My 2 ethernet runs failed both in the last week... Cold weather?

[jaybee]

I've had ethernet runs which go from a loft, outside, round the house then back into a kitchen. A week ago I discovered wire 6 has no continuity when the TV stopped having a connection. I recrimped both ends a few times and even cut the cable back a fair bit incase it was the final bit that got scuffed up going through the wall. Nope.

Then yesterday the same thing has happened on the other one but pins 3 and 6. They are both cat6 outdoor cable high quality solid copper core. They are also both different cables slightly. Bought at two different times in the past.

Could it be that the cold weather has caused it to shrink or expand and move and pull tight around a corner making it brittle and some wires to break internally?

Seems strange it was all working. I checked for damage all along the cable and cant see anything. I've ran a load of cat cable over the years and never had one stop working.

 

[TangoEchoAlpha]

From what I understand, most decent cat 6 cable is rated to operate at temperatures down to -20c, with most recommending you install at 0c or above - generally it's higher extreme temperatures that cause the cable problems.

I think either the cable was damaged before installation, or damaged at some point when it was installed. Maybe you just got a bad batch

 

[Avalon]

One is coincidence, two on different cables purchased at different times from different batches really is a long shot. Either poor install or poor cable are the more likely options here. On the up-side if you don't want an immediate fix given the current weather, you can re-crimp enough pairs from the working ones to stay connected.

 

[Caged]

It might be the weather but it might also be rodents in your loft eating it to use the cable insulation in their nests. You might be able to do a really basic TDR test from a laptop NIC to see where the break is, then you can go and have a look.

 

[Quartz]

Another vote for rodents.

 

[Subliminal Aura]

Another vote for rodents.

+1

 

[Syore]

When you were laying the cable, were there any sharp bents? As this could cause some wires to snap due to expansion/shrinkage on the cable depending on the weather.

 

[bobuk]

MICE

 

[gpuerrilla]

Oof.

 

[Silicon Si]

Rats love network cables

 

[chrcoluk]

Could be rodents yeah, back when I was living with a friend the first time I moved out my parents, the broadband was installed in my bedroom where my PC was, his was in the room directly below. We drilled a hole in my wall, and another downstairs, and the ethernet cable was ran down the wall outside, this survived multiple years including snowy winters. It was basic cat 5 cable (might have been 5e cannot remember).

 

[jaybee]

OMG guys I've had a mare with this lol. The results are in...
I've had a combination of:

1: My cable tester broke in an annoying way mucking up my test results!
2: 1 x poor crimp
3: HDMI ethernet sender device broke!

On the plus side, my cable runs seem fine. What has happened is that my cable tester broke in a way where the LEDs internally to show that pins 3 and 6 work, intermittently just completely don't light up. To be fair it was from ebay and about 15 years old. I went down to screwfix and bought another one for a tenner, and it's literally the exact same design from the same plastic moulds I swear, but just rebadged. I did actually have one bad crimp at one point I believe, as I found an end where one wire had not quite been crimped properly and had pulled back slightly.
On top of this, one of the cat6 runs is a dedicated run which goes direct from a HDMI 4K over ethernet transmitter, to the receiver by the TV in the kitchen. Coincidentally, the unit has died during when all this was going on. I just had a replacement turn up and it works again!

Moral of the story is to test, test again, and test your test equipment I guess!?

 

[Deleted member 77746]

OMG guys