Circuit Tracer

I've seen the BT chaps using a pice of test equipment that injects a signal down a wire which they can then track as an acoustic beep to find breaks etc. I think also they can track the signal without the need to connect directly to the wire.

Google searches make me think this equipement might be know as a circuit trace. I've also come across things called fuse finders, which I don't think are the same thing.

I'd appreciate a bit of clarification and to know if there are any affordable diy equivalents on the market.

Many thanks

Martin

Reply to
rubenstein.martin
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Usually called a Tone and Trace Kit. They are mainly used for identifying a single pair in a bundle of cables where the two points are some considerable distance away from each other (up to a mile or so). They are not widely used in electrical wiring as the need to trace a single cable isn't common and it can be done just as easily using a multimeter if the ends are not 100's of yards apart.

Fuse finders are much the same but optimised for mains cabling and used on live circuits. You inject a tone into a wire by plugging the transmitter into a socket and it allows you to detect where in a distribution board it is going. More use on radial circuits and industrial installations with lots of wires going to different places. Quite limited use in domestic installations.

Maplin do a telephone circuit one for £30, item code N74CC. You could not use this on live mains circuits.

Neither type will tell you if a cable has one conductor of a pair damaged. When used to trace breaks the tone detector must be held close to the cable as you move along it so not much use for mains wiring in a wall or under floorboards. To determine where breaks in wires are you need a Time Domain Reflectometer, the cheapest of these I've seen is about £250

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Reply to
Peter Parry

In article , snipped-for-privacy@googlemail.com scribeth thus

Look up tone and trace on Maplins website they do one of these I bought on from there a while ago there is a tone generator and a stick like thing with a pointed probe on which traces the distinctive two tone signal...

their website is U/S at the moment otherwise I'd give U the URL...

Reply to
tony sayer

Check out Ebay. I bought one for not a lot - IIRC under 30 quid. No brand name but works well. Look for Cable Tracker. Consists of a sender and receiver. Can be used just to check continuity or will send an RF signal down the cable which can be picked up using the tracer. Works well through floorboards, etc.

It comes with a telephone line checker - but by the plug supplied is designed really for US ones. I've not investigated this side of it.

Reply to
Dave Plowman (News)

NT

Reply to
meow2222

Its just an oscillator with output bugger - typo! buffer I mean, plus capacitor to isolate mains and diodes. The detector can be a CMOS linear amp with a detector plate. Simple stuff if you can build basic electronics.

NT

Reply to
meow2222

Sincere thanks to everyone for such helpful and kind replies. I really appreciate your taking the time to pass on your knowledge.

Martin

Reply to
rubenstein.martin

It can be handy to identify one cable out of several if, say, you wish to break into it and can't trace it mechanically. As I did recently when adding a light - there were five likely candidates, all 1.5mm TW&E running along under the floor.

Reply to
Dave Plowman (News)

An MK live wire detector can also be used for cable identification, keep pulling the fuses till the light goes out...

Reply to
James Salisbury

Because they were bunched at one point this didn't actually give an accurate indication. But removing the line from the appropriate MCB and clipping on the transmitter wire gave instant and definite identification. But I don't have an MK device so was using another make.

Reply to
Dave Plowman (News)

I got a PTS-100/200 for £10 from a computer fair over 10 years ago. It looked brand new, but both batteries were dead. Extremely useful when I was doing some telephone and later cat 5e cabling. I have occationally used it with mains wiring too. Must admit, I haven't seen it that cheap since. That exact model still exists; seems to be around £50 now (was typically £80 when I bought it). Comes with a standard BT phone plug for checking polarity, although the only things I ever found which cared were the early callerID devices (first CD50's and first Hayes modems which supported BT callerID). I still make a point of getting the polarity right though.

Reply to
Andrew Gabriel

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