Handheld tester designed for use with Industrial Ethernet

Paul Boughton
Ideal Industries' Networks Division is introducing the IENet Pro Industrial Ethernet Cable Tester. Optimised for efficient testing of local area networks (LANs), the IENet PRO enables network professionals to verify the integrity of two-pair and four-pair Industrial Ethernet cables and to assure proper terminations by detecting opens, shorts, miswires, reversals and split pairs. With its integrated RJ-45 (UTP/STP) and shielded M12 coax interfaces and Profinet-formatted results, the IENet PRO is claimed to be the only handheld tester that is designed specifically for this cable type.
 
Tony Kumeta, general manager of Ideal Industries, comments: "As Industrial Ethernet spreads across the network infrastructures of today's manufacturing and processing plants, the risk of costly downtime due to cabling faults increases. The need to troubleshoot hardened Industrial Ethernet cable is best met by a tester specifically designed for the industrial environment that is easy to use, reliable and offers the ability to indicate a variety of wiring faults. The IENet PRO uniquely meets those requirements."
 
The IENet Pro's ergonomic design gives the operator full-featured Industrial Ethernet cable testing in a very convenient format. A single button push selects between voice, two- and four-pair data, or video, thereby keeping user interactions at a minimum to help prevent mistakes and unnecessary repetitions. In addition to detecting wiring faults, the IENet Pro will also measure cable length and indicate correct wiremap to T568A/B standards for shielded and unshielded cabling. It will also warn the user of voltages on cables, blink network hubs for visual cable tracing, and generate four alternative tones to make fault isolation easier. Straightforward 'Pass' or 'Miswire' results are displayed in the Profinet Industrial Ethernet format on the unit's LCD screen. This bright backlit dot-matrix screen is said to be easy to read even in dark areas.
 
In addition, the unit's detachable remote enables one-person operation and eliminating the need for technicians to be at both ends of the cable during testing. The standard IENet Pro package (part #33-772) comes with one remote with an RJ-45 and M12 interface. It is also available with eight remotes (Part #33-773). Remote ID numbers are indicated on the LCD display.
 
For more information, visit www.idealindustries.com