Test Cables & Adapters
Test Cables & Adapters
Test cables and adapters form the interconnect infrastructure of electronic measurement systems. They link instruments to devices under test (DUTs), connect instruments together in automated test equipment (ATE) racks, and bridge legacy interfaces such as GPIB/IEEE-488 with modern test controllers. Cable quality directly affects measurement integrity: impedance mismatches, inadequate shielding, and excessive contact resistance all introduce errors that are especially significant at high frequencies or high currents.
The category spans GPIB instrument bus cables, high-current and four-terminal (Kelvin) lead kits for insulation and earth resistance testing, coaxial RF cables, and BNC, SMA, and N-type adapters. Four-wire Kelvin configurations eliminate contact resistance errors in low-resistance measurements, making them essential for earth bonding verification and cable resistance testing with dedicated instruments.
Typical Applications
- GPIB bus cabling in automated test systems connecting instruments to a controller PC or switching matrix
- Four-terminal Kelvin lead sets for low-resistance measurements in power distribution bonding and earth testing
- High-current lead kits paired with insulation resistance testers and earth testers in field service
- RF coaxial cables and adapters for signal routing in spectrum analysis and vector network analysis setups
- Instrument-to-instrument interconnects on calibration laboratory benches
Popular Brands
Tektronix manufactures certified GPIB cables for instrument bus applications. Megger provides specialized lead kits engineered for their insulation resistance and earth testing instruments, including four-terminal Kelvin configurations. Keysight and National Instruments supply GPIB and proprietary cabling for their respective test platforms, while Pasternack and Huber+Suhner cover precision RF coaxial requirements.
