Any idea what these cables are for?
We moved into a new house and I see these cables in our garage. They come from the ceiling and are right near our water heater and breaker panel. There are 2 cables. One cable is labeled “System to House” and the other is labeled “Back to Main”. One of the cable jackets says that it’s CAT-5e cable, but this doesn’t look like any Ethernet cable that I’ve ever seen, especially with those weird things on the end (LEDs, sensors?)
Any idea what these are?
wiring
asked 1 hour ago
Marc Abramowitz
62
New contributor
Marc Abramowitz is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
add a comment |
We moved into a new house and I see these cables in our garage. They come from the ceiling and are right near our water heater and breaker panel. There are 2 cables. One cable is labeled “System to House” and the other is labeled “Back to Main”. One of the cable jackets says that it’s CAT-5e cable, but this doesn’t look like any Ethernet cable that I’ve ever seen, especially with those weird things on the end (LEDs, sensors?)
Any idea what these are?
wiring
asked 1 hour ago
Marc Abramowitz
62
New contributor
Marc Abramowitz is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
add a comment |
We moved into a new house and I see these cables in our garage. They come from the ceiling and are right near our water heater and breaker panel. There are 2 cables. One cable is labeled “System to House” and the other is labeled “Back to Main”. One of the cable jackets says that it’s CAT-5e cable, but this doesn’t look like any Ethernet cable that I’ve ever seen, especially with those weird things on the end (LEDs, sensors?)
Any idea what these are?
wiring
asked 1 hour ago
Marc Abramowitz
62
New contributor
Marc Abramowitz is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
We moved into a new house and I see these cables in our garage. They come from the ceiling and are right near our water heater and breaker panel. There are 2 cables. One cable is labeled “System to House” and the other is labeled “Back to Main”. One of the cable jackets says that it’s CAT-5e cable, but this doesn’t look like any Ethernet cable that I’ve ever seen, especially with those weird things on the end (LEDs, sensors?)
Any idea what these are?
wiring
wiring
asked 1 hour ago
Marc Abramowitz
62
New contributor
Marc Abramowitz is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
asked 1 hour ago
Marc Abramowitz
62
New contributor
Marc Abramowitz is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
asked 1 hour ago
Marc Abramowitz
62
New contributor
Marc Abramowitz is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
asked 1 hour ago
Marc Abramowitz
62
asked 1 hour ago
Marc Abramowitz
62
62
New contributor
Marc Abramowitz is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
New contributor
Marc Abramowitz is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
Marc Abramowitz is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
add a comment |
add a comment |
3 Answers
3
active
oldest
votes
I can't quite be sure from the picture, but the red things are each joined to a wire from one of the two cables, right? If so, they're just splices, like wire nuts but for this kind of wiring.
So, this part doesn't tell us much about the purpose of the wiring. It could be any kind of signaling cable, though having the wires untwisted like that (and having only two connected, even) would not work for high-speed Ethernet.
It could be a telephone line, part of a security system, or some kind of home automation. You will need to find the other ends of the cables to learn what they're used for.
If there are cables elsewhere that might be these but you aren't sure, you can get a "tone and probe" kit to send a signal on one of the unused pairs of a cable and wave the probe around other ends (or even through a wall) to detect where it runs.
answered 48 mins ago
Kevin Reid
1,1981320
add a comment |
Those red things are simply splices. If you look they are connecting or "splicing" the two wires there.
Now what do those wires do?
Probably a phone line. Do you have wired phone jacks in your house? If you do, then I'd be 90% sure that is a phone line.
answered 47 mins ago
David
1665
New contributor
David is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
add a comment |
Those red things are a 3M Skotchlok or equivalent, which is a water-resistant (gel filled) way of joining small wires. Very common in the telecoms industry, though they don't work particularly well at high frequencies.
Especially as only one pair (two wires) is joined, this is almost certainly a joint in your telephone line.
Cat5e and similar is often used for telephone line - it is almost the same price as older Cat3 cable, can easily be converted to Ethernet usage in future, and can provide better performance when used for things like VDSL.
