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- So, in this video we're carrying on
a series of videos on wired home networking.
Previously, we've looked at wiring that system
and today we're gonna be looking at testing it.
What we gonna be using today, Gordon?
- We've got the Patch App & Go,
which is a very useful network testing kit
we found on one of our live feed events.
So, let's have a closer look at what's in this kit.
- [Gary] Can you explain to me
what's in there please then, Gordon?
- [Gordon] Okay, well I know you love a pouch, Gary,
and in this pouch there is a Bluetooth dongle
which is the brains of the Patch & Go operation.
- [Gary] Okay, just looking at it,
it doesn't look that technical.
How do you make that out to be the brains?
- [Gordon] Okay, so this links to the app itself.
So, all the information you're gonna get back from this
is displayed on your smartphone screen.
And we'll look at that once we've plugged it in
to our installation. - Okay.
- [Gordon] It's USB rechargeable,
little cable there to charge it up,
and then these numbered smart plugs
that go one all the way through to six.
- [Gary] Okay.
- [Gordon] And they're gonna be plugged in
to the various outlets that we're going to be testing.
- [Gary] Can you get more than six?
- [Gordon] Yeah, so they come in sets of six.
So, the additional next set of six
goes from seven to 12 and then 13 to 18, 19 to 26.
So, enough to test what you'd traditionally find
in probably quite a normal
sort of rack-mounted data patch set.
- [Gary] So can you just talk us through
the system we've got on the wall then, please?
- Okay, so this is our mimic network panel
that we showed in the previous video,
but today, we're going to test it
but just to recap, we've got our what you'd patch panel.
So this is where all of the data networking cable
comes together.
And we probably plug into your internet router,
or your internet switches.
And then we've got the outlet plates
that you'd have in each room of the house.
So you might have a double one behind
a Smart TV or games console and then discrete ones
depending on the function of the room you've put that into.
Okay, so the first thing we're going to do is
plug these smart plugs into our patch panel.
- [Gary] Patch panels I've seen in commercial environments,
you know where large office blocks
don't look like this, Gordon?
- No. So we've essentially made a slimmed down version,
those commercial ones would normally be like a
19 inch rack mounted thing with sort of 24 connectors
in a row. A little bit overkill for our small network
that we've built here. We've built ours out of the,
you know, Euro module components to make it
a more, so to suggest, cost effective solution.
- [Gary] But these work perfectly
in that environment as well?
- Yeah, I mean, yes,
there's nothing fundamentally different between that.
So I've plugged all our smart plugs in.
So it's now time to power up the the dongle.
So first thing I'm going to do
is open up the app on the phone.
So I've got the apple version here.
So it can't find the device at the minute
I'm about the switch on the dongle.
And it's found that immediately in my list there. Bingo.
I mean, - That was simple enough.
- [Gordon] Yes, very quick.
So the first thing its going to do,
you've got three Test Options, you've got Multiple Tests,
where you can produce some,
a nice PDF report of the installation.
- [Gary] Oh, lovely.
- So obviously, we'll have more paperwork.
But you know, if you've got to prove
you've been out to site and tested something
and passed that on to somebody else,
then that might be a useful option.
We're not doing that here.
We don't want to get involved in that paperwork.
So we're gonna go for the quick test option.
So the first thing to do is open that up.
Immediately I'm offered, what type of cabling
have we used for that. There's two types.
There's an unearthed video about that
if you want to know the difference between 568-A and 568-B.
Yeah, we'll talked about that in that video.
We've got the B system here.
Now, the next type is the type of cable.
So this will this will offer us to do
between Cat 5, Cat 5E, 6, 6A and 7.
So in this installation, we've gone with Category 6
and we have an Unshielded Cable.
- [Gary] So when you do shielded?
- It will do shielded as well.
And so I've chosen obviously, unshielded
because that's what we've got.
- [Gary] So we're in the quick version,
this means our results won't be kept.
We'll just get a visual clue of what's happened
during the test and we move on.
- Yes, that's it.
So, jump straight in. So I'm going to pick it
into our first outlet here.
Push the test button.
Oh, hold on. I'm selecting my cable standard.
There we go. All right, done that now.
(phone chimes)
Bingo. It's a pass
- [Gary] Okay, that seems very quick.
- Yeah, it is quick
and then quickly move on to our next outlet.
(phone chimes)
And what you'll also notice on the, back of our patch panel,
each time I test it,
the actual smart plugs lighting up as well
- [Gary] So that's two down already of the six?
- Doing that again.
So this this system
(phone chimes)
is designed to be for one person
so imagine some of those traditional tests
as you need somebody each end to tell you
that the wiring was reading correct?
