ECN Forum Forums General Topics of the Trade General Discussion Area Which breaker finder to get?

I'm looking to get a circuit breaker tracer to find the breakers that control
receptacles mostly in commercial buildings with either conduit or armoured
cable installations. I have a cheap sperry one that is nearly useless and want to
replace it with a good one.
I notice amprobe has one that they claim you can actually trace the
wire path inside the wall. Anyone used this tool? Does it work in commercial
buildings with conduit? What tool would you recommend?

The sperry tracer is such a pain to use i can find breakers in multiple side by side panels.It is not very selective at all

I have an EDN and my impression is the same as Doug's on his Sperry. It gets you close but seldom exactly right unless you are willing to play with the adjusting pot.
The one I have actually seems to be looking at the overload coil in the breaker so it is useless on wires.

I remain skeptical of the ones that claim to find wires in walls. They are expensive but if they work I will buy one. If they are in reliable then they could cause more trouble than they are worth. You need to be right when you open up a wall.

Ideal's SureTest tracer kit is supposed to have a breaker finding mode, along with everything else you might need.

How well it all works I can't say yet, but I have been thinking about getting one.

I have the Sperry and with good batteries it works almost OK. In a non critical environment (don't trip the wrong circuit or else) you can at least use it to kill your circuit with only one walk to the panel. If the first breaker it says is it isn't it, keep trying until the signal dies. Then you know you have the right one.

I use and recommend the TASCO Circuit Mapper System CMT42S.

http://www.tasco-usa.com/CMT24S.htm

It works as advertised.

It permits you to hook up all #14, #12, #10 conductors via inductive pick-ups AT THE SAME TIME.

You then can digitally wand the receptacles without disconnecting the power.

It's only weakness is that doing all of that wipes out the 9VDC battery rather quickly, so you must have fresh spares.

It's a huge time saver and most impressive to my patrons.

I have been looking at this unit for awhile now.
http://www.tasco-usa.com/inspectorIII.htm

Doug...

I saw that demonstrated at the NECA convention in San Francisco.

It's pretty slick.

BTW, TASCO is the actual manufacturer of many of Greenlee's test tools.

2007, 2008, 2011 etc.

The TASCO CMT42S is ideal for tenant improvement/ remodels.

We've got a Greenlee 2011 that works very well.

Even on large distribution systems where you'll have several "levels" of distribution panels feeding each other.

But you've got to watch the video that comes with it a few times and get some practice. Holding the unit the right way, using high and low sensitivity correctly, and especially how to handle grounding at each end of the circuit make a big difference. Once you know what you're doing, it's pretty easy to narrow down the search and focus in on the right panel and then the right breaker.

The first few times I used it, I discounted it as junk. Then one day I really needed it and watched the video. It worked once I knew what I was doing. I use it all the time now.

I don't know that it's the best since it's the only one I've used but I'm satisfied with it.

Thanks Telsa i was wondering about that company as i hadnt heard of them before.