Author: Baron Miller

MicroScanner2 vs Cable Prowler

Posted on by Baron Miller
MicroScanner2 vs Cable Prowler

If your network cable tester is important to you and your daily work, it needs to be the best — not just the best overall, but the best one for you. Looking at the Fluke Networks Microscanner2 and the Platinum Tools Cable Prowler, let’s put them to both tests. We’ll look at technical features and specs that show whether they’re up for the job, and design and usability details that show they can work hard and help you do your best.

Comparing Functionality

Both devices check cable lengths and proper wiring, ensuring that cable wiring installs are done right. When the network is powered up, the Microscanner2 can detect PoE. The Cable Prowler also steps in with PoE mode checking for both A/Endspan and B/Endspan to verify the pins in use for power – an important distinction. The Cable Prowler places a PoE load to make sure the switch can sustain PoE output when in use. The Platinum unit can also check link status and link capability, verifying that the cable is live. This extra detail can also help speed up troubleshooting.

MicroScanner2Cable Prowler
Active Ethernet (Link Capability & Link Status)✓✓
Detects PoE/PoE+, PoE Mode, and load test for voltage dropDetect PoE only✓
Link Light✓
Tone Generation✓✓
Detect Length to Opens & Shorts✓✓
Verifies Continuity (RJ45, Coax)✓✓
ID Remotes (ID only) Ntwk & CoaxUp to 20
Testing & ID Remotes Ntwk & TelUp to 7Up to 8
Interface connectionRJ45/F connRJ45/F conn
Hanging ClipOption
KickstandOption
Max Length 1,500 ft (457 m)✓✓
Screen typeNo ColorColor
Save and export test resultsup to 256 tests
Battery: Rechargeable Lithium-ionNo (2xAA)No (6xAA)
LanguagesENEn, FR, ESP, DEU, ITA

Testing and Recording

When verifying large wiring jobs, rapid recording of the testing results is a big plus. If there are problems, it helps locate them quickly. For signoff, it provides reliable documentation of system checkout. Microscanner2 simply displays the current test results; the Cable Prowler stores up to 256 test results for export and easy inclusion in reports and analysis runs.

Easy to Read and Interpret

Cable testing takes place throughout the world, and in all sorts of conditions. Even in North America, workers speak many languages. The Microscanner2 only uses English and presents results on a monochrome display. Cable Prowler is fluent in English, French, Spanish, German and Italian, and uses a full-color display which speeds the interpretation of results in all kinds of lighting conditions. In some cases, color is enough to quickly determine preliminary results!

Features to Make It Handy

Cable Prowler adds further usability features: an optional hanging clip attachment, much like a lineman’s handset, keeps it handy and out of the way. A kickstand attachment keeps it visible standing on a flat surface, allowing hands-free testing. Microscanner2 does not currently offer these basic items. Cable Prowler also allows firmware upgrades to enhance the value of the unit over time, adding features and display formats, and supporting future standards as needed.

In Conclusion

An added plus for many purchasers is the fact that Platinum Cable Prowler is made entirely in the U.S.A., following strict manufacturing standards. While the two units appear to be comparable in their basic purpose, it seems clear that the Cable Prowler is the one technicians would rather have with them in the field. Superior design, thoughtful usability features, and an eye towards future standards combine to make it clearly the better tool for cable testing and troubleshooting in today’s fast-paced network environment.

Ethernet Speed Certification White Paper

How to Find a Cable Fault with a Cable Tester

Posted on by Baron Miller
How to find a cable fault with a cable tester

Imagine that your job is to find cable faults which occur in aircraft during flight. Modern wiring can run over 100 km in commercial aircraft, and in-service testing is a challenge in any situation. We’ve come a long way from mobile testing units, high voltage test spikes and other rough and ready testing methods — testing is more elegant now for many types of wiring.

TDR Magic

Things have gotten a lot easier for techs working on complex and hidden power and data wiring. Time Domain Reflectometry (TDR) uses some simple electrical principles to check cabling for faults and also locate those faults even on a thousand feet of cable or more. Techs can calculate the length of cable segments and observe any shorts or opens by watching reflected signals on a waveform monitor. But there have even been a few key improvements to this basic technique.