- [Gary] We could have done it the other way around, can we?
We could have put the plugs in at the actual outlet points
and done this test that the actual panel itself.
Is that true?
- Yeah, that's another way of doing it.
And obviously depends on what
(phone beeps)
exactly you're trying to test.
So there's a problem.
So I've plugged into this one here,
and it's suggesting that I have a fault on the line.
- [Gary] So what is your fault?
- Fault is two of the cables are open circuit.
- [Gary] Okay, so we've actually introduced
some faults into the system, just to show everybody
what's happening with those. - Yeah
- [Gary] Could you try
and clear that one for me? - Okay
- [Gordon] So I'll clear that there.
If I just flick the switch,
it should clear the fault.
So going for a retest, quick test again.
(phone chimes)
Bingo, I've cleared that fault.
- [Gary] Obviously in the real world,
we'd obviously be taking the plates off
and altering the cable positions, etc.
But we've introduced those switches
to prove that we can see the faults quite simply.
- Yeah, so again, I'm testing on this one and again,
I can introduce some more faults.
I can introduce a short circuit
on the cables and you can see that there.
- [Gary] Okay.
- And also another open circuit.
(phone beeps)
- [Gary] Makes a different noise obviously,
when there is a fault. So if we clear those out now will it
then show that we've got a... - Yes.
[Gordon] So when you when you get a fault,
you get a red light.
We know the light flashing LED Zero Effects,
we get red light at that end and we get a red light
on the dongle as well. - [Gary] Right.
- To tell you that. So I can test that again.
(phone chimes)
- And we've cleared.
- [Gary] Let's say I'm a gentleman in installation
and I want to add Power over Ethernet into the system,
and I wasn't sure which plate was which obviously,
it's important to get the correct one.
Is there any way of tracing individual circuits?
- Yeah, I mean, are you somehow suggesting that people
might not be as good as labeling
as they should be in some installations? Gary,
- [Gary] That is true. Yes.
- Yeah. Okay, so that's obviously.
Yes, that's a common scenario.
So yes, POE we've looked at in a different video
to explain what that is and why I'd have it.
But so yeah, so say we're going to introduce
we need to know that this outlet where it is
to patch in POE at the other end.
So again, I can plug in our dongle
and we go back into the trace mode.
So that's going to trace the cabling
Push the trace button on here give it a while
tracing in progress, and that's identified,
(phone chimes)
And that's identified. This is outlet number six.
And if we go back to our smart plug,
you'll see that out that the smart plug labeled number six
is illuminated with this green LED
- [Gary] And again, that seemed immensely simple to do.
- Yeah. So again I can repeat that process.
Yeah, there you go.
(phone chimes)
So this is a that is outlet number four.
And number four is illuminated the smart plugs.
So if I take that and then let's try it
the other way around, just to prove it works.
And then I'll take the smart plugs
and plug them into the outlets in our room,
so these might be in your bedrooms
or you might have them in a room where you've got a smart TV
that's got a lot of heavy data
in terms of your the stream something like Netflix.
- [Gary] So now you're going to do the changeover
at the panel end rather than obviously
in walking around the rooms,
but you've had to walk out
and obviously insert those plugs into
each of the outlets
- Yes.
- [Gary] And obviously when you finish that
you have to collect them backup.
So hence the first way round
was a little bit quicker, maybe?
- Yeah, it can be quicker.
But again depends on you know,
you might have all these labeled already, you know,
you just validating with the right place.
So again, if I go back to the quick test mode,
I need again to select my cable standard,
select my cable type
shielded cable, no, it's not.
Quick test.
So I just run that test
(phone chimes)
- Bingo. Passes again.
So again, you'll see that the green light here
and this is identifying on this plug here, which is,
plug it out, its plug number six.
So that's a different way of using it again
. So I can just work through that. The panel here
(phone chimes)
This should be plug number five.
- [Gary] Okay, so that means if we have one end
labeled as that we can now label the other end
That seemed really simple to use.
Did you spend ages reading the instruction before starting?
No, I'm not a person who's like most people
just like to dive in. If something's intuitive,
you can tend to operate it without the instructions.
So don't actually yeah,
there's no instructions in the in the pouch
you saw keen enough now Gary there is Yeah.
Straight in, download the app.
Yeah, that found this to be a really intuitive system.
- I think we clearly prove there out of the box
how easy patch up and go was to use
however Gordon, that common fault is normally two conductors
crossed over. Will you pick that up?
- Absolutely. I mean, that I suggest
that's probably what it was built for.
Because that's the one you're probably most likely to create
as your wiring network adapters.
- So patch up and go.
Do we at Efixx believe it will save electricians time?
Yes, we do. And we like that at Efixx.
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