Ideal or Amprobe

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Bernard1599

Senior Member
Location
Maryland
mivey

mivey

Senior Member
Bernard1599 said:
Does anyone here have experience with or own either of the two following circuit tracers? Do you have any opinions on which would be the better of the two for residential troubleshooting?

IDEAL ID-61-958 SureTest? Open/Closed Circuit Tracer

http://cableorganizer.com/ideal-industries/suretest-circuit-tracer.html

Amprobe AT-4005CON Advanced Circuit Tracer

http://www.valuetesters.com/Amprobe-AT-4005CON-Advanced-Circuit-Tracer.php

Thank you,
Bernard
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I have the Ideal and it works great. No complaints.
 
mivey

mivey

Senior Member
Bernard1599 said:
Thank you for the prompt replies. Have either of you used it to find opens or faults through plaster walls with metal lath?

Bernard
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Nope, only in sheetrock and underground. I don't imagine that would make a whole lot of difference unless the wire was shorted to the lathe. Even so, the signal strength change will get you close to the spot.
 
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Article 90.1

Senior Member
Mivey, would you tell us more about the conditions that you used the tracer for underground? Depth, open, short, trace the path of a cable, etc? I ask, because I'm in the market for a new tracer as well. Many moons ago I worked for a contractor who used an Amprobe Phasar and that thing worked awesome!

Thank you in advance.
 
mivey

mivey

Senior Member
Article 90.1 said:
Mivey, would you tell us more about the conditions that you used the tracer for underground? Depth, open, short, trace the path of a cable, etc? I ask, because I'm in the market for a new tracer as well. Many moons ago I worked for a contractor who used an Amprobe Phasar and that thing worked awesome!

Thank you in advance.
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For underground, I have used it to find opens and trace cable routes in LV and power cables up to several ft deep in dirt and under concrete. It will obviously go much deeper as I had no signal problem and could walk along the route with the sensor at waist level.

Putting the sensor on the ground actually requires dropping the sensitivity level or it pegs the sensor out on the high sensitivity range. Once you get close to the open, you do want to drop the sensitivity level and get right on the ground to zero in on the spot. It has been deadly accurate so far.
 
zappy

zappy

Senior Member
Location
CA.
The ideal seems great but...

The ideal seems great but...

Is there anything the Ideal does, that the Amprobe can't? There's about a $200 difference in price.
 
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Bernard1599

Senior Member
Location
Maryland
zappy said:
Is there anything the Ideal does, that the Amprobe can't? There's about a $200 difference in price.
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I have briefly looked over the following manuals for both tracers. On the surface I could not find many differences. Both manuals say/suggest that they can be used for tracing buried cables. The Amprobe comes with a separate signal booster for opens. The Ideal has a numeric display to show signal strength while the Amprobe has lights, similar to a stud finder.. Both transmit at the same kHz. Both seem like good tracers, that are suited to residential work. I sure would like to hear from someone that has experience with the Amprobe. Like you said it is less expensive.

Ideal:
http://www.tequipment.net/pdf/Ideal/61-958.pdf
Amprobe:
http://www.tequipment.net/pdf/Amprobe/AT-4005.pdf
 
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dutchblue

Member
I have a few pieces of Amprobe equipment. I have both the AT-2005 & the AT-4005 tracer sets. I find the receiver on the 4005 to be unreliable. The receiver has a "cheap" feel that makes you concerned you are going to break the thing if you look at it wrong.

I use a combination of the two sets as the 2005 model transmitter has "Not for Live Circuits" printed right on it. So I use the transmiter out of the 4005 and the receiver out of the 2005. The design of the head on the receiver in the 4005 is wide enough to give you problems in a panel even with the sensitivity turned way down.

I like to be able to go up to a panel with the cover on and turn off the right breaker each and every time. With the 4005 I was not able to do that.

I have a friend that works for Fluke. Fluke has taken over Amprobe as well as their service & warranty work and he tells me that there are constant complaints about the 4005 model.

For what it is worth I think Amprobe is a good company and they have always stood behind their equipment even beyond warranty. I own the DM-II pro and the DM-III multitest units and have been very pleased with their performance.

I have no experience with the Ideal tracer.
 
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Cow

Senior Member
Location
Eastern Oregon
Occupation
Electrician
dutchblue said:
I use a combination of the two sets as the 2005 model transmitter has "Not for Live Circuits" printed right on it. So I use the transmiter out of the 4005 and the receiver out of the 2005.
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Why aren't you using the S-2600 transmitter that comes with the 2005 for the energized circuits?:confused:
 
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dutchblue

Member
It's funny you mention that. Tonight at church I was telling my buddy from Fluke about this discussion and the fact that the kit I had originally got didn't have a transmitter for line voltage. He replied that I needed a S-2600 and he would get me one from the shop.

If you don't mind me asking... what's your tag line mean. I was down that way about a year ago doing some warranty work on a generator for Eaton. I was in Hillside.
 
C

Cow

Senior Member
Location
Eastern Oregon
Occupation
Electrician
dutchblue said:
If you don't mind me asking... what's your tag line mean. I was down that way about a year ago doing some warranty work on a generator for Eaton. I was in Hillside.
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My family has a dairy near Tillamook, OR. I think they're hoping I'll take over the operation one day....:)
 
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