brokenarrow1 Posted January 28, 2008 Share Posted January 28, 2008 I have run speaker wire through out my house now I want to determine which wire at each end will be the red and the black for my speaker. So I want to make sure that the wire from my black post on the speaker is wired to the black on my amp. Is there such a tool? Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mas Posted January 28, 2008 Share Posted January 28, 2008 http://forums.klipsch.com/forums/t/100165.aspx provides step by step procedures for easily doing this I assume you want a procedure for identifying the polarity/identity of each conductor. I know of no "tool" (apart from one's eyes) that distinguishes the color of the wire. [] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldenough Posted January 28, 2008 Share Posted January 28, 2008 Can we assume you have run none color-coded cable.? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pauln Posted January 30, 2008 Share Posted January 30, 2008 "Label twice, pull once" comes to mind... If these are two conductor pairs with no distinguishing color schem, see if one of the conductor's insulation has a ridge on it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrWho Posted January 30, 2008 Share Posted January 30, 2008 A battery and LED would work just fine (might wanna throw in a series resistor so you don't break the LED). Or you can purchase fancy boxes that do the same thing for like $30. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marvel Posted January 30, 2008 Share Posted January 30, 2008 A battery and LED would work just fine (might wanna throw in a series resistor so you don't break the LED). Or you can purchase fancy boxes that do the same thing for like $30. A small battery won't put enough current through the led to blow it. But a 330 ohm resistor will make it work with a small battery.BUT, that won't help him as you need to complete the circuit and the wire is in the wall already. If the wire is like lamp cord/zip cord, the wire is usually coded by: 1. One conducter is silver colored wire the other copper. 2. All the markings are printed on the insulation, on only one of the conductors. 3. One of them will have ridges running the length, the other will be smooth. This wire usually isn't plenum rated or rated for in-wall installations. In-wall will usually have color coded wire inside another jacket of some kind. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrWho Posted January 30, 2008 Share Posted January 30, 2008 When running wire to a speaker, you've always got a pair of conductors.... On the receiver end you connect the + side to the wire that you want to be the "red wire" and you connect the - side to the wire that you want to be the "black wire". Then over on the speaker side, you hook up your LED. When you've got the anode side of the LED on the "red wire" it will light up. When the anode side is on the "black wire" it won't light up. For what it's worth, generally speaking batteries are more than capable of driving enough current to blow up LEDs. I'm sure there are cases where you've got a low voltage battery with enough internal resistance to limit the current, but that is not always going to be the case, which is why I bring it up. Here's a picture describing an LED for those not familiar with the anode and cathode: Btw, I used this method for testing a wire bundle of about 100 connectors where the lables ripped off because the conduit was a bit too narrow in the middle somewhere - so I know it works [] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marvel Posted January 30, 2008 Share Posted January 30, 2008 Btw, I used this method for testing a wire bundle of about 100 connectors where the lables ripped off because the conduit was a bit too narrow in the middle somewhere - so I know it works Geez, don't you just hate it when that happens? Yeah, you can do it that way, but that's a pain if you haven't done it before. Beats pulling the wire back out though, lol. I've only blown up one led, and that was on a bench power supply. It was one of those head slappers where I forgot to put in the resistor when I was breadboarding a project. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mas Posted January 30, 2008 Share Posted January 30, 2008 [|-)] Yup, just go to the kitchen drawer and pull out one of the myriad LEDs you have laying around. [*-)] LOL And if someone is not familiar with checking continuity and polarity, like they are going to be intimate with LED operating parameters!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!? If using a VOM is so exotic, just go to Home Depot and buy a damned $6 LED current probe and a battery! Geesh! Just be careful not to electrocute yourself! At least with a $3 VOM from Harbor Freight you will have an instrument you can use for many things. And the 5 minutes spent figuring it out won't have been wasted asit will with the @$% LED! LOL! So much debate over such trivial issues. But I guess that this is to be expected when you give a bunch of geniuses a rubber band and ask them how to use it! I wonder what we will do when we reach something kompleekated?????? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrWho Posted January 30, 2008 Share Posted January 30, 2008 Why all the hostility? sheesh. Mind explaining how you would use a VOM when each end of the wire is in a different room? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gaspr Posted January 30, 2008 Share Posted January 30, 2008 Mind explaining how you would use a VOM when each end of the wire is in a different room? Just string a length of single conductor from one end to the other and do continuity tests? