Today's testers handle cables and more: wiring harnesses carry signals from here to there.

To get a good idea of the changes that have been happening to cable testers, think of them as circuit analyzers. This much more inclusive classification not only covers cable harnesses, but also power cords, multiconductor cables, printed circuit boards, back planes, connectors, transformers, and motors.

Testing a wider range of product types and performing more types of tests are complementary activities. For example, many cable testers include hipot capabilities and the closely related insulation resistance measurement. In addition, as cable-harness assemblies incorpo