For the in-flight example above, a variation on TDR called SSTDR using spread spectrum technology lets techs check cables without interfering with data and other signals, and without being affected by activity on the wire. Spread spectrum, used in cellular telephones, increases the reliability of signals and avoids interference from them by keeping them jumping to different frequencies in predictable patterns.

From Waveforms to a Simple Digital Display

SSTDR testing of copper cable of almost any kind, from Romex to coax, is now available in a simple, hand-held device that looks somewhat like a digital voltmeter, and costs only a bit more than a quality voltmeter. The Platinum SnapShot does the waveform calculations and presents simple open/short indications with cable length calculations. It requires an NVP (nominal velocity of propagation, also known as VOP) value which describes the cable transmission velocity (as a fraction of the speed of light). Typical values are listed on the device for types of cable such as CAT6 or RG58, but it can also calculate NVP from a known length of sample cable over 25 feet.

Simple Cable Tester Operation

The SnapShot has three basic modes: calibration mode, where it calculates NVP if you don’t know the NVP; test mode, where it measures cable lengths and determines distances to faults; and tone mode, a convenience feature to help locate cables under test or locate opens/breaks in the cable. With typically better than 1% accuracy, it can locate hidden faults in seconds. It can also tell you how long those unlabeled cable runs are, check or verify spooled cable lengths, and tone out your cables before testing. Test mode also offers continuous testing, where you just connect each cable and watch the display without pushing any buttons.
Interpreting Results

TDR-type testing relies on cables that don’t have proper termination impedance on the other end. If the cable’s characteristic impedance, such as 75 ohms, is present on the other end (equipment connection) you’ll either get an error, or a “short” indication. That’s because a proper termination doesn’t reflect the test signal. When there are cable faults, the type of reflected signal tells the tester whether it’s coming from an open connection or a short, and the tester will show the cable length to that problem. Testing spooled cable, you’re just finding the distance to the open connection at the other end.

With the precision of SSTDR testing using the SnapShot, you can save time, test live (with limited voltage on the line, less than 60V DC or peak AC). Measuring to the fault allows you to dig, open walls, even send down divers pretty close to the fault. If you happen to work on aircraft wiring or something similarly complex, this unit can make you really popular!

SSTDR White Paper

How to Trace Live Ethernet Cables without Sacrificing Uptime

Posted on by Baron Miller

How to trace a live ethernet cableBig-picture folks are running the numbers on power, cooling, and computation, envisioning the datacenter of the future. Meanwhile your network, miles and miles of cable, keeps it all tied together and connected to the real world. Reality is a big factor, and keeps you maintaining cable runs long after they’re installed. Network cabling is a part of the infrastructure that only becomes visible when it fails — or when you bring it down for testing and tracing.

Acceptable Casualties?

Even a short interruption in network connectivity can light up the help desk phones like fireworks, and get issues escalating before people realize it was just a quick test. Scheduled downtime for testing often costs weekend overtime and inconvenience, and in today’s 24/7 datacenter even that may not be acceptable. QoS hits, expensive dead air from broadcast servers, interrupted real-time data links, broken promises to customers — the list of consequences goes on.

Interrupting live networks is painful. But sometimes you’ve got to do work in the cable closets, server rooms, and other crowded and complex rivers of wire that are your responsibility. Does there have to be an acceptable amount of downtime for tracing and testing wires? There are a few low-impact methods for locating cable ends which are popular but disruptive. There is one newer strategy, though, which can lead you right to the cable end you seek without network disruption or disconnection.

Tones and Testers

Hailing from the days of craft technicians testing voice circuits for dial tone with their butt set, tone testing is a straightforward way of locating the other end of a cable, especially in a remote location. The tone goes in one end of an offline circuit, and the technician checks all the other ends in the server room or data closet until he or she finds it. It’s even possible to be checking the wrong location if the cable runs branch out to various locations. Only problem with this method is it will not work on a live network. Testers such as Platinum Tools’ Cable Prowler, Net Prowler, and Net Chaser can provide the tones for testing.

