circuit tracer

[billdozier 78]

Should be landing a job as a service tech. New boss wants me to acquire a circuit trace. Wondering what brand you guys would recommend and the approximately cost. In my quick study I saw prices range from 50 to 600. Here's hoping he wants the lower end of the spectrum.

 

[LEO2854]

Should be landing a job as a service tech. New boss wants me to acquire a circuit trace. Wondering what brand you guys would recommend and the approximately cost. In my quick study I saw prices range from 50 to 600. Here's hoping he wants the lower end of the spectrum.

He should buy that for you.

Amprobe makes a good one however .

 

[jeremysterling]

Does the boss want you to have a live circuit tracer or a dead circuit tracer?

IMO, the Ideal "circuit breaker finder" ($40) from Home Depot works fine as a live circuit tracer.

Dead circuit tracers are expensive and in my experience, the more expensive the more likely you are to actually locate the dead circuit.

 

[hillbilly1]

Does the boss want you to have a live circuit tracer or a dead circuit tracer?

IMO, the Ideal "circuit breaker finder" ($40) from Home Depot works fine as a live circuit tracer.

Dead circuit tracers are expensive and in my experience, the more expensive the more likely you are to actually locate the dead circuit.

Those Ideal units are fine for residential, but don't work worth a dime in commercial big box stores. We furnish our guys with tracers, there not top of the line, but are fairly decent, around $400 I can't remember the model off the top of my head, but there made by Ideal. Mine is the top of the line Amprobe, it's about $900.

 

[GUNNING]

I use a $40 phone line tracer and my brain. The phone tracer is a prop and just for looks.:happyyes:
I figure if it worked before it works.

 

[renosteinke]

You really do need to be clear as to what the guy is asking you to do with the tracer.

I'd decide upon a dollar limit ... say, more than $50 and it should be an employer-provided tool.

What do others think the dollar limit ought to be?

Ditto for ladders, benders, etc., ..... over a certain amount and it ought to be a company tool. Or, if the tool is so specialized that you're not likely to use it at another employer.

I'm seeing ads specifying that the employee provide his own PPE - which seems to be in contradiction to the OSHA rule that the employer is responsible for providing it. I've even seen ads asking the employee to provide ladders and the truck, and to do the paperwork at home on his own computer and his own time.

Got to draw the line somewhere.

 

[ptonsparky]

Seems like specialty tools should be paid for by employer. That said, after the second Fluke Tpro was ruined by one employee, he replaced it. I provided them for uniformity.

 

[jeremysterling]

Those Ideal units are fine for residential, but don't work worth a dime in commercial big box stores. We furnish our guys with tracers, there not top of the line, but are fairly decent, around $400 I can't remember the model off the top of my head, but there made by Ideal. Mine is the top of the line Amprobe, it's about $900.

I don't know about resi, but I can tell you the Ideal unit is worth at least a couple of dimes in commercial big box stores. When it beeps, I look at the panel schedule for confirmation. Sometimes it takes a little trial and error. I will grant that it is not for use on 277V commercial lighting circuits.

I can say that in the five years I've owned it, the "circuit breaker finder" has saved me at least several miles walking/chasing down circuits in big box stores. I have a very expensive company issued tester that I rarely use, especially in routine calls like big box stores.

 

[Fulthrotl]

Should be landing a job as a service tech. New boss wants me to acquire a circuit trace. Wondering what brand you guys would recommend and the approximately cost. In my quick study I saw prices range from 50 to 600. Here's hoping he wants the lower end of the spectrum.

they get pricy.

if he wants the upper end of the spectrum, HE can buy anything he wants you to use.
i'd stop at about $125 if i was an employee. under union working agreements, you
can't even bring something like that on the job.

i've got two, and they are good at different things.
the amprobe pasar 326B is pretty amazing at finding buried lines
it's a 20 year old unit, that hasn't been modified, cause it works.
it was $850 20 years ago for a reason. then fluke bought
amprobe, and the price, which had been $850 for 20 years,
went up $200 overnight. fluke sucks that way.

the ideal 61-958 is excellent as well, but it is $1,300.
it'll find dead and open stuff pretty well.

 

[btharmy]

Should be landing a job as a service tech. New boss wants me to acquire a circuit trace. Wondering what brand you guys would recommend and the approximately cost. In my quick study I saw prices range from 50 to 600. Here's hoping he wants the lower end of the spectrum.

Who cares what he wants. If he is not supplying it, he has no say in which one you can afford. He should pay for it anyway. If not, find a new "new boss".

 

[hillbilly1]

Who cares what he wants. If he is not supplying it, he has no say in which one you can afford. He should pay for it anyway. If not, find a new "new boss".

You have to look at it from the employers view also, if its yours, you tend to take care of it, if its the company's, a lot of times it's "Stolen", when the employee just didn't bother to keep up with it because it wasn't his. We take 50% of that risk, we pay for 100% of it up front, but if the employee is careless and let's it get "Stolen", their liable for 50% of the cost to replace it. It's a tool just like a meter, most employers do not pay for your meter, it's considered hand tools.

 

[ZZDoug]

It's a tool just like a meter, most employers do not pay for your meter, it's considered hand tools.

