A good tool for rg 59 cable.

[highjoke 0]

Hello,

Tried to replace outdoor camera and install a new one, but it seems to be a problem with the existing cable (runs about ~200') from office down in the garage and up to conduit outside.

It's pretty a long run and want to make sure if it's possible to test the coax cable and may be even to find an exact point of breakage/shortage. Can someone to recommend me a good tool for cable testing. Thank you in advance.

[jxk716 0]

Hello,

It's pretty a long run and want to make sure if it's possible to test the coax cable and may be even to find an exact point of breakage/shortage. Can someone to recommend me a good tool for cable testing. Thank you in advance.

 

I purchased one of these from Home Depot, it has a Coax connector. You turn the tone on, take your probe and touch the cable at multiple locations. Once the probe tool goes silent you can narrow your search for the break. This one is less expensive but it gets the job done.

 

[highjoke 0]

Thank you for your quick response. I will definitely try it.

[Zohan 1]

Something like this

http://www.broadbandutopia.com/coaxtester.html

[highjoke 0]

I've bought a Sperry coax tester, but I don't think it will be useful for what I am trying to do.

 

Can I use it to find if rg59 cable is damaged (no video on DVR side from a camera).

 

I did a test and cut the cable on purpose, but the tester still gave me the tone, thought it should not give any if wire is damaged.

[jxk716 0]

A little more detail regarding how you conducted the test would help otherwise I can only offer the following:

 

It is a pretty simple operation; first thing to do is place the tone generator on one end of the wire (say the DVR end), turn the unit on then go to the camera end of the wire with your probe. If there is a tone the wire is fine as it is uninterrupted. If there is no tone start working backwards until you hear a tone..that is the location of the wire break.

[highjoke 0]

That's what I did, when ran a test:

 

1. connected a coax adapter from the Sperry receiver to rg59 cable on one side and touched a center copper on another side with the tester - tone heard (all is normal)

2. the rg59 wire was damaged (I cut center conductor somewhere in the middle) and connected the same way as I did in step 1 - tone heard (same tone again)

 

Not sure if I've troubleshooted the correct way, please let me know.

[jxk716 0]

That's what I did, when ran a test:

 

1. connected a coax adapter from the Sperry receiver to rg59 cable on one side and touched a center copper on another side with the tester - tone heard (all is normal)

2. the rg59 wire was damaged (I cut center conductor somewhere in the middle) and connected the same way as I did in step 1 - tone heard (same tone again)

 

Not sure if I've troubleshooted the correct way, please let me know.

 

It has to be one of three things (or maybe a combination): you are either placing the receiver on the wrong wire; the wire is pinched allowing the tone but not video, the camera and/or power source is bad. Have you tried another camera on the wire in question? What about power at the camera? Do you have enough? A digital voltage tester would come in handy to rule out power issues.

 

If you used the tone and probe set that I listed above and you are getting a tone on the other end of the wire (opposite wire end of the transmitter) the wire is clearly not cut. Any signal received at the other end would indicate the wire is okay.

[tomcctv 187]

Tried to replace outdoor camera and install a new one, but it seems to be a problem with the existing cable

 

 

test cable with a terminator. and multimeter. if you get a bad or no reading then pull new cable. with everything CCTV the less joints and connections the better.

 

was the old camera working before you changed it ???

 

 

[highjoke 0]

First of all, want to thank everyone who jumped in and sent a response, it's greatly appreciated.

 

Let me give a little bit more details. When I came on site, the outdoor camera already lost video.

The power was normal (~12.7 V), tried to connect 2 different cameras (no video), tried a different BNC connectors (no progress).

 

Now about Sperry coax/cat5 tester: it's giving me a tone even if the wire is damaged, not sure if it can be used when the goal is to find if the wire is damaged, it can only be used for finding a correct wire from the bunch, but it's not what I am trying to achieve here.

[jxk716 0]

Let me give a little bit more details. When I came on site, the outdoor camera already lost video.

The power was normal (~12.7 V), tried to connect 2 different cameras (no video), tried a different BNC connectors (no progress).

But in order to rule out the DVR as a problem have you tried another temporary camera on each video input (or at least the known input where there is no video) on the DVR? Ideally, having a pre-made coax with BNC female on both ends (like a patch cord) connected to the camera/power source and DVR would be a good way to know for sure if the camera and DVR are okay. You can make a temp jumper wire if needed.

 

Now about Sperry coax/cat5 tester: it's giving me a tone even if the wire is damaged, not sure if it can be used when the goal is to find if the wire is damaged, it can only be used for finding a correct wire from the bunch, but it's not what I am trying to achieve here.

Right, so you can rule out a cut in the wire. If you have the required camera power at the camera end of the wire and you have tested a working camera on a short jumper cable near the DVR (and the camera works) it's time for a new wire run. From what you are posting it does seem there are other issues especially if you get a tone on the other end. So the only real solution to this is running a new wire.

[highjoke 0]

Bought the following on Amazon and already used it, worked like a charm:

 

1. Fluke TS90 Cable Fault Finder - 155.99$

2. Fluke Networks 26100900 PRO3000 PROBE (Probe Only / No Tone Generator) - 67.95$