.
Anybody any suggestions of something I can inject 'into' the cable,
and how I can trace it ?

( The cable is a foil screened CAT5e )

Otherwise I will have to run in a new cable ... and this would be so
damn annoying having built the rest in.

Anybody any suggestions of something I can inject 'into' the cable,
and how I can trace it ?

silly non serious answer but could work.....
get some electrical cleaning solvent and colour it with food dye and
'inject' down the cable and then look for the pool of colour leaking out or
smell for it!

could work!

In article .com,
Osprey wrote:

Otherwise I will have to run in a new cable ... and this would be so
damn annoying having built the rest in.


If you are only using it for 100Mb and you have another one that has the
same run you could always run two down the same bit of stp. Of course,
the network purist will be screaming at me for suggesting that (and if its
1000Mb or more exotic then it's a non-starter anyway).

Got me out of a lot of work once - make sure you label it well though!

Darren

In article .com,
Osprey wrote:
[snip]
Anybody any suggestions of something I can inject 'into' the
cable, and how I can trace it ?

( The cable is a foil screened CAT5e )

Perhaps a nasty spikey/square wave, injected
into the cable between screen and Earth. The
spikey/square waveform gives a broadband noise
source. Then look for the far end of the 'aerial'
with a transistor AM receiver.

Perhaps generate the nasty spikes with an old
fashioned buzzer, either bought or made up with
a relay and dc supply.

ASCII art follows, view with fixed-width font
and no automatic wrapping.

DC+ ----+---------+
| |
_|_ )|
Diode /_\ )| Relay Coil
| )|
| )|
| |
+---------+-----------Cat5e Screen
|
+
/ Relay, normally closed contact,
+ (opens when relay is energised).
|
DC- --------------+---+
__|__Earth
/////

There will be a bigger signal without the diode,
but the relay contacts will be ruined without it.

--
Tony Williams.

In an earlier contribution to this discussion,
Osprey wrote:

I have 'lost' a length of CAT5 cable, one end is where it should be,
but the other it does not appear where it should in the comms
cupboard.
My assumption is that the company I had in to fit the fitted furniture
in the study have trapped this behind one of the built in units at
some point.

I don't want to rip out all the units - not an option. I could cut an
access hole in the back or base of one of them - where for example it
would be hidden when drawers are in place.


But it would help if I could get a good idea of where the cable is (or
where it's held up) ... I have tried using a tone-tester down the
cable, but that won't work as soon as tone lost as soon as cable
disappears into the wall.
Anybody any suggestions of something I can inject 'into' the cable,
and how I can trace it ?

( The cable is a foil screened CAT5e )

Otherwise I will have to run in a new cable ... and this would be so
damn annoying having built the rest in.

How about connecting one conductor to mains live, and look for it with a
mains cable detector?
--
Cheers,
Roger
______
Email address maintained for newsgroup use only, and not regularly
monitored.. Messages sent to it may not be read for several weeks.
PLEASE REPLY TO NEWSGROUP!

"Osprey" wrote in message
oups.com...
I have 'lost' a length of CAT5 cable, one end is where it should be,
but the other it does not appear where it should in the comms
cupboard.
My assumption is that the company I had in to fit the fitted furniture
in the study have trapped this behind one of the built in units at
some point.

I don't want to rip out all the units - not an option. I could cut an
access hole in the back or base of one of them - where for example it
would be hidden when drawers are in place.


But it would help if I could get a good idea of where the cable is (or
where it's held up) ... I have tried using a tone-tester down the cable,
but that won't work as soon as tone lost as soon as cable disappears
into the wall.
Anybody any suggestions of something I can inject 'into' the cable,
and how I can trace it ?

( The cable is a foil screened CAT5e )

Otherwise I will have to run in a new cable ... and this would be so
damn annoying having built the rest in.

