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Church and H.O.W. – Forums for HOW Sound and AV - Your Displayed Name Must Be Your Real Full Name To Post In The Church and HOW Forums => Church Sound => Topic started by: Russ Buck on March 28, 2011, 10:44:55 AM

Title: cable tester
Post by: Russ Buck on March 28, 2011, 10:44:55 AM
can anyone recommend a decent cable tester mostly need to test xlr mic cables and guitar/instrument cables.
Title: Re: cable tester
Post by: Frank DeWitt on March 29, 2011, 12:06:37 AM
can anyone recommend a decent cable tester mostly need to test xlr mic cables and guitar/instrument cables.

It is hard to beat the Behringer CT 100 It is cheep, it works, it will lock on a intermittent problem, it checks for a grounded shell, and it is a handy tone generator to help live trouble shooting.  My only complaint is that because they copied an old design, it doesn't do speakons,  A couple of adapters take care of that.
Title: Re: cable tester
Post by: Arnold B. Krueger on March 29, 2011, 10:16:31 AM
can anyone recommend a decent cable tester mostly need to test xlr mic cables and guitar/instrument cables.

I'm using a cable tester I bought off ebay for about $45 that I don't like because the selector switch has became flakey. So, try something else!

However a tester with a manual selector switch (as opposed to one that runs automatically) is a good idea because then you can pick the contact to test manually and flex the cables, etc for each one and be more sure about continuity. About half the broken cables I find initially seem to test good until I start flexing and torturing them a little.

You probably want to make sure that your cable tester works for Speakon NL-4s and RJ-45s, as they are both very much part of modern life and just about impossible to deal with without a proper cable tester. 

I bought a low cost two piece RJ-45 cable tester for about $25 off Amazon that violates what I just said about having a manual  switch, but its a great tool because I can use it to test a long cable that is already in place.
Title: Re: cable tester
Post by: Frank DeWitt on March 29, 2011, 12:27:03 PM

However a tester with a manual selector switch (as opposed to one that runs automatically) is a good idea because then you can pick the contact to test manually and flex the cables, etc for each one and be more sure about continuity. About half the broken cables I find initially seem to test good until I start flexing and torturing them a little.


Just to clear things up a bit. the Behringer CT 100 tests each of 3 conductors individually, it just does them all at the same time.  It has a matrix of LEDs that tell you what is connected to what. These LED are controlled with a microprocessor so they will lock until reset. this allows you to wiggle the cord and if there is a intermittent short or open it will be saved for you. 
The CT 100 is a unauthorized copy of the Ebtech Swiss Army 6 in 1 Cable Tester
http://www.ebtechaudio.com/swizzdes.html
Title: Re: cable tester
Post by: Jim Ogann on March 29, 2011, 02:09:01 PM
can anyone recommend a decent cable tester mostly need to test xlr mic cables and guitar/instrument cables.
I bought a really cheap CAT 5 tester ($0 with the crimper on e-bay) and made a number of adapter cables for it. 3 and 5 pin XLR etc. It test 8 circuits for continuity and shorts.
Title: Re: cable tester
Post by: David Kaiser on March 31, 2011, 04:58:47 PM
I use three cable testers. I have both the Ebtech Swizz Army and the Behringer CT100, and I also carry the Rat Sniffer by RatSound. http://www.ratsoundsales.com/snif_send_pak.html (http://www.ratsoundsales.com/snif_send_pak.html)This tester plugs onto a standard XLR cable and is powered by Phantom or a seperate power unit for long runs. Very handy, I have two.
Title: Re: cable tester
Post by: Dave Vercoe on April 04, 2011, 04:22:09 PM
can anyone recommend a decent cable tester mostly need to test xlr mic cables and guitar/instrument cables.
Personally I would go with the Behringer CT 100 you can test just about any cable you need to test even for your media guy. You can test XLR, 1/4", 1/8", RCA, and midi cables with this device. If it shows that there is a good connection just being plugged in you can wiggle the cable and tell you if the connection is bad when you wiggle it this is mainly good for areas where your cables may be walked on. If you are not sure if you need to run run phantom power or not this tester will detect phantom power. If you have a guitar center near you they are pretty cheap there about $22 or you can order it from www.allprosound.com about $29.99 through them.
Title: Re: cable tester
Post by: Arnold B. Krueger on April 05, 2011, 08:50:33 AM
can anyone recommend a decent cable tester mostly need to test xlr mic cables and guitar/instrument cables.
Personally I would go with the Behringer CT 100 you can test just about any cable you need to test even for your media guy. You can test XLR, 1/4", 1/8", RCA, and midi cables with this device. If it shows that there is a good connection just being plugged in you can wiggle the cable and tell you if the connection is bad when you wiggle it this is mainly good for areas where your cables

That would not a a 21st century media guy! Maybe the CT 100 might be OK in the 1970s.

The lack of CAT-5 support might be defensible (but not acceptable) on the grounds that CAT5 is IT, but the lack of SpeakOn support is pretty strange. And, they don't support some of the XLRs we use for DMX, including their own DMX hardware.