answered 21 mins ago
Someone Somewhere
972310
add a comment |
Your Answer
StackExchange.ready(function() {
var channelOptions = {
tags: "".split(" "),
id: "73"
};
initTagRenderer("".split(" "), "".split(" "), channelOptions);
StackExchange.using("externalEditor", function() {
// Have to fire editor after snippets, if snippets enabled
if (StackExchange.settings.snippets.snippetsEnabled) {
StackExchange.using("snippets", function() {
createEditor();
});
}
else {
createEditor();
}
});
function createEditor() {
StackExchange.prepareEditor({
heartbeatType: 'answer',
autoActivateHeartbeat: false,
convertImagesToLinks: false,
noModals: true,
showLowRepImageUploadWarning: true,
reputationToPostImages: null,
bindNavPrevention: true,
postfix: "",
imageUploader: {
brandingHtml: "Powered by u003ca class="icon-imgur-white" href="https://imgur.com/"u003eu003c/au003e",
contentPolicyHtml: "User contributions licensed under u003ca href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/"u003ecc by-sa 3.0 with attribution requiredu003c/au003e u003ca href="https://stackoverflow.com/legal/content-policy"u003e(content policy)u003c/au003e",
allowUrls: true
},
noCode: true, onDemand: true,
discardSelector: ".discard-answer"
,immediatelyShowMarkdownHelp:true
});
}
});
Marc Abramowitz is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function () {
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
});
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
StackExchange.ready(
function () {
StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2fdiy.stackexchange.com%2fquestions%2f153280%2fany-idea-what-these-cables-are-for%23new-answer', 'question_page');
}
);
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
3 Answers
3
active
oldest
votes
3 Answers
3
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
I can't quite be sure from the picture, but the red things are each joined to a wire from one of the two cables, right? If so, they're just splices, like wire nuts but for this kind of wiring.
So, this part doesn't tell us much about the purpose of the wiring. It could be any kind of signaling cable, though having the wires untwisted like that (and having only two connected, even) would not work for high-speed Ethernet.
It could be a telephone line, part of a security system, or some kind of home automation. You will need to find the other ends of the cables to learn what they're used for.
If there are cables elsewhere that might be these but you aren't sure, you can get a "tone and probe" kit to send a signal on one of the unused pairs of a cable and wave the probe around other ends (or even through a wall) to detect where it runs.
answered 48 mins ago
Kevin Reid
1,1981320
add a comment |
I can't quite be sure from the picture, but the red things are each joined to a wire from one of the two cables, right? If so, they're just splices, like wire nuts but for this kind of wiring.
So, this part doesn't tell us much about the purpose of the wiring. It could be any kind of signaling cable, though having the wires untwisted like that (and having only two connected, even) would not work for high-speed Ethernet.
It could be a telephone line, part of a security system, or some kind of home automation. You will need to find the other ends of the cables to learn what they're used for.
If there are cables elsewhere that might be these but you aren't sure, you can get a "tone and probe" kit to send a signal on one of the unused pairs of a cable and wave the probe around other ends (or even through a wall) to detect where it runs.
answered 48 mins ago
Kevin Reid
1,1981320
add a comment |
I can't quite be sure from the picture, but the red things are each joined to a wire from one of the two cables, right? If so, they're just splices, like wire nuts but for this kind of wiring.
So, this part doesn't tell us much about the purpose of the wiring. It could be any kind of signaling cable, though having the wires untwisted like that (and having only two connected, even) would not work for high-speed Ethernet.
It could be a telephone line, part of a security system, or some kind of home automation. You will need to find the other ends of the cables to learn what they're used for.
If there are cables elsewhere that might be these but you aren't sure, you can get a "tone and probe" kit to send a signal on one of the unused pairs of a cable and wave the probe around other ends (or even through a wall) to detect where it runs.
answered 48 mins ago
Kevin Reid
1,1981320
I can't quite be sure from the picture, but the red things are each joined to a wire from one of the two cables, right? If so, they're just splices, like wire nuts but for this kind of wiring.
So, this part doesn't tell us much about the purpose of the wiring. It could be any kind of signaling cable, though having the wires untwisted like that (and having only two connected, even) would not work for high-speed Ethernet.
It could be a telephone line, part of a security system, or some kind of home automation. You will need to find the other ends of the cables to learn what they're used for.
If there are cables elsewhere that might be these but you aren't sure, you can get a "tone and probe" kit to send a signal on one of the unused pairs of a cable and wave the probe around other ends (or even through a wall) to detect where it runs.
answered 48 mins ago
Kevin Reid
1,1981320
answered 48 mins ago
Kevin Reid
1,1981320
answered 48 mins ago
Kevin Reid
1,1981320
answered 48 mins ago
Kevin Reid
1,1981320
1,1981320
add a comment |
add a comment |
Those red things are simply splices. If you look they are connecting or "splicing" the two wires there.
Now what do those wires do?
Probably a phone line. Do you have wired phone jacks in your house? If you do, then I'd be 90% sure that is a phone line.
answered 47 mins ago
David
1665
New contributor
David is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
add a comment |
Those red things are simply splices. If you look they are connecting or "splicing" the two wires there.
