My Brain Forced Me to Buy It

I knew I had to have it as soon as I saw it 😩
Amazon Link: geni.us/15PlugAudioCableTester
(It's an affiliate link so Amazon will give me a tiny commission if you buy it)
▼ Time Stamps: ▼
0:00 - Intro
0:59 - Demonstration
▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬
• My Gear & Equipment ⇨ kit.co/ThioJoe
• Merch ⇨ teespring.com/stores/thiojoe
• My Desktop Wallpapers ⇨ thiojoe.art/
⇨ / thiojoe
⇨ / thiojoe
⇨ / thiojoetv
▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬

[@ThioJoe]

LOTS OF BUTTONS AND PORTS MUST BUY 📝Note: The audio at the table might sound a bit weird because I messed up recording and had to fix it with post processing as best I could. 📝Note 2: Turns out you can also use this device as a make-shift universal audio adapter (Thanks to @ImmortalAbsol for the suggestion). You just have to make sure that in addition to the two cables you want to adapt, that you put another cable connecting to its own port on both sides to complete the continuity I guess, so I used the HDMI cable to connect the 2 HDMI ports since that covers all the connections. Then I plugged a 3.5mm jack into one side for audio in, then an XLR out on the other side, and it worked. There seems to be a very slight degradation in audio quality but it's not super noticeable. This also even works without a battery in it.

[@EquaTechnologies]

wait no comments?

[@_SJ]

I can't get over the expression 😂

[@BetaMaster2]

neuron activation

[@ImusingX]

yes

[@Emon49_]

That ADHD sure kicked in🤣🤣

[@lyfandeth]

Don't throw out the USB power-only cable. You may want to use it for charging at public charge stations, where the data lines can be set with malware.

[@sali-ali]

Yep, I make these cables myself, I cut the data wires or add switch. These type of cables are very useful.

[@Ck87JF]

I thought the same thing, but it's micro USB so not all that useful these days. Plus I generally don't use public USB ports regardless of whether the cable is charge-only or not. But still a good mention for those that do!

[@charleshines2142]

Good point. USB has separate data and power wires. What I do is just not plug in at all on other chargers. I just make sure I have enough of a charge before I leave the house.

[@ThioJoe]

True but unfortunately it's a MicroUSB which isn't used for much anymore, so I probably wouldn't carry around with me anyway

[@DavidC-rt3or]

@@ThioJoe guess you don't deal with Raspberry Pi's then :)

[@MDGDaniel]

At 5:07 from top to bottom -6.5mm TS/TRS Jack: Like a guitar lead -RCA: You all know that one -Din: You may have seen MIDI connectors on old computer sound cards or electronic keyboards -5 Pin XLR: Used for DMX controlled lighting. -Speakon: Used for connecting amplifiers to speakers. Comes in 2 pin and 4 pin varieties. -3 Pin XLR: For microphone connections -Powercon: Is a mains voltage power connector. They're mainly found on professional lighting equipment.

[@RitosM]

You'll find powercon on a bunch of other things like video wall panels and loudspeakers as well, most of which you would find in a live production setting such as a concert.

[@patemathic]

Powercon is used quite a bit in showbiz in general. I've seen them not only on lighting equipment, also on active speakers and some even use them to power audio racks.

[@jaromirandel543]

Powercon is also used on the passive speakers. They provide the powered singnal into passive speakers. It is used on big stages where the output power amplifiers are separate from the speakers. You can have one amplifier for 2 or more speakers.

[@crazycatgamer21]

Powercon is basically just Neutrik's better solution to replace the good old three-prong IEC connector for the AV industry. The lighting side of the AV industry adopted it first but we're starting to see it on video and audio stuff as well ! Pretty neat !

[@patsh1]

@@jaromirandel543 That's Speakon you mean. It looks quite similar to Powercon (and both are from Neutrik), but they are different connectors.

[@Nobe_Oddy]

It looks so much more complicated than it really is..... I was thinking it was gonna tell you the quality of the wires, like the Linus video about HDMI cables, but it's just a continuity checker but also for all different connections..... like if you wired an RJ-45 to random wires in an HDMI connector, it would tell you which is connected to which.... I don't think I've ever seen anything like this toy before.... NICE!

