Megatel Lct-300 User manual

MODEL: LCT-300/400

LAN Cable Tester User’s Guide

Welcome

Thankyou for purchasing this LAN Cable Tester Series product. Whether you are a contractor installing LAN cabling as a profession or simply a small office

administrator caring for a LAN, we hope you find this product both useful and rewarding.

Recognised Wiring Schemes

•10(100) Base-T

•Token Ring

•TP-PMD

•plus 4 User Defined

•AT&T 258A

•EIA/TIA-568A/B

•USOC

•BNC/10Base-2

•10(100) Base/HUB

•BNC/10Base-2

Specifications

•LCD Display: 2 lines by 12 characters with LED back light.

•Connectors: (2) RJ-45 (8P8C) jacks with shield.

•Control keys: (3) MODE/SEL,ESC and ENTER buttons.

•Power: (1) 9V dry cell battery.

•Size: 15.0(H) x 6.5(W) x 3.5(D)

•Weight: 180g net.

Cable Types

•Unshielded Twisted Pair (UTP 100Ω, Cat 3,4 & 5)

•Foil screened Twisted Pair (FTP 100 Ω, and 120Ω, Cat 3,4

& 5)

•Shielded Twisted Pair (STP 150ΩIBM Type 1 & 6)

•RG-58 Coaxial Cable (LCT-400 ONLY)

Features

•Hand-held and easy to operate.

•Easy to diagnose Rj-45 cables (and BNC types with

LCT-400) with preset wiring schemes.

•Easy to read cable status, verify cable continuity:

open short and mismatches.

•Scan pin assignment.

•Automatic cable identification (cable type search).

Cable Locator

Cable Location may be accomplished by using LCT-T terminators. The LCT-T locators incorporate factory set I.D numbers and are available in IDs from 1 to 16.

•Standard pin configurations and four (4) user defined cable wirings memorised in CPU.

•Can save user defined cable directly after testing.

•Tests for both shielded and unshielded cable types.

•Review the captured pin assignment and failure status.

•Maximum testing length is up to 3000 feet.

•Identify and trace the other’s end ID (with up to 16 individual ID LCT-T).

•Battery low indicator.

•Auto power-off function.

Automatic Power Saving Features

The LCT-300/400 has built in power management features intended to extend battery life. By far, the LCD back light is the most power hungry component in the

LCT-300/400. Use of the LCD back light should therefore be limited to low ambient light applications. The backlight may be toggled ON/OFF by simultaneously

pressing the MODE/SEL and ESC function keys. If there is no further menu selection or function testing within thirty (30) seconds, the back light will be

automatically extinguished. Additional power management options include both a “sleep” mode and an auto “power off” mode. If there is not any key activity for

three (3) minutes, the unit will automatically enter “sleep” mode. All interface circuitry and the LCD display will be powered down. In this mode the unit draws very

little power. Pressing any key will cause the unit to “wake up” to a full functioning state. However if there is no key activity for ten (10) minutes, the unit will

automatically “power off”. To recover from “power off” mode, the unit must have its power switched OFF and then ON. In the “power off” mode the power usage

is close to nil. This feature is especially useful if the unit is inadvertently left powered on. The battery should be replaced when the power low icon on the LCD

display becomes visible during normal use of the LCT-300/400. Additionally, if a low battery is swapped within 1 minute with a new one, the user defined memory

contents will be retained. Just remember to turn the unit OFF before swapping the battery.

Operation

1) Connection The LCT-300/400 is capable of testing cables in any one of four modes.

Local Test mode is accomplished by connecting both

ends of the cable under test to the LCT-300/400’s OUT

and LOOPBACK IN ports. Local unit displays an ID

equal to zero.

Terminator Loopback mode uses the terminator ID block connected at the

remote end of the cable, while the other end of the cable is connected to the

LCT-300/400’s OUT.

Remote test mode uses two (2) LCT-300/40

units, with the cable connected between one

unit’s OUT and the other unit’s LOOPBAC

IN ports. Local unit displays an ID equal to

zero.

10BASE-2 Test uses the supplied RJ-45 to BNC adaptors

(LCT-400 only). The adaptors may both be placed in the

LCT-400’s OUT while the other is placed on the

terminator for LOOPBACK testing.

2) ►Turn Power Switch on: Following initial power on of the LCT-300/400, the unit will display the start up logo with back light for 3 seconds, then will

display the top menu for “cable test”.

3) LCT-300/400 test menu

4)LCT-300/400 test menu

5) Press enter to test the cable

6)Results displayed

7)Use MODE/SEL to toggle between cable pin out screen and result display, press ESC back to test menu.

Cable testing: During any mode of cable testing, the first screen display will show the top line out and bottom line in of connections 1 through 8 plus G (shield) as

they are scanned. Following this screen page will be the cable identification information. If at least one wire pair is not connected, the display will read “NO

CONNECT”. A shorted cable will read “SHORT”. A question mark in the pin out indicates a short. An unknown is not in the standard known pin outs or in the

user defined memory.

User Defined Cable: The User Define function allows you to describe your own custom cable pin out which will be entered into the cable identification database

and saved in the CPU memory. This custom pin out will remain available as long as a fresh battery is in the unit. Two methods are available for defining a cable.

The first method is manual entry, while the second uses an “UNKNOWN” cable as the pin out source. First the manual method. From the very top of the LCT-

300/400 menu (just after power on is completed) select the USER DEF menu by pressing the MODE/SEL button (step no.1 to 2). The MODE/SEL button will

now move the cursor to select one of four user memory locations (step no. 3). Press ENTER to select the memory location that the cursor is on. The define cable

display will show (step no. 4).

LCT-300/400 test menu

LCT-300/400 user defined menu

LCT-300/400 user defined display

LCT-300/400 Define cable display