You can't be serious but I suspect you are. No it's not a hand tool, it's a test instrument. How far do you go with this kind of thinking? Does he also need a megger or various instrumentation testers or infrared heat detectors or what else? How many thousands of dollars worth of "hand tools" does a guy have to have to keep his job? Where does it end?

 

[Strummed]

Dead circuit tracers are expensive and in my experience, the more expensive the more likely you are to actually locate the dead circuit.

I've done pretty well with a typical $70 toner on dead circuits.

 

[jeremysterling]

I've done pretty well with a typical $70 toner on dead circuits.

I believe you and I wish I owned the ubiquitous toner and probe.

When I made the comment about expense, I was thinking along the lines of broken conductors in buried conduits and inside finished walls.

 

[Strummed]

I believe you and I wish I owned the ubiquitous toner and probe.

When I made the comment about expense, I was thinking along the lines of broken conductors in buried conduits and inside finished walls.

FWIW, my Fluke toner does a decent job fining wires through walls too.

 

[hillbilly1]

You can't be serious but I suspect you are. No it's not a hand tool, it's a test instrument. How far do you go with this kind of thinking? Does he also need a megger or various instrumentation testers or infrared heat detectors or what else? How many thousands of dollars worth of "hand tools" does a guy have to have to keep his job? Where does it end?

So your employer supplies you with meters? I don't mean power quality analyzers and the like, but your standard ol' Fluke or Simpson.

 

[Fulthrotl]

So your employer supplies you with meters? I don't mean power quality
analyzers and the like, but your standard ol' Fluke or Simpson.

in most cases, other than a rudimentary fluke, yeah.

a quick google search for "ibew tool list" pulled up this....

i know we have no opinion on organized vs. disorganized labor,
but they have lists of crap like this..... i used to have a rule of
thumb that if it fit in a 6 gallon bucket, it was fair to bring it...

and i got my ass chewed a few times for creatively filling the
bucket.... :dunce:




IBEW 440 Journeyman Tool List
Journeyman's Tool List
Section 2.24 Journeymen/Apprentices shall be required to provide themselves with the following tools:

Knife
Pliers - - Cutting
Claw Hammer
Wire Stripper
Rule or Tape - - 30'
Screwdriver(s), (Not over 8" inch)
10" adjustable wrench
Allen Wrenches to 3/8"
Spin Type Nut Drives
3/16", 1/4", 9/32", 7/16",
3/8" and 1/2"
Socket set 3/8" Drive -- (Sockets to
??)
Pencil
Level - - Small
Hacksaw Frame
Long Nose Pliers
Plumb bob
Diagonals
Tool Pouch and Belt
Center Punch
Voltage Tester - 600 Volt, (Wiggins
Type)
Pliers, Pump or
Channel Lock(s) (not to exceed #430)
Tool Box

 

[hillbilly1]

in most cases, other than a rudimentary fluke, yeah.

a quick google search for "ibew tool list" pulled up this....

i know we have no opinion on organized vs. disorganized labor,
but they have lists of crap like this..... i used to have a rule of
thumb that if it fit in a 6 gallon bucket, it was fair to bring it...

and i got my ass chewed a few times for creatively filling the
bucket.... :dunce:




IBEW 440 Journeyman Tool List
Journeyman's Tool List
Section 2.24 Journeymen/Apprentices shall be required to provide themselves with the following tools:

Knife
Pliers - - Cutting
Claw Hammer
Wire Stripper
Rule or Tape - - 30'
Screwdriver(s), (Not over 8" inch)
10" adjustable wrench
Allen Wrenches to 3/8"
Spin Type Nut Drives
3/16", 1/4", 9/32", 7/16",
3/8" and 1/2"
Socket set 3/8" Drive -- (Sockets to
??)
Pencil
Level - - Small
Hacksaw Frame
Long Nose Pliers
Plumb bob
Diagonals
Tool Pouch and Belt
Center Punch
Voltage Tester - 600 Volt, (Wiggins
Type)
Pliers, Pump or
Channel Lock(s) (not to exceed #430)
Tool Box

Those four letters explain it. In an open shop, you can carry any tool you want, as long as it meets OSHA and any other safety requirements. If you want to make your job easier with better tools, you can without repercussions.

 

[Strummed]

Those four letters explain it. In an open shop, you can carry any tool you want, as long as it meets OSHA and any other safety requirements. If you want to make your job easier with better tools, you can without repercussions.

Sure, they can. But even as contractors it seems like most of us agree that making an employee provide some tools like expensive meters, power tools, ladders, etc. is wrong (wrong in opinion, not a legal sense).

 

[hillbilly1]

Sure, they can. But even as contractors it seems like most of us agree that making an employee provide some tools like expensive meters, power tools, ladders, etc. is wrong (wrong in opinion, not a legal sense).

Yeah, ladders and power tools and such should be supplied by the company, but because of 70e, things are changing. Sure we don't force the tracers on our techs, but if there caught working something live, it's immediate dismissal, no questions asked. They can buy there own, or use ours with the stipulation they are monetary responsible for it if they don't keep up with it.