[@ThioJoe]

I wish I could justify buying that other professional cable tester lol

[@the_undead]

​@@ThioJoejust make your own media company the size of LMG. There is enough evidence that it's possible. In all seriousness though, that tool looks really fancy and I want it even though I'd have no use for the one that Linus showed or the one that you showed (at least not at the moment)

[@khyleebrahh7]

I have an older one with just cat5 and and audio ports like speakon and powercon for professional audio testing. Not this black unit

[@francoisdubois80]

JUNK !?!? This is NOT JUNK!! It is an extremely valuable and highly useful piece of diagnostic equipment. If only it had serial and parallel ports! 😁

[@daveys]

Serial ports were the bane of my life for many years. I think you can buy a similar tester that does serial testing.

[@Bez2112]

I had a tester for that back in the day

[@troybaxter]

Indeed it is. At my church, our production team has one, along with our audio engineer because we have to occasionally check the cables and determine why they aren't working, or verify that they are working at all. I've used it several times to check the power and communication cables that we have going to our lights, and it would help me figure out what wire I need to resolder.

[@James_Knott]

Junk is stuff you throw away. Stuff is junk you keep. 🙂

[@xcruell]

Or you can just build it yourself for 10% of the price.. Did it with a rj45 tester. @@daveys

[@LokiScarletWasHere]

Two of those XLR adapters are imbalanced cables. XLR is often used to carry balanced audio, so to plug it into imbalanced interfaces, engineers and cable makers will often bond one of the phases to ground. You can also carry unbalanced stereo over XLR if you hate yourself.

[@_SJ]

Robots like me need this toy to be included on our Christmas list.

[@-DeScruff]

Looks super handy! Specially if your trying to make a cable for weird devices that use existing connectors in... unique ways. - A lot of blood glucose meters don't have a USB port. They use a 3.5mm jack. Using this you could tell how its wired and make your own USB A to 3.5mm jack if you want to have a spare or something.

[@TheExileFox]

Calculators never use normal USB generally, instead they tend to also use a 3.5mm jack and cable.

[@hiko8822]

Honestly, this works for hacking egpus, as the chinese love to use USB 3.0 for pcie 1x, and hdmi for 4x. And they also love never giving pin outs for either use case.

[@digojez]

If you think about it, the brain forces you to do a lot of things.

[@ThioJoe]

Good point

[@michaels3003]

Eat...

[@hudibaba]

of course!!!!! more vids like this please! you never know something might come in clutch for someone else

[@natebee3021]

I agree

[@exnozgaming5657]

All you need is a Multimeter. Not only it can test cables but also check super complex circuit boards to fix your electronics, provided you have the knowledge to use it.

[@user0000user]

Yes, but this is aimed at live shows/event technology. There's no time to fiddle around with the prongs of a Multimeter. You can check a lot of cables in no time with this.

[@exnozgaming5657]

@@user0000user True, I agree.

[@glynnetolar4423]

Not to mention using a multimeter on small pin connectors like Cat5 is not practical.

[@E4S65]

This is made for production, which is a VERY fast paced environment where we deal with literally hundreds of cables. If you need to test a cable out in the field nobody’s got time to mess with a multi meter. Also if you have to test a bunch of audio cables in inventory to weed out the bad ones you’re going to hate life with out this. It’s also common in production to make your own cables and in large batches, so it’s very important to test the wiring then. Another thing too is not all the cables this test are easy to jam the probes into. Testing Micro usb and HDMI is going to be no fun, also back to prosecution those fancy cables at the bottom have the “pins” completely covered. It would be really hard to stick a probe into a PowerCon or Speakon cable and see which pins you’re testing

[@toiletgaming2005]

id like to see how to test an usb-c cable with a multimeter

[@chaggydawg]

I love this, it's just you talking about/showing off a nerdy thing you discovered and clearly enjoy a lot!

[@ImusingX]

only OGs remember when this video's title was "I Bought it Before I Even Knew What It Did"

[@tronosgamingwizard]

exactly

[@Casonplayz]

Yeah

[@GifyTheOld]

7:05 The Small DIN is just a plug type and it has many uses, one of them is S-Video but also for example PS/2 (that only uses the 6pin variant). It is similar to D-Sub, similar plugs, different pin amounts and different use

[@Alfamoto8]

Yeah the dsub was compatible with the pc serial port and some older consoles joysticks...

