Tuesday, 22 January 2013

Cable tester

Well.. This was requested, and first i thought that nah. Not gonna do it. But after thinking about it for a few seconds, it didn't feel like that bad of an idea. So i drew up simplest "original" design i could ever do. The idea is that you attach a cable to two shielded jacks. There are LEDs for both, the core and the shield wire of the cable. If the connection is solid, then the LED will stay lit. If wiggling the cable makes the LED blink or they don't light up at all - well then. You better get a new cable. I made two versions. One with completely unnecessary switches and the other with just simplest wiring i could come up with. This may be useful little utility for some people - and maybe even a nice purpose for those tiny leftover pieces of board :)

Anyway. Use shielded phone jacks and dc jack - stuff them into 1590A - Instant cable tester. This one  won't probably need a verified tag :)


Posted by at 19:11
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8 comments:

  1. onthetundra23 January 2013 at 04:46

    Seems just like a logic tester.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. mirosol23 January 2013 at 07:21

      I think it should work.. LED will get grounded if the cable offers solid connection.
      +m

      Delete
    2. mirosol23 January 2013 at 07:30

      If it doesn't work well enough, then it could be easily modded for taking the +9V trhough the cables instead of ground.
      +m

      Delete
  2. Unknown26 May 2013 at 03:44

    I built this and it didn't work. Plugged in two completely different cables and the LED's still lit up. I ended up building this one instead from Craig Anderton's book http://i39.tinypic.com/2cye4j.jpg

    very simple and it works.

    ReplyDelete
  3. rlw113816 April 2018 at 18:01

    Simple Cable Tester "out jack" side is labeled wrong: the 'tip' goes to the LED and the sleeve to ground. Then one LED will indicate continuity for the shield, and the other for the signal wire.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Elijah-Baley8 September 2019 at 09:03

      This comment has been removed by the author.

      Delete
    2. Blazer098122 September 2021 at 19:33

      Thank you! About to try this even though I have 4 different DMM's I could use lol

      Delete
  4. Adam Thomson22 November 2018 at 08:51

    Great! I love reading the stories that come with your wonderful posts!

    ReplyDelete

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