Daniel Schramm
     

Projects

Schliessanlage 

Cat5 Cable Checker  Einschaltverzögerung 

Belichtungstimer 

Exposure Timer 2 

Solder Station 

Slave Flash 

MP3 Player 

MP3 Player Touch 

Home Automisation 

Can Bus Schield for Banana Pi 

PCBs

Veroeffentlichungen

Contact


   

Simple and cheap cat5 cable checker

Why?
The idea behind this project was to build a cheap test circuit to find errors in networks.

How does it work?
There are two rows of low current LEDs one row of leds for each side of the cable. The first row shows the status at one side of the cable and the second one displays the other side.
A microcontroller (Atmel AVR AT90S2313) gives signals sequentially to the eight wires. By comparing input and output you can check if the cable is ok.

You can control the LEDs with 2 buttons. Pressing both at the same time switches between automatic and manual mode.
In automatic mode the buttons are used to change speed.
In manual mode they are used to toggle the LEDs towards any direction.

The Hardware:
The circuit is very simple and uses only 11 parts besides the 16 LEDs.
It costs aproximately 10 to 15 Euro + case.

click the image for the original size
[download shematic]
Download schematic as eagle file.
Have a look at my prototype.

The Software
The software is written for AVR-GCC which is avalible for Unix and Windows.
Download the software as source or precompiled binary.

Programming:
You can program the device with UISP by using this simple cable:
[download shematic]
Here You can Download the Linux or Windows version.

License
The Software is released under GNU GPL
The Hardware is of course also free for your personal private or commercial use with the exception that you have to contact me if you want to sell it.
    last change to cat5.html: 2003/11/09