[@dashcamandy2242]

Vintage Apple computers (older Macs and the IIgs) equipped with ADB (Apple Desktop Bus) use the same port as S-Video. Saved my high school a bunch of money once by having the Computer Coordinator order S-Video cables instead of Apple ADB cables. We had a bunch of Mac SEs I had refurbished, but we couldn't deploy them due to a surplus of ADB cables with bent pins - no spare good cables. (My SE "test bench" machine had two half-good cables spliced together.) 🤣Ordering Apple cables would've blown our budget to you-know-where, so the request was denied, but when I suggested the Radio Shack Solution, they approved the purchase order.

[@DelticEngine]

This cable checker is great for identifying the pinout of most cables. Two issues: It won't tell you if there's an intermittent problem like other cable checkers will and it won't tell you if a connector shell is connected to any pin(s) inside the connector or not.

[@djdjukic]

It will do the second thing: 2:28

[@DelticEngine]

@@djdjukic It does, kind of. It won't tell you which end of the cable has the connection to a shell. It would have been better to have a separate pair of LEDs to show which connector had a shell connection. It is unusual to have a rotary selector with only 11 positions, the ones I've seen have 12 positions. Using such a selector would enable a separate shell connection test that would identify which end(s) have the shell connection. Determining the presence or absence of a shell connection is important because sometimes only the female is grounded in 3-pin XLR in order to prevent a local (RF) ground loop and at other times there is no shell connection to prevent anything, such as a ground loop, occurring should the shell come into contact with something else that is grounded. The shell is sometimes used as a second common or ground as well as a pin ground. For example, in aircraft using 5-pin XLRs three of the pins provide two audio channels and a common to the headphones while the other two pins are a balanced microphone connection with the shield connected to the connector shell.

[@zodiacfml]

agreed. i'd imagine in the Pro industry they would simply replace cables that don't work or no continuuity. what they don't want is a cable that works most of the time only to stop working or intermittently or poorly during a performance.

[@flamencoprof]

What's wrong with the "wiggle it" test on each switch pos'n?

[@joefunsmith]

@@zodiacfml The problem with that approach is, sometimes you have two cables that look alike and one has one-to-one pin connectivity while the other is intentionally some other configuration. A/V pros usually go to pains to label the non-conventional cables and adapters but there are times when you need to know and even if there are visual indicators, they might be simply a color code applied by someone who isn't available, or you're the one who set it up that way but for whatever reason, you don't remember what the green shrink sleeving was supposed to mean. I own a very similar cable tester more focused on audio and used it primarily when fabricating my own XLR (microphone) cables to make sure I had made the correct solders, and then wiggled the connectors to make sure the lights didn't flicker. Oh, and sorry for the run-on sentences.

[@DavePurz]

Thanks Theo! I do tech work on the side for a community theater and this tester combines a lot of older single purpose ones I have. Much easier to carry just THIS one in the bag.

[@AZisk]

yes! more cool gear examples!

[@user0000user]

I have a similar one with a bit less plugs. It's bit more orientiert for event technology. Since I solder all my XLR, TRS cables and crimp my Ethernet cables it is very useful.

[@jerrywright9657]

I'll definitely be buying one. The bane of my existence is bad cables that users bring in when setting up and I've got 10 minutes to troubleshoot before events start. Sometimes it's already started before they decide they need help.

[@HarblesTheSkeptial]

Another test I recommend is to wiggle each end of the cable when paused on each light to check for intermittent broken wires which might get missed if you just whip through spinning the dial. Also major caveat, Never have equipment plugged into the cables under test. The tester uses a battery (9v?) to run through the wire and light up the led. The 9v could fry sensitive electronics or the device might be putting out a voltage that can fry the tester.

[@milescarter7803]

Man I would love this for USB C, of course would also want an even higher end model with a little LCD to tell you all about Thunderbolt and 100w PD charge and all that. Also the micro USB needs to check the OTG pin connection 😅

[@giannismentz3570]

Awesome device. Not only it looks cool that makes you buy it, it's quite useful too showing the connections so you know what cable does what. Don't throw cables away, label them.