Remotes Tag Multiple Cables

Using remotes with a cable tester can help locate one or more cables at the far end, but doing so still requires disconnection from the server, switch, or router and downtime for testing. The three cable testers mentioned can test cabling using remotes. You can also run a series of cable verifications while you’re at it, especially if you’re testing unused cable installed as backup. But what about that case where some cables wind up in closet A, others in closet B? Plus, this method is it will not work on a live network.

Link Light — Testing without Disruption, At Last

A great feature on the Platinum Tools Cable and Network Testers allows live testing when you just can’t afford to go offline even for a quick toning or using remotes to tag cables. Link Light is a clever trick where the tester, connected to an active network cable or port, makes the port light for that circuit flash at a regular rate. You can vary the flashing rate so that it’s easy to distinguish from other network activity, making it simple to identify your cable even if you have to check several locations — just open the closet door, look for the unique flashing light, and tag your connection.

Ethernet Speed Certification White Paper

How to Avoid Installing Bad Ethernet Cable

Posted on by Baron Miller

How to avoid installing bad ethernet cable

When a cable install goes wrong, it’s a costly mess. If you haven’t experienced one, you’ve heard about one. It often catches everyone by surprise. On acceptance, or when the customer starts using the network in production, something just isn’t right. It could be the cable, someone says. But Cat6 cable is a commodity item, right? Even the cheap overseas type? Still, your reputation is on the line, and the next suspect might be the installation. Let’s talk about the cable, also the risk of “copper clad” conductors.

Standards are Rising

At today’s network speeds, things which go seriously wrong with the wiring can seem very subtle on visual inspection. Even within Cat6, there are 250MHz and 550MHz rated cable versions. Termination has to be 100%, not just making contact. Conductor twist must be consistent. Cable physical and electrical characteristics have to be 100% also, especially as the network evolves and physically ages over time. But even major differences like copper versus copper-clad conductors can be hard to detect at first.

You’re dealing with radio frequencies (RF) going down the cable, and that energy can be mighty finicky. If you’ve ever put a tiny bit of metal in a microwave oven by accident, you’ve seen what a change in characteristics can do. Suddenly, the chamber is arcing and sparking as the RF waves start getting chaotic. Networking has a bit lower frequencies (so far), and much lower energy, but the concept is the same. RF complains mightily when it’s not happy with how you’re treating it.

What Makes Cable Bad

Some of the critical items in cable manufacturing are:

  • Shielding
  • Conductor twist
  • Insulation
  • Wire gauge
  • Wire composition

Installation stresses and damage are also important, as well as cable termination. Along the length of the cable, you need consistent and quality manufacturing for reliable cable capacitance, or else — think of the metal in the microwave. Things start to get chaotic.

Background Check the Cable

The best way to avoid problems is to cover all the bases. Check the advertised specs and labeling, but be skeptical. Cheap cable is often deceptively labeled. Has the manufacturer submitted cable for certified testing? This will cover you not only for electrical characteristics, but also heat, humidity, even mold damage over time, depending on the testing standard. Remember to look for “plenum rated” cable when you need it. Some of your customers may not need all that, but some will. Think about hospital installs, for example. You’re going to sign a pretty extensive contract for those, even if all it says is “conforms to applicable standards.”

Copper Conductors Only

For most applications, solid all-copper conductor wire of the appropriate gauge is what you’ll be ordering, and what you should be receiving. CCA or CCS, copper clad aluminum or steel, looks the same but doesn’t perform the same — all copper conducts better, for instance. Aluminum can get brittle and break, and has greater loss than copper. PoE current is another problem with non-copper conductors. There are many ways to check for “copper clad”:

  • For steel, does a magnet stick to it?
  • Does it bend differently than known all-copper cables? (rigid or flimsy)
  • Is the wire damaging your crimper blade? (steel)
  • Does the conductor droop in a lighter flame? (aluminum)
  • Is the resistance of long runs higher than known copper conductors? (big PoE problem, and lossy)
  • Does the cable or box mention CCA or CCS, or not mention solid copper?

High-performance cable for today’s networks runs laps around cheap imitations. Make sure you know what you’re installing, and you can avoid performance and reliability problems down the line.

cat6a flex connector termination guide