Hi,
I want to build this fairly simple audio cable tester, but my electronics skills are fairly limited, so I'd like input on the following idea.
I often find myself disassembling the connectors to determine wether a given cable is balanced or unbalanced, checking to see if it is shielded or not shielded etc.. This is both annoying and grinding the connector parts unnecessarily.
The idea is that the "box" has two XLR (male/female) and two female jack slots. One side is XLR (f)/Jack and the other is XLR (m)/Jack. This should suffice.
When a cable is connected btwn the two sides, some leds may light up:
1. General Failure (one or more of the signal wires are broken, or there's a shortcut not supposed to be there).
2. Wrong wiring (are hot, cold or shield switched)
3. Balanced/Unbalanced cable (determine if shield and "cold" is seperated).
4. Instrument/Speaker cable (somehow detect if cable is shielded).
I've tried to find a diagram for such a device, without luck. I guess the task of determining if a cable is shielded or not is the hardest part.
All comments are welcome.
Best regards, and TIA
Michael
I want to build this fairly simple audio cable tester, but my electronics skills are fairly limited, so I'd like input on the following idea.
I often find myself disassembling the connectors to determine wether a given cable is balanced or unbalanced, checking to see if it is shielded or not shielded etc.. This is both annoying and grinding the connector parts unnecessarily.
The idea is that the "box" has two XLR (male/female) and two female jack slots. One side is XLR (f)/Jack and the other is XLR (m)/Jack. This should suffice.
When a cable is connected btwn the two sides, some leds may light up:
1. General Failure (one or more of the signal wires are broken, or there's a shortcut not supposed to be there).
2. Wrong wiring (are hot, cold or shield switched)
3. Balanced/Unbalanced cable (determine if shield and "cold" is seperated).
4. Instrument/Speaker cable (somehow detect if cable is shielded).
I've tried to find a diagram for such a device, without luck. I guess the task of determining if a cable is shielded or not is the hardest part.
All comments are welcome.
Best regards, and TIA
Michael