Troubleshooting

[Lil Daddy]

I am having a problem with troubleshooting a circuit on a job, I have checked the neutral and it seems to have continuity to ground. I think I lost the hot somewhere, but can't find it. I was wondering if anyone has ever used one of those tone generators on a dead circuit to find out where the wire goes and if it loses connection there? Do the tone generators work good for finding these problems?

 

[Buck Parrish]

You mean one of these http://shopping.canoe.ca/shop/product--catId_1001102__locale_en__productId_2534728.html No I have not used one. Let us know if it works, well.

 

[magictolight.com]

I have tried them on dead circuits before. The problem with using these units is they really require two points of contact to send a signal through the conductor. Using the grounded conductor in the circuit often times will send a signal through the entire grounding system and then you are right back to looking for a needle in the hay stack! My best luck has been to use an ideal or like signal generator with a nine volt battery to send the signal over the cable, the biggest down fall is you have to spend some pretty good green to get a decent circuit tracer. The other thing I have done is temporarily back fed the circuit to help with troubleshooting which works ok with single phase circuits and certainly can help with troubleshooting. You got to be careful when you try this but can really work with sending an excellent signal over the cable.

 

[K8MHZ]

I have had pretty good luck with the GB wire tracer (non-energized systems). Like any tool, it takes some experience and skill to get the best performance out of it.

I have many tracers, testers, etc. I have found that they all have their quirks and the more you use them the better they work.

 

[JohnJ0906]

I've used a toner before with good results.

Like any tool, it takes some experience and skill to get the best performance out of it.

I have many tracers, testers, etc. I have found that they all have their quirks and the more you use them the better they work.

I agree 100% - Practice makes perf...... well, better... :wink:

 

[surf more]

used toner 6 times in past 3 weeks ,worked like charm every time..it will find that break