[@smorris12]

The XLR-jack leads vary because XLR is a balanced setup. To wire unbalanced audio to XLR you connect ground and cold (1&3) of the XLR to ground of the other connector and then wire the signal to pin 2. The first lead is a bit naughty as it's connecting left and right together. The second lead uses a stereo jack as a balanced mono connection. The third one is another unbalanced to balanced lead but the signal line is broken.

[@TonyP9279]

That would be so useful for the 1/8" mini jack to composite audio/video RCA plugs that are common with camcorders, portable DVD players, the older Roku and Raspberry PI. They each have different pinouts for L & R audio and video.

[@glebglub]

going by the chart on the back, it only suports TRS 1/8", not TRRS, so you'd have to find a different one I'd wager

[@ChrisOBrien666]

I’ve had one of these cable testers for years and it’s been useful on many occasions. I’m a musician and used it to test cables at shows or in the studio and it’s saved a LOT of time by finding faulty cables right away.

[@bryanp.1327]

I love chunky clicky switches, so satisfying to use and feels like you're turning the knob on something industrial.

[@michaelscottland4239]

Absolutely a keeper. Especially when you found out about the charging online cable, it just proved its value in real time.

[@VideoGameVillians]

Yeah, I'm certainly thinking about getting this thing. I've had plenty of cables in my time that I could only test by trying them and an alternate cable with some device to see if it's the cable or the device so a handy tester like that could really just make it more obvious where the problem lies.

[@sherryholliman1136]

Perfect Xmas to self to clean closet of misc cables. Thanks.

[@jasonlittle6542]

I never knew about this device, but it looks very straightforward and useful for so many things I do. I've added it to my wishlist!

[@mikefellhauer3350]

I prefer the digital versions that tests all lines at once. I had one with the mechanical switch like yours, and the switch broke from constantly switching because I used it so much (I run an auditorium, so had to test cables before each use).

[@FredFlintstoffel]

Love this thing, Have used it so much for audio/network and multimedia cable testing over the years. Nice Video

[@joostvisser8537]

It's probably for diagnosing audio problems in theatres, festivals or other stage tech stuff. I worked in a theatre for a while and have used all of these cables for carrying audio.

[@oliverlind6596]

that thing is awesome, i've literally just put a load of cables through my house for in ceiling speakers, but didn't have a way to test the speakon terminals, just ordered this to do that, thanks

[@PaulSmith-pl7fo]

Hi ThioJoe. What an incredible machine! I would love to see more videos like this.

[@lh8825]

Only if his brain continues to force him to buy things like this. 😅

[@Mike.Kachar]

This would actually be a device that I'd buy if I still did A/V installations. Looks like a great tool to have & has diverse functionality.

[@boyensn4233]

I used one of these before when I put new connectors on speakon cables. Very very useful, saved me a lot of time.

[@tomsmith3045]

Thanks for this review! I looks kinda handy, especially to identify different adapters, and it's faster, easier and more reliable than using a meter one pin at a time. There's no way anyone is going to build it for less, unless they have a bunch of spare connectors already lying around from old equipment they can salvage.

[@paulf1071]

Looks like a very handy piece of equipment to have in the toolkit! This unit could also be used to diagnose a cable with an intermittent connection... wiggle the cable while you scan through all the pins until you see the LED flickering on and off.

[@colingale]

I so wanted this when it popped up, in my works i've needed all those cables tested and two hands on a DMM while balancing the cable on a knee just was not enough.

[@misanthropicmusings4596]

Noticed that its also great for testing crossover cables when that was a thing. Great tool!

[@vladislavkaras491]

Looks like awesome cable tester! Thanks!

[@gikar1948]

Please do more videos like this. It is good to learn about useful gadgets.

[@fallwitch]

Yes please more product spotlight stuff!

[@shankararhuddlan270]

Amazing! Need to get one and go through my bins of cables! Thank you for showing me this+

[@randomgeocacher]

I’ve thought about buying these several times. Really nice to get a cable verified for at least getting the basics right.

[@Tattysnuc]

what a great device!!! added to wish list for later impulse purchasing :) Thanks for sharing (y)

[@polodoskyz]

hell yeah, do more of those!! I love this kind of cool devices

[@dylanlaunspach2859]

I love these, we had one at my old job, we used pretty much every function of this. I always wished that they added VGA to it, then it would have had everything for our needs

[@charlesurrea1451]

I did structured cabling for a while. Having a verifier is a MUST! This one is nice because of the variety. Look up network crossover cable just for kicks.

