"Mike Tomlinson" wrote in message
...
En el artículo ,
escribió:

Hire a CAT scanner and genny for the weekend, or find someone who's got
one

I was wondering if the following would work (I haven't tried it). It
would be cheaper than hiring equipment.

Disconnect the cable at the remote end and insulate.

Disconnect the house end (in the 2 boxes in the garage?), put a diode in
the live feed so the result is 25Hz rectified mains fed into the cable
to the outbuildings.

Use an AM radio at the point where the cable leaves the 2 boxes and tune
it until it finds the 25Hz hum, then follow the signal until it is lost,
that's where to dig.

If the signal appears all the way to the remote end, then the live wire
is ok. Repeat, but with the diode in the neutral wire instead.

This is assuming there isn't a short to neutral or earth (the OP hasn't
said if fuses/breakers are tripping.)

--
(\_/)
(='.'=) Windows 10: less of an OS, more of a drive-by mugging.
(")_(") -- "Esme" on el Reg

I used a similar method to find a break in a 'hearing loop' round a lecture
room. I constructed an oscillator giving out 8KHz at 250V rms, and connected
it to one end of the isolated loop. I could hear the whistle from it in a
pair of high-impedance ex-WD headphones, one terminal connected to a metal
plate waved about 6" from the wall and the other held in my hand. The break
was where the whistle stopped. In fact the break was about a 6 metre gap
where decorators had ripped out what they must have thought was some ancient
unused bell wire.

In your case with armoured cable, the metal armour encloses all cores, so
you won't be able to detect a break, owing to the capacitance between the
cores and the armour, but at least you might find where it runs.

Another thing to try is to measure the capacitance between each cable and
the armour. Do this at both ends. The readings might indicate how far along
the length is the break.
--
Deve W