ECN Forum Forums General Topics of the Trade General Discussion Area Circuit Tracers

Have run into a job with some dead receptacles on 1 or 2 circuits. I need to buy a circuit tracer to run them down. I have been looking at Greenlee and Amprobe, anybody have any comments or suggestions?

Personaly, I like the Amprobe, It took some getting used to but once you get it, worth every penny.Very versatile.

I used a Greenlee for years with no troubles. One tough problem forced my change, I borrowed an Amprobe and two wks later bought my own.

In general though the greenlee is a good value too.

I use a Greenlee 2011. It is easy to use and it comes with a video tape on how to use it.

What is the model number for the amprobe?

Both greenlee and amprobe make a few differnt models of various capablities.

Ironically I recently posted on another forum about this too.
http://forums.mikeholt.com/showthread.php?t=92749

We carry a Greenlee 2011 in each service truck.

They're simple and offer good value for the money. They've never failed me but they don't traced underground wires.

I've read really good things about the amprobe and would probably have one if I were taking the service calls myself. The amprobe is quite abit more money and I'd hate to have it 'get left' on a job.

I own an old Tasco version of the Greenlee that came out with just after they got hold the design. It can trace most live or dead concealed wiring and I can usually find buried boxes with it. It can also be used for phase identification or to locate a circuit breaker or fuse in a remote sub panel.
A company I used to work for had the newer Greenlee tracer kit. I think they messed it up when they changed to automatic gain instead of allowing the user to manually adjust it as needed like on the older version. Another company I worked for had the newer Amprobe kit. It seemed much more complex and difficult to use than the Greenlee and the first time I used it I was completely overwhelmed and unable to use it effectively. After a little practice though, I was able to use it reliably and I think that now it is probably the better and more versatile of the two tracers. Expensive, but it can be easily justified the first time you find that box the “wallboard installation technicians” buried under double 5/8” and plaster skin coat.

While we’re on the subject, has anyone tried the Ideal 61-958 circuit tracer kit?

I never really gave much thought to Ideal circuit tracers, but maybe I should. I’ve had their 61-058 AFCI/GFCI tester for several years and it has been very reliable. When I compared it side by side, it would trip test AFCI breakers when an Etcon tester often would not, even though there was nothing wrong with the breakers.
I’ve also owned the Ideal 61-534 digital breaker finder for about a year and it is dead on accurate every time. If their circuit tracers are anywhere as good as these units are, I think I would probably look into getting one of them the next time around.

TKX

PS: Why no tools forum?