Wire Tracker, Multifunctional RJ11 RJ45 Cable Tester Line Finder with NCV Probe for Wire Tracer Toner Ethernet LAN Network Cable Collation, Telephone Line Tester &Continuity Checking, Tacklife CT03

However, the included user manual is beyond bad. It refers to buttons that don’t exist, and etc. We build one-off systems at work, and I write manuals for end users, so I’m just going to write a manual for this thing right here in this review. I have been a comm tech for 42 years.First of all, the tone function that everyone seems to one-star review about is NOT FOR CABLE TRACING. The manual calls it “telephone” The SCAN function is for cable tracing.A new user manual:TONE is for testing POTS * phone lines. The TONE light will light up red or green depending on polarity between the tip and ring of a phone line pair. This function is a good way to test for TELCO voltage on an unknown line pair. POTS lines typically have about 50 volts DC with a phone on hook. The light will flash with a ringing line pair, good to testing by calling the phone number with you cellphone and seeing if the light flashes to verify a good, live, POTS line. The light will go out when a phone is taken off hook. Note; DO NOT plug RJ11 cables into the RJ45 jack, unless you KNOW the cable doesn’t have any voltage on it. You can plug in a POTS line, or use the alligator cable to test for phone lines, but ONLY in the RJ11 port.* POTS = Plain Old Telephone ServiceCONT (and flashlight icon) A simple continuity checking mode. The front white LED will also light up for illuminating an area, (Not very bright though) and will stay on while in this mode. The CONT indicator light will turn green when a short circuit is between the alligator clips. Note: The alligator clip cable needs to be plugged into the RJ11 port, will NOT work when plugged into the RJ45 port. The green light will fade away as resistance increases, and will be hard to see by 220k ohms.SCAN is for using the wire tracer receiver to find cables in switch panels, through walls, and to ID a cable end with no connector. Plug an Ethernet cable into the RJ45 connector on the transmitter unit. When the transmitter is in SCAN mode, it sends an alternating high/low tone on the cable. (6.5 Volts RMS and/or +8dbm) Turn on the receiver by pressing the orange OFF button. A red light power light will illuminate. Press and hold SCAN on the receiver and listen for an alternating signal, which the transmitter sends on the CAT5 cable, and use the probe to find the high/low signal. Remove the black cap from the probe for more sensitivity. In a high noise environment or in a quiet office setting, you can plug in the included earphones. Turn the knob from - to + as needed. Use + when first looking for a cable, and turn towards - to reduce the sensitivity as you home in on the signal. (get closer to a cable with the signal coming from the transmitter) If the cable you’re looking for does have a connector, then you can verify for certainty it’s the correct cable by plugging it into the RJ45 port on the receiver. If all wires/pairs are present, the green lights will illuminate all at the same time. If you’re looking for an Ethernet jack in an office, then you can use a patch cable. (Some Ethernet wall ports have two jacks or more, and the signal may be hard to pin down to a single jack) If a connector or punch block has a bad connection, the bad wire will not be lit. NOTE: This only verifies that all wires are present in a cable, it does NOT verify correct cable wiring. Also note, that the receiver can be off for a direct plug-in Ethernet cable test, and the green LED’s will still illuminate.NETWORK mode is for verifying correct wiring. When an Ethernet cable is plugged into both the transmitter’s and receiver’s RJ45 ports, pressing test will start a test sequence. A correctly wired cable will sequence from 1 to 8, 1 to 8, ad infinitum. BOTH the transmitter AND receiver should sequence in the same order for standard Ethernet. G is ground, and if a cable grounded on both ends, (Metallic grounding connectors used at both ends) the G should light before starting over at 1 again. A crossover cable will show 1 transmitter to 3 receiver, 2 transmitter to 6 receiver, 3 transmitter to 1 receiver, 4 transmitter to 7 receiver, 5 transmitter to 8 receiver, 7 transmitter to 2 receiver, and 8 transmitter to 5 receiver. So, 1 - 3, 2 - 6, 3 - 1, 4 - 7, 5 - 8, 7 - 2, and 8 - 5 as the sequencing runs. NOTE: If the receiver isn’t connected, then the transmitter will show no green lights. Use this mode to find a cable in a bundle; when the receiver is left at a remote end, you can plug cables into the transmitter until it suddenly starts sequencing the 1 thru 8 lights. The bad news for testing long runs is you need a helper at the far end to verify the lights are sequencing from 1 to 8 with no jumping around. Crossover cables are seldom, if ever, run through a building, they’re virtually always straight wired cables from switch-room to wall jacks, so both the transmitter and receiver should sequence from 1 to 8.