CAT5 is no longer the unique domain of IT - it is all over the 21st century A/V world.  IMO Behringer needs to do some creative thinking and notice where their market is now living.  Also, the features of CAT-5 testers that work with very long cables wouldn't hurt the other cables we use.

Behringer themselves make A/V equipment that obsoletes their own cable tester! Do the left and right hand connect to each other over there?
Title: Re: cable tester
Post by: Dave Vercoe on April 05, 2011, 10:31:22 AM
Personally I would go with the Behringer CT 100 you can test just about any cable you need to test even for your media guy. You can test XLR, 1/4", 1/8", RCA, and midi cables with this device. If it shows that there is a good connection just being plugged in you can wiggle the cable and tell you if the connection is bad when you wiggle it this is mainly good for areas where your cables

That would not a a 21st century media guy! Maybe the CT 100 might be OK in the 1970s.

The lack of CAT-5 support might be defensible (but not acceptable) on the grounds that CAT5 is IT, but the lack of SpeakOn support is pretty strange. And, they don't support some of the XLRs we use for DMX, including their own DMX hardware.

CAT5 is no longer the unique domain of IT - it is all over the 21st century A/V world.  IMO Behringer needs to do some creative thinking and notice where their market is now living.  Also, the features of CAT-5 testers that work with very long cables wouldn't hurt the other cables we use.

Behringer themselves make A/V equipment that obsoletes their own cable tester! Do the left and right hand connect to each other over there?
I have been running sound at my church for 12-13 years now. He said he needs to test xlr, and instrument cables. The ct 100 would be fine for him if he would have said he needs to test speakon I would not have suggested it. My church does not have speakon so we use the ct 100.
Title: Re: cable tester
Post by: David Gunness on June 19, 2011, 07:00:13 PM
http://www.ratsoundsales.com/snif_send_pak.html

Dave Rat has created a very compact and inexpensive cable tester.  Besides continuity, it will also flag cross-wired connectors.

Dave
Title: Re: cable tester
Post by: Jordan Wolf on June 24, 2011, 03:24:48 PM
Arnold,

I'd rather have a dedicated 8P8C tester/tracer/ticker...with all the digital audio stuff using Cat5e/Cat6, etc. nowadays, it's just another good reason to carry one.

I very much like the Ebtech one for testing of "normal" audio cables (TT is normal for live sound?) but wish it tested NL4 and NL8 connectors.

I think it best to have a tester for each cable type ("normal" patch cables such as XLR and 1/4"; Ethernet; Speakon) - more pricey up front, but a better value in the long run methinks since one would be able to fully evaluate each type for faults.
Title: Re: cable tester
Post by: Arnold B. Krueger on June 24, 2011, 11:10:07 PM
Arnold,

I'd rather have a dedicated 8P8C tester/tracer/ticker...with all the digital audio stuff using Cat5e/Cat6, etc. nowadays, it's just another good reason to carry one.

I agree. I have  a combination tester that requires access to both ends of the network line and tests using a manual switch, which can be the best tool, and also a specialized network cable tester that has two parts and can be used with network cabling that is already in place.

Quote
I very much like the Ebtech one for testing of "normal" audio cables (TT is normal for live sound?) but wish it tested NL4 and NL8 connectors.

The combination cable tester I have does XLR, TRS, TS, NL4, NL8, CAT5, and others.

Quote
I think it best to have a tester for each cable type ("normal" patch cables such as XLR and 1/4"; Ethernet; Speakon) - more pricey up front, but a better value in the long run methinks since one would be able to fully evaluate each type for faults.

I think that having a separate tester for each kind of cable is going a bit overboard. Too costly and too many different things to carry.
Title: Re: cable tester
Post by: Tim Padrick on July 08, 2011, 10:35:02 PM
The Behringer's intermittent indicator has seemingly been very handy.  The EWI has a very comprehensive I/O set.  http://audiopile.net/products/Electronics/Bug_Catcher/Bugcatcher_cutsheet.shtml
Title: Re: cable tester
Post by: Paul Dershem on July 08, 2011, 10:58:24 PM
I have owned EWI tester mentioned by Mr. Padrick for about five years, and it has worked very well:

http://audiopile.net/products/Electronics/Bug_Catcher/Bugcatcher_cutsheet.shtml
Title: Re: cable tester
Post by: Mike McNany on July 09, 2011, 08:36:27 AM
I picked up the NADY CT3 (?) from Musician's Friend for $25 or $30 several years ago, far cheaper than even the behringer. It works fine and even tests NL4s.

Mike McNany
Title: Re: cable tester
Post by: Rick Perry on July 15, 2011, 05:42:12 AM
can anyone recommend a decent cable tester mostly need to test xlr mic cables and guitar/instrument cables.

I favor the MI TEE cable tester. You can do a google search for it, I use mine all the time and it supports XLR, MIDI, 1/4, USB, Cat5, SPEAK ON, etc...