Cable Testing

[RaceyBoy]

Apologies if this is in the wrong forum.

Does anyone know of a tool or method of finding out whether a cable is power or aerial without knowing the source or destination?

Thanks in advance.

Gavin.

[andy1249]

Off the top of my head Im going to say use a current clamp , but what exactly do you want to measure ?

[thespirit3]

The two types of cable should look completely different. Anything RF (antenna) related would be coaxial, whereas power would simply be either standard mains cable or black/red twin lead in the case of DC. You can always check if power cables are 'live' using a multimeter.

Have I misunderstood the question?

Edit: Ahhh - without knowing the source or destination - apologies. The above poster is correct - you can check if it's a power cable (assuming it's live) by inductance using some form of clamp

[RaceyBoy]

If it's an aerial cable, it's no longer required and I will cut it. If it's a power cable, it may be being used for something and I'd be loathe to cut it.

[Uzeless]

Have you tried sticking the end on your tongue.
A yell will indicate power, a non-yell will indicate that it is probably an antenna cable.

[thespirit3]

You'll need to borrow something like this:-

Current clamp - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

It's probably something a local electrician / electrical engineer / amateur radio geek could help you with

[KrisLee]

Is there any writing/text on the cable?

[RaceyBoy]

It doesn't have anything on the wire, such as writing/numbering, to indicate what type it is.

[dave2506]

I believe you can get a live wire detector from the likes of B&Q, Homebase etc that you place on the wire and it lights up to show a live current. This would hence show you whether it was an aerial or electrical cable.

We had a similar problem with a load of very old looking wires in our loft and not knowing whether they were actually connected to anything and hence being reluctant to cut them out. We bought one of the tools I mentioned above and it showed them to be redundant so we cut them and threw them away. The important thing to remember though is to always test the device on a cable you know to be live first so that you know it is working

[GuyVXT]

age of house?
where is the said cable?
what does the cable look like? is it flat or round? what colour?


as the poost above you can buy voltsticks, i have a fluke one VOLTALERT VOLT STICK - MADE BY FLUKE on eBay, also Parts Accessories, Test Measurement Equipment, Electrical Test Equipment, Business, Office Industrial (end time 03-May-09 15:56:43 BST)
but they only detect ac voltage so if its a dc supply to some equipment it wont show up. always check it on a cable you know to be live first.