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Joined: Apr 2005
Posts: 197
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Pauluk Sorry, I only speak English. That was Greek to me!! How about I have the helper cycle a ceramic heater on and off while I amprobe the breakers?
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Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 7,520
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Sorry, I only speak English. Hehe.... Just blame it on my British accent! How about I have the helper cycle a ceramic heater on and off while I amprobe the breakers? Yep, that would be the Fred Flinstone version but it would certainly work. What Scott and I have in mind is nothing more than a circuit which does the same thing automatically so that you can do it without an assistant.
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Joined: Nov 2002
Posts: 174
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Here's an idea for verifying your circuit is dead from a distance. Like when you're working alone. Plug in a AC only radio into the circuit and turn it up loud enough to hear it from the panel. When you switch off the correct circuit, the radio goes silent. Keeps you from having to go back and forth. Be sure to verify with your meter off course.
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Joined: Oct 2005
Posts: 141
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I thought I came up with a great way to make a tracer. I was going to use a multitap ballast, figured Id mount a switch on the enclosure to choose which voltage I was working with. After about 3 seconds of my brainstorm I remembered how long the lamps would take to restrike.
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Joined: Jun 2005
Posts: 73
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Kale, They make a emergency light radio which turns on when the power goes off. That would not disturb the occupants while you are searching.
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Joined: Jun 2005
Posts: 821
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A long extension cord attached to a 'work light' is also a good idea.
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Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 1,429
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We plug in X10's and have the receiver at the panel. when the power is off, the receiver indicates which one, fast, cheap,and simple.
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Joined: May 2003
Posts: 2,876
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Scott35 you could also intergate it in to a regular live circuit tracer and have it give one tone while on, and another tone while off. And also give another tone completly when there is no power to the unit, so when you get it isolated, you know you got the right on because of the new tone when you shut off the breaker....
Fluke and Amprobe should be paying us for this type of info!
Mark Heller "Well - I oughta....." -Jackie Gleason
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Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 2,723 Likes: 1
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e57 (Mark);
Great ideas too!!!
Looks like my prototype is becoming complex!
Scott35
Scott " 35 " Thompson Just Say NO To Green Eggs And Ham!
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Joined: Sep 2003
Posts: 650
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1) Instead of using a 555 timer, which is based on a fairly unstable R-C time constant, use a digital counter. Count cycles on your supply line, and then all of your signal generators and detectors will have the exact same time base.
2) Consider using a nice machine detectable toggling pattern on the load, something that a digital ammeter with appropriate software could very easily detect. For example, there are standard binary digit sequences that are well known for use in spread spectrum communications systems. Different binary sequences can be easily distinguished. By turning your load on and off at for individual cycles of your AC supply, following one of these digit sequences, you would get a very well defined load pattern that was easily distinguished from other load patterns. Turning the load on and off at this rate could easily be detected and differentiated from other loads.
This toggling pattern could easily be implemented in using a cheap ($1 USD retail) microcontroller chip, driving the sort of SCR used in a light dimmer.
3) The above machine detectable toggling pattern could easily be combined with a human detectable one. Rather than flipping between 'on' and 'off', flip between switching full cycles on or switching only half cycles on, so that the human readable load changes by a factor of 2 and the machine readable load is always available.
-Jon
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Tom
Shinnston, WV USA
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Joined: January 2001
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