Now what do those wires do?
Probably a phone line. Do you have wired phone jacks in your house? If you do, then I'd be 90% sure that is a phone line.
answered 47 mins ago
David
1665
New contributor
David is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
add a comment |
Those red things are simply splices. If you look they are connecting or "splicing" the two wires there.
Now what do those wires do?
Probably a phone line. Do you have wired phone jacks in your house? If you do, then I'd be 90% sure that is a phone line.
answered 47 mins ago
David
1665
New contributor
David is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
Those red things are simply splices. If you look they are connecting or "splicing" the two wires there.
Now what do those wires do?
Probably a phone line. Do you have wired phone jacks in your house? If you do, then I'd be 90% sure that is a phone line.
answered 47 mins ago
David
1665
New contributor
David is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
answered 47 mins ago
David
1665
New contributor
David is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
answered 47 mins ago
David
1665
answered 47 mins ago
David
1665
1665
New contributor
David is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
New contributor
David is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
David is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.
add a comment |
add a comment |
Those red things are a 3M Skotchlok or equivalent, which is a water-resistant (gel filled) way of joining small wires. Very common in the telecoms industry, though they don't work particularly well at high frequencies.
Especially as only one pair (two wires) is joined, this is almost certainly a joint in your telephone line.
Cat5e and similar is often used for telephone line - it is almost the same price as older Cat3 cable, can easily be converted to Ethernet usage in future, and can provide better performance when used for things like VDSL.
answered 21 mins ago
Someone Somewhere
972310
add a comment |
Those red things are a 3M Skotchlok or equivalent, which is a water-resistant (gel filled) way of joining small wires. Very common in the telecoms industry, though they don't work particularly well at high frequencies.
Especially as only one pair (two wires) is joined, this is almost certainly a joint in your telephone line.
Cat5e and similar is often used for telephone line - it is almost the same price as older Cat3 cable, can easily be converted to Ethernet usage in future, and can provide better performance when used for things like VDSL.
answered 21 mins ago
Someone Somewhere
972310
add a comment |
Those red things are a 3M Skotchlok or equivalent, which is a water-resistant (gel filled) way of joining small wires. Very common in the telecoms industry, though they don't work particularly well at high frequencies.
Especially as only one pair (two wires) is joined, this is almost certainly a joint in your telephone line.
Cat5e and similar is often used for telephone line - it is almost the same price as older Cat3 cable, can easily be converted to Ethernet usage in future, and can provide better performance when used for things like VDSL.
answered 21 mins ago
Someone Somewhere
972310
Those red things are a 3M Skotchlok or equivalent, which is a water-resistant (gel filled) way of joining small wires. Very common in the telecoms industry, though they don't work particularly well at high frequencies.
Especially as only one pair (two wires) is joined, this is almost certainly a joint in your telephone line.
Cat5e and similar is often used for telephone line - it is almost the same price as older Cat3 cable, can easily be converted to Ethernet usage in future, and can provide better performance when used for things like VDSL.
answered 21 mins ago
Someone Somewhere
972310
answered 21 mins ago
Someone Somewhere
972310
answered 21 mins ago
Someone Somewhere
972310
answered 21 mins ago
Someone Somewhere
972310
972310
add a comment |
add a comment |
Marc Abramowitz is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.
Marc Abramowitz is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.
Marc Abramowitz is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.
Marc Abramowitz is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.
Thanks for contributing an answer to Home Improvement Stack Exchange!
- Please be sure to answer the question. Provide details and share your research!
But avoid …
- Asking for help, clarification, or responding to other answers.
- Making statements based on opinion; back them up with references or personal experience.
To learn more, see our tips on writing great answers.
Some of your past answers have not been well-received, and you're in danger of being blocked from answering.
Please pay close attention to the following guidance:
- Please be sure to answer the question. Provide details and share your research!
But avoid …
- Asking for help, clarification, or responding to other answers.
- Making statements based on opinion; back them up with references or personal experience.
To learn more, see our tips on writing great answers.
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function () {
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
});
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
StackExchange.ready(
function () {
StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2fdiy.stackexchange.com%2fquestions%2f153280%2fany-idea-what-these-cables-are-for%23new-answer', 'question_page');
}
);
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function () {
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
});
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function () {
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
});
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
Sign up or log in
StackExchange.ready(function () {
StackExchange.helpers.onClickDraftSave('#login-link');
});
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Sign up using Google
Sign up using Facebook
Sign up using Email and Password
Post as a guest
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
Required, but never shown
