In reply to a post by caffn8me:

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.

If so that is very unfortunate as USB cable even if it comes off a long reel was mean to be cut to short-ish lengths and used for making up leads, and not structured cabling.

That said subject to the pairs having the right (different) amounts of twist being in spec you may get 100M, or 1G if the distance is much less than 90m.

I really hope new builds and renovations start to follow some kind of standard practice with minimum standards in similar ways to utilities and building codes otherwise it feels like the potential of fibre to the building is going to be let down by what happens inside.

In reply to a post by prlzx:

If so that is very unfortunate as USB cable even if it comes off a long reel was mean to be cut to short-ish lengths and used for making up leads, and not structured cabling.

This is manufactured more like structured cabling with solid cores so useless for flexible USB leads.

In reply to a post by prlzx:

That said subject to the pairs having the right (different) amounts of twist being in spec you may get 100M, or 1G if the distance is much less than 90m.

I supect the cable run is about 15-20 metres and can test whether it connects at gigabit speeds and what the bit error rate is. If I get reliable gigabit speeds I'll leave it. The room the outlet is in will never need 10Gbps speeds.

In reply to a post by prlzx:

I really hope new builds and renovations start to follow some kind of standard practice with minimum standards in similar ways to utilities and building codes otherwise it feels like the potential of fibre to the building is going to be let down by what happens inside.

It would be nice to have everything standardized, yes. Even then standards are routinely ignored

In reply to a post by caffn8me:

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.

I’m not really sure your weird cable is the same as the USB3 cable! That cable you linked to has 3 individually screened pairs and 2 larger gauge cores (not a pair) as a power “pair” all within an overall braid/screen for the cable. It is actually more like a Cat 7 cable (or the old IBM Type 1 cable) in this respect with individually screened twisted pairs and and overall shield.

Now if your cable is not a “structured” cable - I have bit my to tongue in the description of it an “Ethernet” cable here as Ethernet is one of the many protocols, but admittedly probably if not the most popular data protocol, to run on 100-ohm 4-pair (unshielded/shielded) twisted pair - that is its not Category/Class rated UTP/STP structured cable and something else like a specific USB cable then that’s going to have a different characteristic impedance.

One thing that is common across all generations of Category 3, 5, 5E, 6, 6A and even 7 cable is that their characteristic impedance is 100 ohms. Probably not a well known fact but quite important in the grand scheme of things. Other twisted pair cables and there are literally thousands of types may have a different characteristic impedance - hooking that up a cable that has nominal 90 ohm characteristic impedance for example to (Ethernet) gear that’s expecting to see nominal 100 ohm impedance *could* result in signal reflections, especially towards the upper end of the frequency range that GigE works on.

Well, I should be nearer to finding out what this cable is next week.

I'm off to France to continue with this and several other projects. Saturday's going to be spent food shopping here in the UK in preparation for my 14 day self quarantine when I get back in a week or three.

If your date of return is uncertain you can place several online orders with the likes of Tesco and the cancel the ones that you don't need. You just need to cancel at least the day before the delivery is due.

Thank you for that. I have a definite return flight booked at the moment but that's already been cancelled by BA once before so that could change.

I suspect my flight out is going to be a lot quieter than when I last flew out on the 30th June when every seat on the plane was taken. My biggest concern yesterday when I realized I was going to be locked down was that I might run out of coffee

Yes but you can split the power between the cameras as they use 12v DC.
For example 3 cameras that draw up to 1 amp each can be powered by a single 12v 3 amp power adapter.

In reply to a post by caffn8me:

My biggest concern yesterday when I realized I was going to be locked down was that I might run out of coffee

You might also be concerned that you may have to quarantine in France on arrival. The French have said any quarantine rules will be reciprocated.

In reply to a post by Woolwich:

You might also be concerned that you may have to quarantine in France on arrival. The French have said any quarantine rules will be reciprocated.

I do wonder about the wisdom of their doing that. Doing so would presumably further reduce the number of holiday visitors from the UK and their economic benefit to France.

In reply to a post by caffn8me:

Well, I should be nearer to finding out what this cable is next week.

I'm off to France to continue with this and several other projects. Saturday's going to be spent food shopping here in the UK in preparation for my 14 day self quarantine when I get back in a week or three.

Did it work/test out as expected Sarah and/or were you able to find out what the sparky actually installed?