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#204129 11/15/11 12:26 AM
Joined: Sep 2006
Posts: 155
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Any tricks or tips on making circuit map/list for old victorian type house, mostly K&T, some new kitchen circuits, but has three sub-panels that supply main areas of house, difficult to hunt and peck out circuits, anyone familiar with a Extech ct-40 tracer, it has 16 leads and common then test unit that will say which breaker lead at the recept.s? tried the walkie talkie route but too confusing with homeowner

Joined: Nov 2007
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I don’t have any experience with the Extech CT40, but for the price, I don’t think you could go wrong.
I’ve had my eye on one of the Tasco CMT42S circuit mappers for a few years now, but that kind of price for something I’ve never used before just seems to always stop me cold.

Tasco Circuit Mapper

Joined: Aug 2006
Posts: 356
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i use bunch of night lights and lot of back & forth from panel to the house.

i have seen the TASCO mapper in action. it is amazing.

Last edited by Niko; 11/16/11 03:44 AM. Reason: spelling

Be kind to your neighbor, he knows where you live

Joined: Jul 2004
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You can use a radio plugged into the tested outlet (use an edison to 1-15 adapter in lighting outlets) if the customer can stand the noise.


Greg Fretwell
Joined: Nov 2007
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Sometimes I will just shut off all but one circuit and do a walkthrough of the house with a receptacle tester and a notepad making notations as to what lights and receptacles are on that circuit. This is pretty time consuming for one person though, especially with a building like in the OP’s case. That’s one reason I would like to try out one of those circuit mappers next time this type of situation comes up.

I have one of those TestUm Lanscaper network cable mappers with 8-remotes and a bunch of different adapter cords, but I never actually thought about trying it on deenergized line voltage circuits before.
I know if I unplug lamps and small appliances from the receptacles and turn off all the wall switches for ceiling lights, I can use a toner/probe to trace a deenergized circuit through the building this way, so maybe I’ll try the network mapper around my house and see how it works out.

Joined: Jun 2004
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I've long owned a TASCO 42S...

I got the convention discount when it was first introduced.

If you have to rebuild panel schedules in a hurry it's the way to go.

It also permits you to figure things out while a business is on going.

A reduced circuit count device is also sold for residential situations.


Tesla
Joined: Apr 2002
Posts: 7,381
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If you can find one of those 'button' type bulb flashers, they work great in edison base light fixtures....

Unscrew bulb, insert button in socket base, re-install bulb.

Use a 100 watt bulb, and amp clamp for a close to 1 amp pulse...that's the circuit.

Ringing out a new house, use a 'temp' socket at the lighting locations.

Dig around and find an old adaptor socket that plugs into a receptacle.....proceed as above.

Also, used the radio. In comm jobs, I had a 120 volt claxon horn! Not reccomended for an occupied resi job though.


John
Joined: Feb 2002
Posts: 2,233
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I use to have a Paser tracer. ( I believe that was how it was spelled.) Then Amprobe bought them out. There were 2 types of tracers. 1 for live circuits and 1 for dead circuits. We used them all the time.

Joined: Nov 2007
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I’ve heard about the flasher trick for years, but have never actually tried it myself. I noticed that Cooper says their BP1008 flasher button has a 65-85 per minute flash rate. Is that something that would work with a digital amp clamp or is it better suited to an analog type clamp?
My thinking is that it might be too fast for a digital clamp meter display to stabilize, but might be easier to see the needle bounce on an analog meter, although maybe not.

Joined: Aug 2011
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well is that ^ the best convenient way to trace them? or to tool is the way to go


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