14
TS100 PRO Cable Fault Finder
Users Guide
Time Domain Reflectometry
(TDR) Technology
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 guide. 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 TS100 PRO
works is to first understand that a pair of wires has a
fixed impedance as long as the wires of the pair are
kept in the same geometrical relationship to each
other. A pair of wires (either standalone or within a
multi-wire cable) is designed to have a constant wire-
to-wire impedance. If the physical relationship of the
wires in the pair is altered during the wire run, then
there will be a change in impedance at the point
where the physical relationship changes. For example,
if one or both wires of the pair are broken (open), or
they are shorted to each other, or they become
sufficiently separated from each other, their impedance
will change. The TS100 PRO looks for these changes in
impedance. If the impedance change is large enough,
(such as that caused by a break in one of the wires of
the pair), the TS100 PRO will detect the impedance
change and will display the length of the wire up to
the impedance change.
So, the TS100 PRO can measure the length of a pair of
un-terminated wires, because, the open circuit at the
far end causes a very large impedance change.
The TS100 PRO Cable Fault finder uses Time Domain
Reflectometry (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
Table 3. VOP Values for Other Cables
VOP
Cable Type
78
Belden Drop Foam
82
CommScope Drop
87
CommScope Trunk
63
RG58/U 50 Ohm Network Coax
80
RG59 TV Coax
64
Service Wire
83
Times Fiber Drop
87
Times Fiber 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
