Whats the best circuit tracer for the money?

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George Stolz

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Windsor, CO NEC: 2017
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It's not possible for members to respond in the member's trading area, so I moved it here for the sake of discussion.

Underground? In-wall? At the breaker?
 

jaylectricity

Senior Member
Location
Massachusetts
Occupation
licensed journeyman electrician
I recently bought one from Big Blue for $40 or so. You plug it in to a receptacle, then take a wand to the breaker panel. It's worked pretty good so far, I've used it 8-10 times now with good success. It didn't come with one, but I think I'll buy a lamp socket to receptacle adapter to use on light fixtures. Not bad, but limited.

I suppose I could cobble up a receptacle with alligator clips to use on conductors. One drawback is that the circuit has to be live, but if it's not live then you can just use a regular tone tester.

Pictured below:

032886909986lg.jpg
 

Fulthrotl

~Autocorrect is My Worst Enema.~
Am not looking to buy one of the expensive ones.

"[h=2]Whats the best circuit tracer for the money?"[/h]
and you might as well buy a cheap one,
the cheap ones all work about the same...

if you want a good one, then the amprobe 326-B has been
one of the best ones for about 20 years now.
don't look at what it costs. you don't want to know.

i've got two good ones, and am getting yet another good one
this next week. some of them are better at something than other
ones, and you don't have a golf bag with only one club, unless you
are lee trevino.
 

glene77is

Senior Member
Location
Memphis, TN
Whats the best circuit tracer for the money?

A good thinking brain is the best circuit tracer!
... a 'thinking' electrician can beat any tool .
... a 'dead' electrician can not draw a paycheck .

However, to answer the posting,
Over my 58 years, I have used :

(1) a "neon" bulb + resistor in a screwdriver. Have four from my apprentice days in the 50's. These have been a lifesaver.
Normally a safe "one hand" direct contact voltage tester. The other 'hand' (wire) is your body in the electric field.
Can even do a comparative test 'hot-vs-neutral' on Knob-n-Tube lines
( where there is no ground ) and the conductive soot makes all the attic joists 'tick' hot.
Frequently you can differentiate between a 'bright' hot wire and a 'not-bright' phantom voltage wire.
My favorite at 120/240, is one where I installed a 1MegOhm resistor to make the neon burn brighter, used on 120V/240V nothing higher.
My testor ( at 1MegOhm ) pulls 120 MicroAmps ... which will 'bite' on 440 ( so don't use it on higher voltages) .

(2) a festoon light socket with pig-tails . I used a 15W 240V bulb, wrapped with duct-tape to help prevent breakage. Only for 120/240V circuits.

(3) Most frequently now, I use a 'ticker' with a gain control and the automatic test turn-on beep. Non-Contact. Greenlee, $20.

(4) Sometimes I use a Klein (Wiggy style) which will not burn-up if the circuit goes 'hot' during a continuity test.
Worth its $40 price, but I have had to repair over-flexed breakage in the two cords leading to the two probes.
Last time I added six inches of nylon flex wrap to make the cords less flexible near the base.

(5) Have brought my o'scope to check multi-channel ( 3 phase ) waveforms to see what is really happening. Another story.

(***) ALWAYS, I look twice at the situation, only probe the conductors I should be probing,
and put my left hand in my pocket so I am not accidently 'dead'.

Think About Your Work ... and you will Live Long.
Glen Ellis,
 
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