[@Mtaalas]

I carry Behringer one in my gig bag. These manual ones are ok, but they're also a hassle to use on intermittent issues and pretty large to carry around. The automatic ones (liek the Behringer) tell you immediately if there's a break or short circuit when you wiggle the connectors/cables around. That's gold for saving time :)

[@cc12yt]

That is really cool, I want to buy this as a gift for my father, as he and I struggle with some cables because they do not seem to work, but their functionality may differ from our purpose. This would help to check which cables are waste and which ones work!

[@tv372]

Just bought one! Great purchase and it’s seems they now have USB-C tester. This is great to separate my high bandwidth cables from the others. Thanks for the video

[@GothGuy885]

awesome tester, I'll have to hop onto Amazon and order one! 😀

[@JhonsonFam]

I love this kind of videos showing cool things like this!!!

[@Tester2468]

I bought this yesterday and it was delivered today. Checked out a cable that was giving me issues and determined that the cable was bad. Thanks for the review and keep it up.

[@Cieric]

I will note that power only micro usb seems to be the one I got with my chromecast. From my testing having a data cable with it was pointless as it internally doesn't have the data pins connected. Keeping it with the chromecast might be the best option for resale, or if you need a data cable, well your chromecast might be using it.

[@dwmca1620]

Very nice cable tester box. Not too expensive. Especially if we/I have a need to determine similar cables are good or faulty. Great. Thanks.

[@_SJ]

0:08 This made me laugh today. Thanks Joe

[@jellybean7253]

Been using these type things for years. Best thing ever to add to the tool bag for an audio guy

[@AKG58Z]

The looks are just amazing it says tech on every side looks cools as hech you did it right.

[@BryanOwens]

I'm totally buying this. Thanks for the awesome video!

[@Finns-Projects]

Only power USB cables are great when you are out traveling. So when you use public chargers it cant be compromised if someone have been tinkered with the charger usb port you are using.

[@MorganSullivan]

That's a good machine... And has lights too!!

[@fev4]

I will def buy one of these. Thanks for making the video

[@SlendisFi_Universe]

The connections on the sides of XLR connections are SPEAKER line connections which have bass and treble split on two different channels. They are more robust and lock in place. They are used in music events like Woodstock or other festivals.

[@JediBuddhist]

I love it. Thanks. It would be totally cool if it could test the frequency capacity of the HDMI.

[@PushyPawn]

No review is complete without a non-destructive teardown.

[@IIGrayfoxII]

Don't turn it on, take it apart

[@Rubz]

I have the exact same tester, on the face of the unit there are 2 circular ports coloured black and red (banana plugs). If you have a pair of leads you can test any wire and the unit will make noise and turn on a LED.

[@MuSic-ok7dh]

Cool box. One thing I consider missing/must have: The option to light up all the diodes at once. When troubleshooting cables, the first thing I will be looking for is "does all pins make connection". Miswired cables occur much less frequently than cables that have broken pins/wires or ones that developed non-connecting spot when wiggled around. Imagine trying to check hdmi cable that makes video green unless its propped with matchbox.

[@Alchemetica]

I have had one for a number of years, major difference is mine is a bright yellow case. This colour is handy when working in theatres with limited work lights or during a performance and one is in the wings under low red or blue light the yellow stands outs. Also one can use a low cost network/ telephony cable tester. Where a battery operated signal generator is attached at one end of installed cabling and at the other end located elsewhere in the building attach the "receiver". It allows for non touch detection so if there are many terminals and sockets it enables one to quickly find the area where the cable under test is located. Connecting it via alligator clips or probing definitely confirms by sound the continuity of the various pins or cables that make up the parent cable. Yes, the cable testing unit did have immediate attraction for me even though a multimeter can perform the same tests albeit taking more time and is "fiddly". There is definitely a high degree of tactile satisfaction just holding the cable testing box.

[@ThomasDevOnline]

These are mainly used for Event Technicians. We use them all the time in events in the UK...

[@LawrenceKaneshiro]

Definitely some coolness there with that device. I have seen this before and thought about getting it. But there is not any test I can’t do with a good old fashion ohm meter. Now that I seen it in operation, I may need to reconsider. Thanks.