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mas Posted January 31, 2008 Share Posted January 31, 2008 Hostility? I find it hilarious! And BTW, the link initially provided in my first post ( http://forums.klipsch.com/forums/t/100165.aspx ) walks one through it step by step as we just had the same question posted about a day before! (Kinda makes you nostalgic for the exotic/magic interconnect discussions, doesn't it?) (1.To ID the pair as distinct from others, you short them and check the resistance for continuity. Repeat as necessary. 2. To determine polarity, you apply a small (low current!) 1-9v battery (no car batteries please*) to the ID'd pair in step 1 and check the +-voltage for the sign with a $3 VOM from Harbor Freight (or $6 at WalMart)!. It doesn't get much simpler.) And when you say each "end of the wire is in a different room", I hope you mean each "pair of wires", as a single conductor wire in different rooms isn't going to do you much good anyway! And why would one need to determine the polarity of a single conductor??? Or should we have a seminar on how 'one wire' systems only become half as loud? ;-) This incredibly simple topic has taken on the aura of a committee formed to determine how best to flip on a light switch! With the result being that all sit in the dark! ;-) *Why do I get the recurring image of a response telling us how the method encountered a few problems after attaching a car or golf cart battery to the leads! After all, we did have a thread go for how many pages regarding diminished KHorn bass response before the forum noticed that the speakers were pulled out into the middle of the room for 'enhanced imaging'!!! I'm still ROFLMAO over that one! ...Of course, we could always have him attach the wire to a 240V heavymajor outlet and measure the resultant B fields that emanate from thewire at various distances...that is, while he is able to remain in thehouse between the start of the fire and the arrival of the firedepartment... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marvel Posted January 31, 2008 Share Posted January 31, 2008 Hostility? I find it hilarious! Perhaps lack of humility would be a better description. Did you figure out the dryer lint, yet... [] (1.To ID the pair as distinct from others, you short them and check the resistance for continuity. Repeat as necessary./ 2. To determine polarity, you apply a small (low current!) 1-9v battery (no car batteries please*) to the ID'd pair and check the +-volatge for the sign with a $3 VOM from Harbor Freight (or $6 at WalMart)!. It doesn't get much simpler.) ...as I sit here with my own, far more expensive VOM on my desk, this is the easiest and simplest way, if they are not color coded or marked in some other way. This is a committee here, and committees always look for the hardest solutions to the simplest problems. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mas Posted January 31, 2008 Share Posted January 31, 2008 ...as I sit here with my own, far more expensive VOM on my desk, this is the easiest and simplest way, if they are not color coded or marked in some other way. This is a committee here, and committees always look for the hardest solutions to the simplest problems. First, Doc knows my dry wit! Disgust, disappointment, contempt, humor, sarcasm, disdain...maybe!...ok, well probably!...but hostility? Geesh! Come on.... Secondly, this committee has far exceeded its mission statement. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Groomlakearea51 Posted January 31, 2008 Share Posted January 31, 2008 Mind explaining how you would use a VOM when each end of the wire is in a different room? Just string a length of single conductor from one end to the other and do continuity tests? BTDT (been there, done that) It works......... I ran into this problem a many years ago in out previous house that the owners had "wired" for speakers. Solution: I took a very lonnnnnng piece of speaker wire and an old 9 volt flashlight that had a broken switch..... took the piece of speaker wire and connected it to one of the switch wires on the flashlight. Walked to the other room and hooked the other flashlight switch wire to each wire and eventually found the other "end" of the wire.... labelled it, repeated the process. Pain, but it worked. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BLSamuel Posted January 31, 2008 Share Posted January 31, 2008 So, does having one wire with red insulation and one with black insulation sound better than if both wires use say brown insulation? Too complicated for my simple mind. + to + and - to - is about as difficult as my speaker wiring gets. I think Marshall's busted flaslight with a looooonnnnggg wire sounds reasonable or the cheap thing a ma bob and a battery and a looooooonnngggg wire wouldn't be too bad. I think I'll make sure any speaker wire I run through the house is properly marked as it'd be a pain to test when the ends are a considerable distance apart. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators dtel Posted January 31, 2008 Moderators Share Posted January 31, 2008 The fun way is to plug only one of the wires into the hot side of your wall receptacle and the rest into the ground side, then get the wife to .. oh never mind, your wife will only find one of the wires for you which would leave all the rest for you. Sorry just use one of the other ways suggested. [6] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators dtel Posted February 2, 2008 Moderators Share Posted February 2, 2008 Hey you out there? Hope he didn't try it I was kidding ? [] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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