Behringer Cable Tester CT 100

[freeway]

This is for John or anyone who's familiar with this piece of equipment ........ bought myself one of those Behringer CT 100 cable testers def looks the business and so compact as well... .......prob is now how do I check my leads and cables got the manual but can't figure it out any chance John or anyone would maybe give me a few pointers in how to actually use one of these things.....would appreciate any help on this one ....many thanx ......regards
Barry

www.behringer.com/EN/Products/CT100.aspx

[JohnG]

Hi Barry,

Sorry for the delay in getting back to you.

Okay, bung the batteries in, put back the cover and switch the unit to "test tone" You should see the "on" LED and maybe "grounded shield/test tone" LED. If no "test tone LED" then press "reset". Now you should have both LEDs. The unit is working. No lights means bad batteries or inserted incorrectly OR faulty unit. Switch to "cable tester" and the "test tone" light goes out.

To use the unit to test cables. Switch the unit to "cable tester".

Plug one end of the cable into an "IN" socket and the other end into an "OUT" socket (always). For e.g. an XLR microphone cable, you should see "pin 1" input is connected to "pin 1" output, pin 2 to pin 2, pin 3 to pin 3. A diagonal bar of LEDs from bottom left to top right in the block of 9.

Ignore the "intermittent" LEDs for the moment. If you get some other lights coming on in this block of 9 LEDs you may have a short in the cable. If you don't have a light where you expect one then the cable is broken somewhere or, more likely, a soldered joint has broken.

If the correct LEDs light, then press the "reset" button. The "intermittent" LEDs go out. Now wiggle each plug in its socket and then wiggle the cables where they go into the plugs. If any of the "intermittent" LEDs relight there is a faulty connection on that (or those) pins. Time to get out the soldering gun!

To test e.g. an audio (two RCA plugs) to laptop/sound card (mini jack plug) cable, insert the red RCA plug into the "in" on the right hand side and the mini jack plug to the "out" in the "1/8" " socket on the left hand side. You should see just 2 LEDs in the block of 9. Pin 1 in to pin 1 out (sleeve to sleeve), pin 2 in to pin 3 out (tip to ring). Press the reset and wiggle the cables to look for intermittent faults.

Unplug the red and plug the black or white RCA plug into the in socket. You should see sleeve to sleeve and tip to tip. Reset and test for intermittent joints etc.

These are two mono plugs to a stereo plug. Black (or white) is left channel and goes to the tip of the stereo jack plug, red is right channel and goes to the ring of the stereo jack.

If you have an XLR to 1/4" jack plug cable, TS (unbalaced) or TRS (balanced) then you can try this too. XLR to in or out (depending on the plug) and jack plug to out or in. Check what connects to what and whether any connections are intermittent.

To use the unit to test cables plugged into e.g. a mixer.

For a microphone input. Switch the test tone switch to -50 before switch on. Plug the mic cable into the appropriate out socket (usually XLR). Turn down all the pots and faders on the mixer. Switch the CT100 to test tone. Bring up the gain knob on the mixer gradually to +50 and the "level set" LED on the mixer should light up. As you bring up the fader for the channel and the master fader you should hear a test tone at 1KHz with the test tone LED on and 440Hz with the LED off. (Reset switches it.)

For an RCA plug input to the mixer, switch the test tone level to -10dBV. For a line level jack input to the mixer, set the test tone level to +4dBu. Any of the CT100 "OUT" sockets carries the test signal.

To test if phantom (condensor mic) power is present.

In test tone mode the CT100 checks to see if there is a voltage above 9v across pins 2 and 3, and if so, the phantom LEDs light up.

Do not use the "test tone" mode for MIDI cables!

Hope that helps. Any questions fire away.
JohnG.

[freeway]

Thanx so much John ...........got about a dozen or so various leads to check out over the weekend so Ill let ya know how I get on.... at least I know now what Im looking at ;D
regards Barry

[JohnG]

My pleasure Barry,

When you test the leads it often helps to make a little pencil sketch of what is connected to what so that you can visualise how each lead is soldered. If you have Biros in different colours it can help to colour hot red, return blue and earth black etc. Of course if you're already familiar with how these cables are wired, forget I said anything.

Definitely a useful little gadget. The only thing missing is a pair of Speakon sockets (I don't use 'em). But you can always buy a Speakon to XLR adapter plug/socket. They are available from Thomann for less than 3 Euro, in both male and female varieties. An investment of 12 Euro buys you all four different flavours, Speakon M or F to XLR M or F.

I tend to test all the leads I'm going to use before I pack them into the cable bag, not forgetting to test the spares too!

Have fun,
JohnG.