ECN Forum Forums General Topics of the Trade General Discussion Area A shocker of a story!!

I've been working in hospitals where I've had to use an ammeter to find hots and neutrals in panels and j boxes. It amazes me that people don't always lable circuits, especialy in a hospital. Hospitals are a tough place to work. Even when you do know the circuit and panel you can't always shut it off. I get agravated with management sometimes because they don't know the hazards we(all electritions) encounter. I would like to show them some of the gruesome safty videos I've seen. Maybe then they'll have some more respect for what we do.

paul

I use an ammeter an extension cord and a drill. Then I can stand in front of the panel with the drill, clamp the ammeter on and pull the trigger on the drill.

The circuit tracer is a little iffy - mine at least. When you just can't be wrong, the ammeter is better.

I have an Ideal tracer and have never found it to work reliably. Are ther others that work better??

You've earned my sincere respect, twh. That's the coolest trick I've heard yet. I have a terrible time with a circuit tracer occasionally, and with your method you can load the circuit while it's on, and vary the drill speed, watching it vary the ammeter reading.

Dave

Electric Ian, there are some very good tracers out there but the price tags can be over $400.00 and up.

Even using these are scary in hospitals and the like.

Roger

Edited to change $400,00 to $400.00



[This message has been edited by Roger (edited 11-12-2004).]

My Ideal tester had a bit of a "learning curve," but I got pretty good with it untill it broke.
The replacement Gardner-Bender (similar price) has been easier to use.

When I absolutely cannot risk tripping the wrong breaker, or electrical noise makes the tone units useless, I get one of those old-style 'buttons' that people used to put in light sockets to make the Christmas lights blink. I then use my clamp-on amp meter to look for the circuit whose draw is regularly fluctuating by half an amp (60W bulb).

I bought Amppobe model CT100 from this site and am quite happy with it.

When I absolutely cannot risk tripping the wrong breaker, or electrical noise makes the tone units useless, I get one of those old-style 'buttons' that people used to put in light sockets to make the Christmas lights blink. I then use my clamp-on amp meter to look for the circuit whose draw is regularly fluctuating by half an amp (60W bulb).
John Steinke


Bingo, John. I was surprised to get this far in the thread to see this idea. I do this as well. Accurate and cheap. If you can't find the "button" john mentioned, it's easy to make something similar on your own by using timers to make your own "flip flop" circuit to control a lamp.
Kev-


[This message has been edited by KevInMA (edited 11-14-2004).]

I have 4 1875 Watt hair dryers wired on a board which has a so cord and a plug at the end. I plug it in turn it on full blast and trips a 15A breaker in no time and a 20Amp breaker in less than a minute. And if it does not trip within a minute i know the breaker is higher than a 20.
It could also be used to test GFCI under normal load condition.

Edward

I maybe hold the wrong end of the wire, (sorry. but I guess the "heart" of a system like that is not in one computer, especially not in the middle of the city.
Normally databases like a bank's are in a remote server room which is not allowed to go in for anyone at all.
At least my company is small, but even our software guy cannot enter to the server room.
But maybe I misunderstood something, then excuse me.