[@shaunclarke04]

One of the other audio connectors is called speakon, it’s used for connecting PA speakers to amplifiers. The amount of power they carry needs a super beefy cable

[@computergamernl]

as an audio tech, these kinds of testers are very useful and i own one myself, i hadnt seen one with usb and hdmi before though! Wish i could use smthn like that to test multi channel cables (stagesnakes)

[@AidenColeman7366]

0:09 woah big machine lots of buttons! was my favorite part!😂

[@marioz3760]

Great Christmas gift! 🥳

[@timothyvaher2421]

Way cool Theo, thanks for the link!

[@ThePetaaaaa]

I already got a (two piece) RJ45 tester with an auto function. That’s all I currently need. It being two pieces makes testing house wiring a bit easier.

[@nonsuch]

I have the previous generation that doesn't have HDMI or USB B and B mini. It's definitely an invaluable tool for cable testing. The banana jacks on the front work as a great continuity tester because it has an audible beep as well as the LED. Just hook up some multimeter probes and you can test the continuity for anything, like PCBs or connected wires... and it's super fast latching. Even faster than my Fluke! Well worth the money.

[@FharishAhmedPortfolio]

Cool! Please do more of these product reviews...

[@stagggerlee]

Could have used that in a previous life... I had a chart I made for making audio cables kinda like the chart on the back. Nice bit of kit. Thanks for sharing!

[@bmuhamad]

Nice piece for audio techs, etc.

[@bb55555555]

yes definitely do more of these videos

[@KM4EBU]

I bought one just like this couple of years ago and I love this tester

[@lpconserv6074]

Super informative!! I also am hovering over my screen looking for these things. Could have saved me a "smoke event" just about 3 weeks ago!!

[@ewen832]

The last cable checker I worked on was the size of a workbench. One of my jobs was to repair it when it went down.

[@CoreDreamStudios]

Great video on this device, a good find. I would definitely buy one of these when I get a chance.

[@Barmem]

I love cool junk, 100% would wanna see more

[@arthurkallinen]

The ones around XLR are PowerCON and Speakon. Speakon is used to run audio from amplifier to those huge speakers used in events/festivals. PowerCON is used to run power to/between light fixtures. Then there is 5-pin DMX, which looks XLR, because there is also 3-pin DMX which is effectively same connector, DMX vs. XLR just have different thickness of cable (impedance of current if my English serves me right?), but DMX is for light fixture data (colors, movements etc. they work in IP-universes, so can be adapter to RJ45 cable). If I saw correctlyt, there is DIN X-pin, which was - at least - used for some audio/mics, at somepoint.

[@i_Kruti]

Definitely Liked this product....!!!

[@djmidnightwolf]

Those are nice but the extra cost of buying the DBX CT-3 was well worth it over this type. It has 2 detachable ends to allow you to go to each end of a cable and not be forced to have both ends of the cable right there. Usually you find a bad cable after it has already been ran.

[@LexEllis]

Thanks for this video Joe! might end up picking one of these up just for peace of mind down the line! haha! Hope you're doing well!

[@MichaelStoneham]

Hey its great idea, I need one of these myself for testing cables.

[@PhilipKloppers]

I bought the CT200 rather than the CT-20. Although it doesn't have as wide a variety of connectors, it also checks for intermittent connections (and tells you which pin has the problem) as well as grounding issues, and has a built-in signal generator. It's an invaluable tool for me!

[@E4S65]

These are really common in A/V Production. We can deal with literally HUNDREDS of cables. And it’s common to make a lot of cables in house to do testing the wiring is super handy.

[@jimday666]

"Ethernet Tester" In server rooms and large offices it's handy to have ethernet cable testers, which are similar to this one but can be phsycally split apart. So for ex. device's part1 goes to server room ethernet cable and device's part2 goes to some office room where the end of that ethernet cable is. Both parts 1+2 have ethernet ports and 10 LEDS.

[@foivosapostolos1211]

Excellent and useful piece of equipment

[@LanceMcCormick]

Have they detachable tester! Love it! I look like a god when I bust it out of RV to firgure out my military brothers and sisters cable issues in RV camps

[@coachace123]

Very cool! Thanks for sharing.