I am looking for some suggestions about inexpensive signal generator equipment that can be used to trace the whereabouts of all the cables in the walls of the house.
Here is the background. The house is about 6 years old. There are no wiring records, and none of the cables are marked.
First there is a satellite dish and a cable tV equipment on the back of the house. Inside the basement there are 19 cable TV coax cables coming out of the ceiling. These presumably are distributed to the 19 or so cable TV outlets distributed throughout the house. I can either short each on, one at a time, and search for the other end with a continuity tester. An alternative approach would be to put 9 volts or similar on each one, one at a time, and then search for the other end with a volt meter. I assume here that the coax cable will not 'leak' the voltage to other cables running parallel.
Secondly, there are 12 blue sheathed cables terminating in the basement, the other ends of which, I have no clue where they are. My investigation so far is that these are called twisted data cables, which apparently can support data, voice, and video. I don't have a clue where they lead. I need something that I can attach to the visible ends, and then sweep the house for their locations.
The last set of cables are yellow, and can be found in plain covered, outlet boxes near the light switches. Two rooms appear to have these attached to a rheostat to control music that comes out of speakers in those two rooms. I assume there are cables in the ceilings of the other rooms where there are blank covered wall boxes with cables inside, but there are no speakers in the ceiling in those rooms. Again, I need a way to send a signal through the cables in each wall box, and then scan the ceiling for the location where I can add a speakers.
donsmith2@charter.net
bles are about a dozen
