Products > Test Equipment
Your Test Cable Etiquette
pdenisowski:
--- Quote from: aduinstat on May 20, 2023, 12:13:41 am ---I could really use a cable hanger. Not that I will, just that I could.
--- End quote ---
I'm about to run out of doorknobs in my lab, so a proper cable hanger is looking better every day :)
jjoonathan:
I obtained my first set of VNA cables by playing the "buy a lot of broken cables and mix+match" game. It worked out and also left me with a few spare broken cables for experiments. The armor on those Gore VNA cables (I mean the ones sold as HP 85131 or Anritsu 3671K50 or R&S ZV-Z9x -- I *think* Gore is the OEM) is actually quite good, especially when it comes to providing crush resistance and minimum bend radius. I'm not so sure about tangential strength, so you might still be in trouble if you yank one of these cables by accidentally leaving it attached or something, but I am pleased to report that if you run over your test bench with a monster truck the VNA cable might actually survive:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/ekvzvekyc3io28q/2023-05-06%2019.04.18.mov?dl=0
Joel_l:
For my scope, mine go back into their original storage pouches along with all their accessories. Helps keep things from getting lost.
General coax and other test leads go into a drawer where they seem to mingle when the drawer is closed. Funny how nicely coiled cables find a way to get tangled with one another
Berni:
Cables stay attached.
It takes time to always put away cables after use, but more importantly i don't want to always look for cables and untangle them every time i want to use a piece of test gear. Not like they are more likely to get damaged. If anything this helps to focus wear and tear on one set of cables/probes, so that others stay in like new condition.
That being said it is not like i keep 3 sets of cables on a tripple channel PSU, full set of 4 wire kelvin probes on my DMM and 4 probes on my oscilloscopes at all times. If i was doing some crazy setup that used a lot of cables/probes i tend to put some back. It is rare to use 4 channels on a scope with just day to day stuff. So instead i tend to just keep 1 or 2 probes connected to a scope since that's what is most often needed. When they are not in use the probe cable is coiled up and stuffed under the scope (the feet are high enugh to lift it up enugh). Similarly i keep a set of normal multimeter probes on my DMMs, coiled up under the DMM. That way i just tug the coiled up cable out from under it, and i am ready to use it.
The more special rarely used bulky probes (like active probes) are kept in there original plastic carrying box. Those tend to be pretty big and bulky physically and they are much more mechanically delicate (such as a ceramic PCB inside the probe tip), so they do deserve a bit more protection, while they are more rarely used anyway.
For the MSOX3000 scope at work that is more 'portable' i keep 1 or 2 probes attached but coil them by lifting up the scopes carry handle and placing the coiled up probe cable over the handle. The probe stays on the scope nicely, you can carry it around by the handle. When you want to use it then you just grab the probe and lift it upwards, making it uncoil itself and it is ready to use.
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