On Fri, 25 Feb 2011 19:51:05 -0600, The Daring Dufas
wrote:

On 2/25/2011 3:54 AM, mm wrote:
How do I find a broken wire?

I have a 100 foot orange extension cord that doesn't work.

Usually when I cut one in half with a hedge trimmer, it's fairly easy
to find the defect. And then I fix it.

Other times I use pins to check continuity near the plug or socket,
where cords usually break.

But this time the problem is somewhere in the middle! If I worked for
the electric compnay, or the cable company, or even probably the gas
company, I'd have some clever tool that find open circuits in the
middle of wires, even underground.

Is there something I have around the house or can buy cheaply that
will do this?

I found for only 45 dollars an Armada Tone Probe, that works with a
tone gneerator, but I guess I want some method that is cheaper!

A little pocket AM radio works well as a break finder. Tune it so it
picks up the hum from a live line then run it up and down the cord.
You may have to energize the wires separately to prevent interference.
The AM radio will even pick up the RF harmonics from a tone generator
like those used for tracing phone wires.

These are very good ideas. Thanks. I wish I had time tomorrow to
try all this stuff.

TDD