[chd584]

Hello,

I'm looking to purchase a cable tester capable of measuring length, in particular the distance to a short. Some other features I'd like to have are an integrated tone generator and alligator clips to test unterminated wires.

My immediate need is to find a short circuit somewhere in a 100-foot span of 18/2 wire.

The product sell sheet for the Goldtool TCT-2670 kit (TCT-2690PRO tester and TCT-700 probe, rebranded by Monoprice and others) seems to suggest that it can calculate the distance to a short. But after several exchanges with the manufacturer, its TDR only works on open circuits; one has to manually sweep the probe along the cable until the fault is detected.

The Fluke TS90 would definitely work, but its base price is more than my budget and the amplifier probe is sold separately.

Any suggestions for a tester & probe kit with these features in the $150 range?

Thanks.

 

[egnlsn]

All you have to do is find out the resistance of the particular wire in use. You double that to get the loop resistance (you know, down and back). Using a regular DMM (Digital Multimeter), measure the resistance of the wires (one lead on red, the other lead on black)(if there is a short, regardless of where it is, you have a loop). You then calculate the distance from you to the short.

That will get you to within a couple of feet (usually closer than that).

 

[olyteddy]

What you want is a Time Domain Reflectometer. Here's a sampling of them: http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_s...keywords=tdr cable tester&sprefix=tdr,aps,437

 

[chd584]

I ended up buying an excellent used TS90 on eBay for a reasonable price and will purchase a new amplifier probe sometime in the future with the savings.

 

[Neurorad]

Why not just run a new cable?

 

[DaveClement]

All you have to do is find out the resistance of the particular wire in use. You double that to get the loop resistance (you know, down and back). Using a regular DMM (Digital Multimeter), measure the resistance of the wires (one lead on red, the other lead on black)(if there is a short, regardless of where it is, you have a loop). You then calculate the distance from you to the short.

That will get you to within a couple of feet (usually closer than that).

Great idea!!!