bperrybap:
I would go talk to whoever is wanting this.
Talk to them about what they really need and ask about detecting shorts.
You need a good functional specification or at least accurate guidance as to what the product needs to do.It could be that shorts just don't happen on the their cables given their manufacturing process.
You don't want to go off and do lots of design work for something that may not be needed.And then there is the issue of how to communicate any issues.
Like is pass/fail enough? or does it it need to also indicate the type of failure including which wires are involved?
The latter is quite a bit more complicated, particularly when considering all the combinations of opens and shorts between wires.For example, if all that is needed is continuity and no concern for shorts, you don't really need an Arduino.
A simple led that gets voltage through each wire would be good enough.
i.e. plug in the cable, and an LED on each wire lights if there is conductivity.
Kind reminiscent of the old rs232 breakout boxes from days past.--- bill
I asked, they said they don't need to check for shorts. As for which wire is causing the issue, that can just be check with a voltmeter once its found the cable has an error, but it would be nice to have it built in to the arduino code.
Yes, I could just have a bunch of LED's lined up for each cable, that would also tell which wire isn't continuous and I wouldn't need an arduino.