I have a cable with 8 wires in it. How do I find where the breaks in the wires are?

Question

Amphenol connector cable with 8 wire cable.

Answer 1

It will actually depend on the length of the cable. If it's a cable installed in a building, you'd have to use a specialized testers for that or use a multimeter to measure the capacitance between two of the conductors (use a pair if the conductors are twisted pairs). If you have a pair of conductors that is known to run the full known length, measure its capacitance. Then divide the capacitance of the pair in question by the capacitance of the full length pair and multiply that by the length of the full pair. This will be the approximate length to the break from the end you are measuring from.
If there is no good pair of conductors, lookup the standard capacitance per length unit. Then just divide the measured capacitance by the standard capacitance - it will be your length.

If this is a short cable (a cord), the break is almost always inside the connector on one of the ends. Sometimes can be found by carefully observing the connectors.

Answer 2

You simply take your trusty VOM on the ohms setting and individually check each wire. Simple eh? Use alligator clips to hold the probes to each wire and shake/move around the cable while observing the meter.
Good Luck,
Mike

Answer 3

easy to find out which wire is broken ,
not so simple to locate exact place of break ,easier to replace cable Paul UK