Fluke make a range of network cable testers, we had one in my last place
(about £350) that could identify breaks in cable and other features. Very
handy. Used for the following:-
- Identified a break 30m along cable when builders cut through cable whilst
building a partition wall.
- Identified that there was 50m of cable hidden in roof for a cable that
went one partition wall (giant coil left in roof).
- Identified when one of the bosses modified his PC setup using 75 Ohm coax
rather than 50 Ohm coax !!

Osprey wrote:
I have 'lost' a length of CAT5 cable, one end is where it should be,
but the other it does not appear where it should in the comms
cupboard.
My assumption is that the company I had in to fit the fitted furniture
in the study have trapped this behind one of the built in units at
some point.

I don't want to rip out all the units - not an option. I could cut an
access hole in the back or base of one of them - where for example it
would be hidden when drawers are in place.


But it would help if I could get a good idea of where the cable is (or
where it's held up) ... I have tried using a tone-tester down the cable,
but that won't work as soon as tone lost as soon as cable disappears
into the wall.
Anybody any suggestions of something I can inject 'into' the cable,
and how I can trace it ?

( The cable is a foil screened CAT5e )

Otherwise I will have to run in a new cable ... and this would be so
damn annoying having built the rest in.

Use the toner - short all 8 wires together, one toner contact on those, other
contact on the foil - it works for coax too of course.
Set the tone to maximum sensitivity too, of course.

--
Karen

If you can't be a good example, then you'll just have to be a horrible warning.'
Catherine Aird

On 6 Feb, 22:54, Duracell Bunny wrote:


Use the toner - short all 8 wires together, one toner contact on those, other
contact on the foil - it works for coax too of course.
Set the tone to maximum sensitivity too, of course.

--
Karen

If you can't be a good example, then you'll just have to be a horrible warning.'
Catherine Aird- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -



It didn't work on CT100 .... I have around 35 of these, and the Buzz
tester certainly could not detect any of then.

On 5 Feb, 15:18, "Ian_m" wrote:
"Osprey" wrote in message

oups.com...





I have 'lost' a length of CAT5 cable, one end is where it should be,
but the other it does not appear where it should in the comms
cupboard.
My assumption is that the company I had in to fit the fitted furniture
in the study have trapped this behind one of the built in units at
some point.

I don't want to rip out all the units - not an option. I could cut an
access hole in the back or base of one of them - where for example it
would be hidden when drawers are in place.

But it would help if I could get a good idea of where the cable is (or
where it's held up) ... I have tried using a tone-tester down the cable,
but that won't work as soon as tone lost as soon as cable disappears
into the wall.
Anybody any suggestions of something I can inject 'into' the cable,
and how I can trace it ?

( The cable is a foil screened CAT5e )

Otherwise I will have to run in a new cable ... and this would be so
damn annoying having built the rest in.

Fluke make a range of network cable testers, we had one in my last place
(about £350) that could identify breaks in cable and other features. Very


I'll ask in work maybe somebody has one.

On Feb 6, 10:54 pm, Duracell Bunny wrote:
Osprey wrote:
I have 'lost' a length of CAT5 cable, one end is where it should be,
but the other it does not appear where it should in the comms
cupboard.
My assumption is that the company I had in to fit the fitted furniture
in the study have trapped this behind one of the built in units at
some point.

I don't want to rip out all the units - not an option. I could cut an
access hole in the back or base of one of them - where for example it
would be hidden when drawers are in place.

But it would help if I could get a good idea of where the cable is (or
where it's held up) ... I have tried using a tone-tester down the cable,
but that won't work as soon as tone lost as soon as cable disappears
into the wall.
Anybody any suggestions of something I can inject 'into' the cable,
and how I can trace it ?

( The cable is a foil screened CAT5e )

Otherwise I will have to run in a new cable ... and this would be so
damn annoying having built the rest in.

Use the toner - short all 8 wires together, one toner contact on those, other
contact on the foil - it works for coax too of course.
Set the tone to maximum sensitivity too, of course.


Would it help to earth the central conductors also, assuming the tone
generator is floating? Then the applied volts will be on the outside.

