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Cable Fault Finder

Users Guide

PN 2448335
October 2005, Rev. 2 9/2015

All product names are trademarks of their respective companies.

Summary of Contents for TS 90

Page 1: ...TS 90 Cable Fault Finder Users Guide PN 2448335 October 2005 Rev 2 9 2015 2005 2009 2015 Fluke Corporation All product names are trademarks of their respective companies ...

Page 2: ...ion to refund of the purchase price free of charge repair or replacement of a defective product which is returned to a Fluke Networks authorized service center within the warranty period To obtain warranty service contact your nearest Fluke Networks authorized service center to obtain return authorization information then send the product to that service center with a description of the difficulty...

Page 3: ...esting Cables 7 SmartTone Positive Identification System 8 Velocity of Propagation VOP 10 Applications 12 Testing Wire in Conduit 14 Testing a Wire Pair in a Conduit 14 Testing a Single Wire in a Conduit 14 Inventory Management 14 In Case of Unstable or Unusual Readings 19 Time Domain Reflectometry TDR Technology 19 VOP Variations 22 Maximum Length 23 Frequently Asked Questions 24 If Something See...

Page 4: ...ii TS90 Cable Fault Finder Users Guide ...

Page 5: ...roubleshooting tips and other support services To register fill out the online registration form on the Fluke Networks website at www flukenetworks com registration Contacting Fluke Networks www flukenetworks com support flukenetworks com 1 425 446 5500 or 1 800 283 5853 Australia 61 2 8850 3333 or 61 3 9329 0244 Beijing 86 10 6512 3435 Brazil 11 3759 7600 Canada 1 800 363 5853 Europe 31 0 40 2675...

Page 6: ...ay be impaired W Warning Risk of personal injury See the manual for details Caution Risk of damage or destruction to equipment or software See the manual for details X Warning Risk of electric shock Earth ground P Conformité Européenne Conforms to relevant European Union directives Meets safety requirements of North America Do not put products containing circuit boards into the garbage Dispose of ...

Page 7: ... to 5 feet for cables from 10 feet to 200 feet and 3 and 5 feet for cables longer than 200 feet Bright 0 4 inch LED display Up to 4 readings per second Audible indication of shorted wires and external voltage greater than 15 Vac Automatic adjustments Tone injection with the SmartTone positive identification system Input protected to 250 Vac Components protected against damage from moisture Fifty h...

Page 8: ...sers Guide Physical Characteristics See Figure 1 cab01 eps Figure 1 Physical Characteristics Power button which turns the tester on and off Low battery LED Female BNC British Naval Connector LCD display with units indication feet ...

Page 9: ...line cords and accessories contact your local Fluke Networks authorized distributor Operation WWarningX DO NOT USE the tester to test cables that may have hazardous voltages present When the tester indicates the presence of high ac voltages CAREFULLY DISCONNECT IMMEDIATELY to prevent any personal injury Hazardous dc voltages can be present on any cable at any time The tester does NOT detect or ind...

Page 10: ... public network operator Installing Batteries The tester uses 4 AA batteries included Install the batteries in the battery compartment on the back of the tester WWarningX To avoid electric shock disconnect measuring terminals before opening the battery door To remove the battery door push the plastic tab in the direction of the arrow and lift off the door Observe correct polarity when inserting th...

Page 11: ...ON STANDBY button is held down for more than 20 seconds the tester turns off This prevents battery drain should some object in your tool box be leaning on the button Testing Cables WCaution When testing telephone cables connect only to non working circuits If accidentally connected to a working ADSL or hi cap circuit the tester will cause an outage To test a cable attach line cord clips to a pair ...

Page 12: ...entify the wire pair The tone has 5 frequency and cadence options Table 1 Display and Beeper Indications Condition Display1 Beeper Open cable2 LLLL Off Shorted cable LLLL Continuous On Cable is too long to measure Err Staggered A dc load light bulb TV etc is detected Err Staggered 15 Vac is detected 8888 Flashing Rapid Low battery open cable L LLL Off Failed self test 8888 Off Cable cannot be meas...

