Wire Tracer

Status
Not open for further replies.
C

coulter

Senior Member
We have some dead circuits is an older office trailer. The wiring is romex. Does anyone have any recomendations for a tracer? I'm thinking of maybe an RF source clipped on one end, and a receiver to find the other end - but I don't know. Can't say I have ever done any trouble shooting on romex, concealed wiring. Most of the stuff I need to trace, I can folllow the conduit.

carl
 
the tracer i like to use is the greenlee model. works fine for me never had a problem with it. it does take a little practice to get used too. ive used the ideal suretest before. rumor has it that the amprobe model is really good.

the greenlee model i have is the 2011 it was about 550 dollars. the ideal suretest is the same price for just the receiver and transmitter but they make a model with an inductive clip and battery pack for 1000 or so dollars. the amprobe model is around the same price.

rack a tiers has a product called the circuit siren. you plug in the device and it makes a loud noise and you just flip the circuit breakers until it shuts off

ive also used a radio in the past when i was alone and couldnt afford a decent tracer
 
coulter said:
We have some dead circuits is an older office trailer. The wiring is romex. Does anyone have any recomendations for a tracer? I'm thinking of maybe an RF source clipped on one end, and a receiver to find the other end - but I don't know. Can't say I have ever done any trouble shooting on romex, concealed wiring. Most of the stuff I need to trace, I can folllow the conduit.

carl
Click to expand...
u can use a tone generator, a device made by progressive is a good one to use. they go about $85-$90 in home depot in my neck of the woods.
 
cloudymacleod said:
u can use a tone generator, a device made by progressive is a good one to use. they go about $85-$90 in home depot in my neck of the woods.
Click to expand...
tone generators are great tools but they dont work on live circuits. they blow up a little bit with 120 volts :D i want to get that fluke intellaprobe or whatever its called. its a tone generator with a cat5 tester and it works great
 
The Amprobe 2005 I have seems to work pretty slick the few times I've used it. I bought it, then it seemed like all the "dead circuit" calls dried up.:rolleyes: :grin:

I think it runs around $950 new or you can buy it off Ebay lightly used for about half that, like I did.:)
 
Thanks for the suggestions. I'll look around in town tomorrow. I've got a feeling I'll be ordering something in.

carl
 
I just picked up my Ideal SureTest 954 yesterday morning and put it to work today labeling an unmarked panel. This is the first tracer I have ever held in my hands, and simply plugging it into receptacles and finding breakers worked great. I work solo, and this was a very large house full of kids, so no radio was going to work. :) The only problems I had today .. the 220 breakers and the light circuits. I'm thinking I might should have gotten the inductor coil to keep from having to unhook hard wired circuits. It also goes a bit funky if someone has tied neutrals together throughout several circuits. I'm sure there's a way to make this work better in that instance, I just have to read the manual and educate myself. For straight out of the box though, it worked like a charm.
 
I'm surprised the low voltage guys didn't speak up, I've seen them use sound-scream toners and another inexpense devices... phone toners and other stuff...

Granted its all in what one needs, but!

I spent some time using classic combinations of words and searched www.fluke.com, maybe its just that, I didn't find anything.
What devices ? ...
 
Last edited:
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top