I bought this to trace down Cat5/6 cables with RJ 45 connections. For this purpose it works. The instructions are very poor. To help anyone who needs to do this, Plug in the network cable into the transmitter and set the dial to SCAN. On the detector set the volume knob to mid way and then hold down the SCAN button while hunting down you line, as you get closer the tone will get stronger and stronger. You should be able to determine the cable at this point. The directions say to use the "Hunt" function, there is no function labeled "Hunt". The Tone, and Continuity lights do not illuminate when the dial is selected. The continuity light illuminates when Continuity is detected. Also to turn on the Flashlight on the transmitter you have to move the selector to Continuity.I hope this helps someone else. I would have given 5 stars if the instructions were better.The unit did work for what I purchased it for, came in a nice carry case and had batteries. It was significantly cheaper than other higher end models. So overall works good!

Good multi-function device if you need to do some cabling. Probably not a professional's first choice, but for a weekend project or to have in the drawer to use before you call a professional it works well.I was impressed with the line finder - just getting within a few feet of the line would give me tone. I walked around a room just pointing it at a wall for a couple feet away, and it got me towards the line in the wall.The selection dial I think it labeled incorrectly and doesn't match the instructions. Assuming you know what you're trying to accomplish with this, it shouldn't affect you. If you're new to cabling though, it make take you a few minutes to figure out which one you should be ok.The line tester works perfectly fine too - it does just just tell you if each wire is open or closed, nothing more.Nice little carrying case as well. That's actually why I grabbed this one instead of a similar looking one / price on here.

The wand for detecting tone works quite well but the generator portion not exactly what you would expect contacted the support then got an email from Lucy at the company but while I was waiting for a reply I read what one TechGuyinBoston wrote "The biggest issue was trying to use it as a tone generator and probe. Without reading the directions, I set the emitter to "TONE" and turned on the receiver. There were no lights on the emitter, and the receiver failed to pick up a tone. This is pretty basic operation, so I tested the batteries and then assumed I must have a defective unit. But before sending it back, I checked the instructions and found out that in order to use it as a tone generator, you set it to "SCAN" instead of "TONE". This still makes no sense to me, and I suspect that since I don't need to trace wires all that often, that I will forget this and make the same mistake again next time." Scan is what works the tone generator not what most would expect but that being said it does work only time will tell how long it will last since my Last tone detector needed a battery that was almost as expensive as this whole kit cost so I am satisfied for now.

I’ve been doing telecom work for 25 years. I’ve used and had probably a dozen tone generators. This generator put out great tone even over powered network cables,but I couldn’t get any of the other functions to work. The manual is awful and makes no sense but since I only needed a tone generater I was happy with it at first.After having used it a couple times it died. It’s not the battery and I didnt drop it. It was in its case and secure always, it just quit working.It left me in a bad situation where I had to run out and get a new tone generator to finish the job.I wouldn’t waste your money.

OverviewI'm in the process of doing some network cabling in my house. The way I used to test cables was to connect the cable to a live switch and connect my laptop. Not a very smart way of doing things.This tool lets me test the continuity of the wires very easily. While the tester can handle other tests, I didn't need that functionality and can't speak to performance in those areas.The Good Parts* Well priced* Easy to use (didn't even bother reading the manual)* Batteries included* Comes with a short patch cable to help with testing keystones* Comes with a carrying caseCould Be Better* Nothing significant I can think of.

I received a replacement device with zero hassle - everything is working as expected now. Thank you Tacklife!----------Previous Review----------All features worked but one, the tone emitter/inductor. No tones emit when the dial is turned to this setting, the LED light will also not turn on for this option, but does turn on for the other options. The probe works fine and will pick up tones from other tone-emitting devices, it actually picks up tone better than some of my more expensive, but older probes.

For $32 CDN was not expecting much. The plastic is a little cheap and flimsy will likely shatter if it gets a good drop. How ever the toner in it works fairly well. I have a Fluke Linkrunner AT 2000 and the Tone function in this little Tacklife works better, tested today on multiple 48 port patch panels at 90ft lengths absolutely no ghosting.

The product arrived sooner than expected and as described.It works as it should and is a great value! It is not as good quality as something higher end but the quality isn't terrible either. It is simple to use and works well. I used it for following wires and for finding the correct wires at another point. The options are good and it works well. It is nice that it comes with a case to keep everything organized and together too! For the price you can't go wrong!

Great price, great tool to have when you're fishing through your breaker box or network wiring and the scan function works surprisingly well to find your wires in the walls or at the breakers or fuses and even in your car passing speaker wires, The network function scans through the eight wires one by one so you can see if you have a straight through or a crossed cable... I even tested coax by shorting the center wire to the shield using the continuity function at the other end. Also, the headset jack is a smart idea when working in offices not to bother others (it bypasses its speaker). A really Cool Tool to have... Thanks Tacklife . I was planing to make a wire tracer myself to find my wires in the walls, but it wouldn't have looked this good. It's really a Professional Tool...