Cable Testing in Development, Production and Application

Cables in various versions

Even though more and more technical products in private and professional everyday life can communicate wirelessly, cables still form one of the most important lifelines of modern technology. A car, for example, can contain several kilometers of cable. The world of cables is as diverse as their applications. Cables transmit analog or digital signals, high voltages to supply devices, audio and video, measurement and control signals, and much more. There are simple, single-core measuring leads, coaxial cables, multi-core bus cables up to enormous, complex cable harnesses, as well as copper or fiber optic cables (optical fibers/LWL). The cable always includes connectors, i.e. plugs and sockets. And these are also available in countless different versions. The USB standard alone has various types of plugs and sockets, as many a user must painfully realize when the right cable is not to hand.

We expect cables to work reliably. Malfunctions caused by cable defects are annoying, expensive, critical or even life-threatening, depending on the application. Therefore, in many areas, testing of at least the "vital" cables is essential. This can be in event technology, in industrial production, in medical technology and many other areas. In addition, of course, there are the developers and manufacturers of cables, for whom quality assurance throughout all phases of a cable's life is important as a matter of principle. As different as the cables and connections can be, as different are the testing methods. If it is only a matter of quickly testing the continuity, a ▸multimeter can be sufficient. For complex cable harnesses, however, the requirements are quite different. High-voltage cables must be tested differently than cables for high-frequency signals and so on. Depending on the application, special ▸cable test systems, ▸insulation meters/megohmmeters, ▸vector network analyzers, ▸TDR and OTDR (optical time domain rectometers) are available for this purpose.

Meilhaus Electronic offers many different solutions for cable testing. The new book "Praxishandbuch Kabeltesten" by Frank Sichla (self-published by Meilhaus Electronic GmbH, German only, hardcover, 172 pages, color illustrations) gives the reader a comprehensive overview of cables, connections and test procedures. The appropriate testers are available in the ▸Cable Testers section of the web-shop.