Circuit Tracers

J

jmellc

Senior Member
Location
Durham, NC
Occupation
Facility Maintenance Tech. Licensed Electrician
I know tracers have been discussed before but it's been a long time. I think a lot of guys use to like Ideal kits. I might have a chance of boss buying one soon. Really need something to cover 120, 208, 277 and 480. Live for sure, dead would be a plus.

What are any of you using and liking these days?

Thx
 
Im not sure about those voltages, but I own the klein ET450? and it's landed me right on the spot for underground conduit while circuit was live. Doesn't work for squat in panelboards (too many false readings). The one I've used in the past was the greenlee with the analog readout. I like it because you can really adjust the sensitivity with the knobs and you can use a wand they sell with it which makes it easier on the back. Ive heard great things about the ideal but never have used. But for cost the klein450 works great for energized circuits. Non-energized its so-so
 
2Broke2Sleep said:
Im not sure about those voltages, but I own the klein ET450? and it's landed me right on the spot for underground conduit while circuit was live. Doesn't work for squat in panelboards (too many false readings). The one I've used in the past was the greenlee with the analog readout. I like it because you can really adjust the sensitivity with the knobs and you can use a wand they sell with it which makes it easier on the back. Ive heard great things about the ideal but never have used. But for cost the klein450 works great for energized circuits. Non-energized its so-so
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Use the ground instead of neutral path on tracing back to breakers. Helps reduce false readings.
 
That’s one of the drawbacks of tracers that do live and dead tracing. They are not as accurate as a live only tracer. Zircon makes a cheap tracer that works pretty decent. The trick to those, is do not test the receiver on the transmitter before you start tracing. It looks for the strongest signal, and you will never find it if you do that. It takes two passes to get the correct breaker, but it usually will never be off by more than one breaker.
 

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I bought the Klein recently. Only used it once and it found what I needed it to. There is a learning curve to it. So not enough experience with it yet.
 
ActionDave said:
That is unfortunate news. The Amprobe Pasar (spelling?) was the best tracer made.
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That’s the one I have, the receiver antenna tends to break loose and quite working after 5-10 years, starting to get hard to find replacement parts. The first one I bought was back in the mid 80’s. Did a lot of computer room work, and for some reason they get po’ed if you turn off the wrong breaker!
 
hillbilly1 said:
That’s one of the drawbacks of tracers that do live and dead tracing. They are not as accurate as a live only tracer. Zircon makes a cheap tracer that works pretty decent. The trick to those, is do not test the receiver on the transmitter before you start tracing. It looks for the strongest signal, and you will never find it if you do that. It takes two passes to get the correct breaker, but it usually will never be off by more than one breaker.
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Better a good live tracer than a mediocre live/dead. A former boss had a Greenlee that worked well for him but I never had much luck with it. He had better than average hearing & could read the beeps very well. I hear ok but it on some tones.
 
I have the Zircon breaker tracer, I have never had a problem with it in a dozen or more years.

I also have the Ideal kit, 959 I believe?, and it’s great for all kinds of live and dead wire tracing. But, I must say it’s not usually as easy or accurate in the panel on breakers as the Zircon. It’s amazing for tracing out wiring though.
 
2Broke2Sleep said:
I use the remote ground provided but still get a strong signal on wrong breaker.... will try it again tomorrow before I write it of 100%
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All tracers do this, since signal travels thru several breakers along the bus, and some breakers resonate better than others.

Isolating the wires works better than the breakers.
 
ramsy said:
All tracers do this, since signal travels thru several breakers along the bus, and some breakers resonate better than others.

Isolating the wires works better than the breakers.
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Those that draw a current pulse do not, the dead/live tracers do not work on that principle, so they are much more susceptible to false readings.
 
In my apprenticeship, my journeyman shorted out a plug that he carried ... Who needs those electronic gadget's he would say !

Also, he liked using a hammer when he was installing new outlets ... He would say, that's why we have plasters !
 
mtnelect said:
In my apprenticeship, my journeyman shorted out a plug that he carried ... Who needs those electronic gadget's he would say !

Also, he liked using a hammer when he was installing new outlets ... He would say, that's why we have plasters !
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I’ve shorted my share of circuits with a wire but can’t get caught doing it now. We’re in a different world today. 🤣🤡
 
I've had better luck taking panel covers off and holding tracer to conductors vs trying to trace breakers with the panel cover on.
 
ramsy said:
I presume those require an amp clamp, which wont fit around breakers ?
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No, they draw a pulse off the live circuit, and the hand held receiver picks up that pulse, kinda like a radio wave. The one drawback, is some computers have close to the same frequency, which can bury the pulse and causes a lot of noise, but not at the same pulse rate.
 
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