Page 13: ...ing for the pair with the loudest tone 3 Short the wire pair together then release the short If you DO NOT hear a change in the tone then you have not found the correct pair If you DO hear a change then you have POSITIVE CONFIRMATION that you have found the correct pair Note The tone is not audible on the tester s beeper cab02 eps Figure 2 SmartTone Positive Identification System ...

Page 14: ...most accuracy in fault location length measurements and inventory management Table 2 and Table 3 show VOP values for common cables Some common VOP values are also listed on the tester s battery door You can set the tester s VOP to a known value or you can use the tester to determine the VOP for a known length of cable To set the VOP to a known value 1 Turn the tester on while holding down the UP o...

Page 15: ...tely shows the VOP setting VV and the calculated length LLLL 3 When the length setting is displayed press the UP or DOWN button This keeps the length value on the display for adjustment 4 Use the UP and DOWN buttons to adjust the length to the length of the cable 5 To exit the VOP adjustment mode turn the tester off Notes While the tester is in VOP adjustment mode tone is not injected into the cab...

Page 16: ...nt such as 4 wire telephone cable 8 wire CAT 5 cable 12 2 with ground ac wire or several THHN wires inside a conduit a short could exist between any number of the conductors including a shield or the conduit To detect the short you must connect the tester to the wires that are shorted This means that to fully test a multi wire cable you must check every wire against every other wire including the ...

Page 17: ...13 Applications cab03 eps Figure 3 Testing for Lengths Shorts Opens and Terminations ...

Page 18: ...to the conduit The tester shows the length up to a fault or to the point where the wire separates from the conduit by at least 1 ft For example if there is a 2 ft service loop outside the conduit the tester shows the length up to the service loop This is true even if the two sections of conduit are electrically connected Inventory Management The tester is an inventory management tool It measures l...

Page 19: ... see Table 2 The accuracy of the measurement will be optimum if the VOP is set correctly for the type of wire being measured See Table 2 for a list of specifically identified cables and Table 3 for a list of VOP values for other cable types In the warehouse you can quickly measure the cable remaining on all your spools allowing you to select the right spool for each job Additionally by keeping a r...

Page 20: ...Pair Drop Wire 61 2000 Superior Essex 4 pair CAT3 Plenum not pair dependent 60 1500 BICC General 24 AWG CMX Outdoor CMR Station Wire 58 1000 BICC General cross connect 24 AWG twisted pair on original spool 66 2500 Berk Tek CAT5 Orange White 68 2500 Superior Essex Cobra CAT5 CMR Orange White 72 2500 Superior Essex Cobra CAT5 CMP Orange White 82 1000 CommScope 5726 RG6 CATV Coax 81 1000 CommScope 22...

Page 21: ...RG 174 U 57 500 BICC General E22025 Red Black 73 1000 Channel Master Polyclad Model 9354 300 Ohm Foam Antenna Wire 71 2000 Triangle Wire and Cable type NM B 12 2 W G Black Ground 67 2000 Triangle Wire and Cable type NM B 12 2W G Black White Table 2 Values and Maximum Length for Specifically Identified Cables continued VOP Maximum Length Feet Cable ...

Page 22: ...ber Trunk 93 Trilogy Trunk 68 Twisted Pair Gel Filled 19 AWG 64 Twisted Pair Gel Filled 22 AWG 62 Twisted Pair Gel Filled 24 AWG 60 Twisted Pair Gel Filled 26 AWG 68 Twisted Pair Paper 22 AWG 66 Twisted Pair Paper 24 AWG 65 Twisted Pair Paper 26 AWG 72 Twisted Pair PIC 19 AWG 67 Twisted Pair PIC 22 AWG 66 Twisted Pair PIC 24 AWG 64 Twisted Pair PIC 26 AWG 18 TS90 Cable Fault Finder Users Guide VOP...

Page 23: ...ology Note This section goes deeper into the theory of operation You can skip this section and still use the tester effectively by reading the other parts of this manual However it is worth reading this section if you want more insight into how the tester works One of the keys to understanding how the tester works is to first understand that a pair of wires has a fixed impedance as long as the wir...

Page 24: ...ctometry TDR to determine the length of the target cable A TDR much like RADAR sends a pulse down the pair of wires Part of that pulse reflects off any impedance variations in the pair of wires All of the reflections together with the original pulse combine to make an electrical signal TDR waveform that has various flat and bumpy sections that represent the start the impedance changes and the end ...