Ribert

In article om, Osprey
writes
On 5 Feb, 15:18, "Ian_m" wrote:
"Osprey" wrote in message

oups.com...





I have 'lost' a length of CAT5 cable, one end is where it should be,
but the other it does not appear where it should in the comms
cupboard.
My assumption is that the company I had in to fit the fitted furniture
in the study have trapped this behind one of the built in units at
some point.

I don't want to rip out all the units - not an option. I could cut an
access hole in the back or base of one of them - where for example it
would be hidden when drawers are in place.

But it would help if I could get a good idea of where the cable is (or
where it's held up) ... I have tried using a tone-tester down the cable,
but that won't work as soon as tone lost as soon as cable disappears
into the wall.
Anybody any suggestions of something I can inject 'into' the cable,
and how I can trace it ?

( The cable is a foil screened CAT5e )

Otherwise I will have to run in a new cable ... and this would be so
damn annoying having built the rest in.

Fluke make a range of network cable testers, we had one in my last place
(about £350) that could identify breaks in cable and other features. Very


I'll ask in work maybe somebody has one.


Maplin do a simple and cheap line tracer for such wiring mainly used to
identify phone pairs but it works very well with CAT 5 having used it
for just this sort of problem and very successful it has been too!...
--
Tony Sayer

In article .com,
Osprey wrote:

It didn't work on CT100 .... I have around 35 of these, and the
Buzz tester certainly could not detect any of then.

I've just done the experiment. Connected a reel of
pvc insulated stranded wire to a square wave signal
generator, running at 50Hz, 10V peak-peak. The 0v
was connected to mains earth. Threw the reel down
the stairs to get a 20-odd foot length.

The signal from the wire saturated the medium wave
of the transistor radio, a raspy buzz, loudest at
the lowest frequency. The signal strength could be
altered by turning the receiver in relation to the
wire, and at the highest sensitivity point the buzz
could be heard from about 18" inwards. Turning the
receiver away as it got closer allowed about a 2"
detection accuracy.

--
Tony Williams.

Osprey wrote:
On 6 Feb, 22:54, Duracell Bunny wrote:

Use the toner - short all 8 wires together, one toner contact on those, other
contact on the foil - it works for coax too of course.
Set the tone to maximum sensitivity too, of course.

--
Karen

If you can't be a good example, then you'll just have to be a horrible warning.'
Catherine Aird- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -



It didn't work on CT100 .... I have around 35 of these, and the Buzz
tester certainly could not detect any of then.


Try another toner - this works well with my Fluke unit, and my old Microtest
set. Won't work with cheapies typically.

--
Karen

If you can't be a good example, then you'll just have to be a horrible warning.'
Catherine Aird

On 7 Feb, 12:39, Tony Williams wrote:
In article .com,
Osprey wrote:

It didn't work on CT100 .... I have around 35 of these, and the
Buzz tester certainly could not detect any of then.

I've just done the experiment. Connected a reel of
pvc insulated stranded wire to a square wave signal
generator, running at 50Hz, 10V peak-peak. The 0v
was connected to mains earth. Threw the reel down
the stairs to get a 20-odd foot length.

The signal from the wire saturated the medium wave
of the transistor radio, a raspy buzz, loudest at
the lowest frequency. The signal strength could be
altered by turning the receiver in relation to the
wire, and at the highest sensitivity point the buzz
could be heard from about 18" inwards. Turning the
receiver away as it got closer allowed about a 2"
detection accuracy.

--
Tony Williams.

looks like a job for me this weekend ... along with usual puzzled
looks from SWMBO

On 8 Feb, 05:43, Jim Michaels wrote:


If you connect the tone generator between the shield/screen and earth,
you should be able to trace it even in a wall behind a cabinet.

Otherwise I will have to run in a new cable ... and this would be so
damn annoying having built the rest in.

Remove SPAMX from email address- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

I did ... and it doesn't :-( you can't find the cable once it's
in the wall.

I'll probably try making the mains version mentioned in thread.