In reply to a post by Pheasant:

Do you or the sparky have access to a proper cabling tester like a Fluke DSX-5000 or 8000?

Testing will tell you exactly what the cable will be certified against (TIA/EIA categories or ISO Classes) to carry.

Personally I’m never a fan of getting the spark to supply (or terminate/test for that matter) structured cabling in a commercial setting. They will throw in whatever they have got in the back of the van, which look very much to be the case here

(Admission, former structured cabling system designer here)

I can do verification and qualification but not certification. I suspect the electrician can do neither on ethernet. The white cable was supplied new from the wholesaler in response to a request for a CAT6A U/FTP cable that had smaller a overall core diameter than Draka UC500 S23 Dca which was used for the other cable runs. Fortunately I've now got connectors which will fit the Draka cable.

When I'm back in France where I've left the electrician's contact details, I'll try to find out what it actually is. If it supports gigabit with no errors then it'll be job done. It's only being used for one of six cable runs in a domestic installation.

Edited by caffn8me (Sun 26-Jul-20 22:05:29)

In reply to a post by godsell4:

Is the white pipe running above the 4-way adapter really a water pipe?

Quite probably. It didn't seem to worry the electrician or the builder who is installing a wine cellar. I suspect it's a condensate drain from the wine cellar's cooler unit which is just to the right out of the picture.

In reply to a post by Ancient_Mariner:

In reply to a post by caffn8me:

'twas a PBKC problem

https://pbkennelclub.com/

They're funny looking dogs.

In reply to a post by Ancient_Mariner:

I thought that you were in France?

I was. A rapidly moving target is harder to hit - and that's my excuse

In reply to a post by caffn8me:

I can do verification and qualification but not certification. I suspect the electrician can do neither on ethernet. The white cable was supplied new from the wholesaler in response to a request for a CAT6A U/FTP cable that had smaller a overall core diameter than Draka UC500 S23 Dca which was used for the other cable runs. Fortunately I've now got connectors which will fit the Draka cable.

When I'm back in France where I've left the electrician's contact details, I'll try to find out what it actually is. If it supports gigabit with no errors then it'll be job done. It's only being used for one of six cable runs in a domestic installation.

The fact that pair 4 is a different gauge to pairs 1 to 3, may well affect the delay skew of the cable. The tolerances for Cat6A on this are especially tight - however that's definitely not a 6A rated cable. For old fashioned 100M ethernet it wouldn't matter so much as only pairs 2 & 3 are used, but 1000M uses all 4 pairs and it may have a bearing...

I expect you will connect up the AP and switch and either get a full 1000M link up or the NICs at either end wont like it at 1000M and simply drop back to 100M. Whether there are errors and issues down the track is again anyone guess. If its mission critical (doesn't really sound like it is) then you'd rip and replace.

It looks like it could be CCTV cable.
Brown for power and the others for three separate video signals.

In reply to a post by Pheasant:

The fact that pair 4 is a different gauge to pairs 1 to 3, may well affect the delay skew of the cable. The tolerances for Cat6A on this are especially tight - however that's definitely not a 6A rated cable. For old fashioned 100M ethernet it wouldn't matter so much as only pairs 2 & 3 are used, but 1000M uses all 4 pairs and it may have a bearing...

I expect you will connect up the AP and switch and either get a full 1000M link up or the NICs at either end wont like it at 1000M and simply drop back to 100M. Whether there are errors and issues down the track is again anyone guess. If its mission critical (doesn't really sound like it is) then you'd rip and replace.

I can measure the delay skew and determine whether it's above 45ns. The access point that will be connected uses gigabit and covers two bedrooms. I'll know when I get back whether it's any good or not. I couldn't terminate the cable last time.

It doesn't actually need to meet Cat 6A standards. As long as it hits Cat 5e, it will be fine. If I can't get a stable 1000 then the electrician's coming back.

Edited by caffn8me (Mon 27-Jul-20 17:24:07)

It could be but wouldn't each camera need power?

Is the brown pair CAT7 specification cable? I thought that was 1.3mm and looser twist. Maybe just a manufacturing defect where they have crossed to specifications by mistake.

My I/P CCTV camera uses P.O.E. for the camera power supply. Each camera socket on the recorder having P.O.E. capability.

Cheers!

I'm completely clueless what the cable is (and a lot of other things ). It's odd that it's a 3+1 pair construction which is probably quite difficult to manufacture accidentally. I think it's going to be a question of asking the electrician to go contact the wholesaler and find out what it's for. I've searched all over the interweb thingy and not found anything close.

Update: It looks like it's USB 3.0 cable which has three data pairs and one (thicker) power pair. I have found a similar cable here but not the exact equivalent.