Page 25: ...stance to the end of the wire run and will ignore the small bump in the middle because it is too small to be considered a problem cab04 eps Figure 4 TDR Waveform If more than one problem exists on the cable the software in the TS90 Cable Fault Finder only reports the nearest problem The actual result of the measurement is the TIME to the fault The software in the tester converts the measured time ...

Page 26: ...ls the tester measures TIME within specified tolerances but the displayed LENGTH is the result of the calculation with the user selected VOP and is only as accurate as that selected VOP For most uses a length reading with an incorrectly set VOP is sufficiently accurate to locate the fault in the cable After all an installed cable is hardly ever run in a straight line It can be stapled along the 2x...

Page 27: ...ch as 5 feet from the value listed in Table 2 For help with your measurements see Table 2 and Table 3 for the VOP values for many cable types and conditions Maximum Length The maximum length of cable that can correctly be measured by the tester is determined by several factors The most significant is the signal loss of the cable itself When the signal loss in a particular cable is large enough the...

Page 28: ...testing functions However when you connect the tester to a cable if you connect the red lead first an invalid reading may be displayed until the full connection is made with both leads The tester s TDR technology requires both leads be connected to the wire pair or cable in order to determine its length While using only one of the leads is useful in tracing cable position with the injected tone bo...

Page 29: ... the case of the TS90 Cable Fault Finder the variance occurs in only a few cable types and both readings are within the specified accuracy of the instrument The second cause occurs when the cable is coiled as in a box or on a spool The magnetic field caused by the TDR signal itself couples across to other parts of the cable and changes the characteristics of the reflections Q Why on some cables do...

Page 30: ...ll the measurement be affected A After BOTH clips are connected measurement results will ordinarily not be affected if inappropriate human contact is made with the input connectors Under moist conditions if a large surface area of cable is in contact with moist skin some readings may be affected Q On multi conductor cables with a short between two of the conductors I sometimes read an open at twic...

Page 31: ...t Q When connecting to a 6 foot piece of 50 ohm Coax with the alligator clips the tester reads 8 feet What s up A When measuring a low impedance small cable less than 15 feet the clip leads can add up to 2 feet of length For longer or high impedance cables the clip leads have no effect Q How does the tester react to a speaker or a transformer at the end of a cable A A speaker or a transformer is a...

Page 32: ...our connection to the cable for dirt or insulation Also test the clip leads by shorting them and listening for the beeper You can also visually check the center connection of the BNC for damage The tester does not respond to any button presses The batteries could be dead or inserted incorrectly or the contacts are dirty or broken Ensure that nothing is connected to the input connector before openi...

Page 33: ...er serviceable components or adjustments in the tester Do not open the housing as handling of the PC board could remove the moisture protection coating or apply a static charge that will damage sensitive components Note Opening the housing will void the warranty Moisture will not harm the tester However moisture can provide a leakage path that may conduct hazardous voltages to you DO NOT USE the t...

Page 34: ...e notes in the Maintenance section Impedance Range 35 to 330 with auto compensation within this range Cables with an impedance outside this range will not be properly tested and may produce erratic or incorrect readings Maximum Length 2500 feet on most cable types and 500 feet on very lossy cables The tester will display Err if the cable is too long to be correctly measured Representative Maximum ...

Page 35: ... per measurement based on cable size and uniformity VOP Adjustable from 20 to 99 retained during power off Default to 66 when batteries are changed Measurement Technology Time Domain Reflectometry TDR with 50 drive impedance 6 V maximum pulse height Low Battery Indicator flashes when battery voltage falls below 4 1 V Tone Injection Approximately 1 kHz at an amplitude of 80 of battery voltage Varia...

Page 36: ...0 Weight 1 lb with batteries and clip leads Operating Altitude 3000 m 9843 ft max Safety EMC Meets 300 V CAT none Pollution Degree 2 Meets IEC 61326 1 Portable Meets FCC CFR Title 47 Part 15 Subpart B IEC 61010 1 Pollution Degree 2 CAT none Notes Patents 6160405 6285195 6323654 and 6509740 This product has been safety certified for indoor use only Specifications subject to change without notice ...

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