Celebrating its 25th anniversary, CAMI Research Inc. (Acton, MA), manufacturer of the CableEye automation-ready cable and harness test system, has developed the capability of checking and measuring twist pair relationships in cables, as short as six feet. This feature is now standard in the model M4 low voltage continuity tester, and available as an option for HiPot (HVX-series) testers. The same circuitry allows for measuring cable length, length to break, capacitance, and resistance with precision (4-wire).
Configuration
Developing PC-based cable and wire harness, test systems, the company offers the CableEye suite of products complete with accessories – including plug-in connector boards. The stock library of these test fixture boards is constantly growing and is currently numbering over 60 – most of which are populated with families of connectors. When pre-populated boards are used, the tester GUI automatically displays a graphic of the connectors and wiring under test. The tester can be readily programmed to do the same for custom boards and fixtures. These boards are designed to fit all CableEye testers. Five boards in the company’s library presently have Ethernet sockets where twisted pair cables may be used: CB1, CB15, and the CB18, CB18A, and CB18C.
With a single click, the wiring schematic can be switched to a customizable netlist view, which can be set to display wiring colors. In both views, a large Pass/Fail indicator is clearly visible. When checking twist pair relationships, a Pass indicator shows that the wire resistances comply with the threshold and that the wires are paired correctly. If a capacitance value has been entered in the Match Data, then the values shown in the Test Data are within the capacitance tolerance set in the Tester tab.
Twist pair relationships can be checked in this way in cables as short as six feet. The same circuitry allows for measuring cable length longer than six feet, distances to break when six feet or more away, and polarized and unpolarized capacitors. Capacitance measurements acquired during the twist pair check on reels and cables are auto-saved and can be used to verify reel-to-reel and cable-to-cable consistency and quality. All connection measurements are logged for record-keeping and analysis.
