I've got a Sperry CS-500A that is essentially useless. It is never able
to narrow its detection to a single breaker.

Would appreciate recommendations for a better tool, if one exists. The
budget is ~$100.

Thanks!

Frank

Frank Denman
Denman Systems
(please remove the x from my email address)

On Nov 4, 6:44?pm, Frank B Denman wrote:
I've got a Sperry CS-500A that is essentially useless. It is never able
to narrow its detection to a single breaker.

Would appreciate recommendations for a better tool, if one exists. The
budget is ~$100.

Thanks!

Frank

Frank Denman
Denman Systems
(please remove the x from my email address)

i just plug a radio into the outlet or lamp i want to kill, and turn
off breakers till i find the one I want,

for safety I intentially short any device before touching it just in
case

On Sun, 04 Nov 2007 15:44:12 -0800, Frank B Denman
wrote:

I've got a Sperry CS-500A that is essentially useless. It is never able
to narrow its detection to a single breaker.

Would appreciate recommendations for a better tool, if one exists. The
budget is ~$100.

Thanks!

Frank

Frank Denman
Denman Systems
(please remove the x from my email address)

I've used a few different ones. The GB Instruments Get-1200 I have
now is the best so far, but...

I would say I get the right breaker on the first try about 2/3 of the
time. Maybe 75%. If you have half inch breakers or duplex breakers,
it's almost impossible to pick the right one with certainty, because
they are both connected to the same leg within inches of the breaker.

It's a difficult technical problem. You are trying to identify very
small differences in signal strength from breakers that are all
connected together very close to where you are trying to measure. The
only thing that gives you any chance at all is that every other
breaker connects to the opposite side of the line.

HTH,

Paul F.

On Sun, 04 Nov 2007 16:55:52 -0800, "
wrote:

On Nov 4, 6:44?pm, Frank B Denman wrote:
I've got a Sperry CS-500A that is essentially useless. It is never able
to narrow its detection to a single breaker.

Would appreciate recommendations for a better tool, if one exists. The
budget is ~$100.

Thanks!

Frank

Frank Denman
Denman Systems
(please remove the x from my email address)

i just plug a radio into the outlet or lamp i want to kill, and turn
off breakers till i find the one I want,

for safety I intentially short any device before touching it just in
case

That is not a good idea for hospital work.


We use a Greenlee circuit tracer at work. The trick, I learned, was
to hold the sensor parallel to the buss.

To be really sure, after we locate the breaker, we have an apprentice
plug a drill in the circuit and cycle the trigger. You can see the
pulse with an amprobe.

"Frank B Denman" wrote in message
...
I've got a Sperry CS-500A that is essentially useless. It is never able
to narrow its detection to a single breaker.

Would appreciate recommendations for a better tool, if one exists. The
budget is ~$100.


My old reliable tracer was an analog Amprobe and a pigtail socket with a
flasher button and a 100 watt light bulb. Plug the pigtail socket into the
outlet you are trying to trace and clip the Amprobe over each wire in the
circuit breaker panel until you see the needle jumping up and down. This
works for the neutral conductor as well.

posted for all of us...

On Nov 4, 6:44?pm, Frank B Denman wrote:
I've got a Sperry CS-500A that is essentially useless. It is never able
to narrow its detection to a single breaker.

Would appreciate recommendations for a better tool, if one exists. The
budget is ~$100.

Thanks!

Frank

Frank Denman
Denman Systems
(please remove the x from my email address)

i just plug a radio into the outlet or lamp i want to kill, and turn
off breakers till i find the one I want,

for safety I intentially short any device before touching it just in
case


Still pulling this **** huh hollerbutt...
--
Tekkie GRIP = Get Rid of Incumbent Politicians

John Grabowski posted for all of us...


"Frank B Denman" wrote in message
...
I've got a Sperry CS-500A that is essentially useless. It is never able
to narrow its detection to a single breaker.

Would appreciate recommendations for a better tool, if one exists. The
budget is ~$100.


My old reliable tracer was an analog Amprobe and a pigtail socket with a
flasher button and a 100 watt light bulb. Plug the pigtail socket into the
outlet you are trying to trace and clip the Amprobe over each wire in the
circuit breaker panel until you see the needle jumping up and down. This
works for the neutral conductor as well.


Ya beat me to it! But then again I stole it from you...
--
Tekkie GRIP = Get Rid of Incumbent Politicians

If I'm willing to pull the cover off the breaker panel and probe
individual wires, am I likely to have greater success? The CS-500A that
I've got doesn't seem to get any luckier when it has access to
individual wires......

Frank

On Sun, 04 Nov 2007 20:27:40 -0500, Paul Franklin
wrote:

On Sun, 04 Nov 2007 15:44:12 -0800, Frank B Denman
wrote:

I've got a Sperry CS-500A that is essentially useless. It is never able
to narrow its detection to a single breaker.

Would appreciate recommendations for a better tool, if one exists. The
budget is ~$100.

Thanks!

Frank

Frank Denman
Denman Systems
(please remove the x from my email address)

I've used a few different ones. The GB Instruments Get-1200 I have
now is the best so far, but...

I would say I get the right breaker on the first try about 2/3 of the
time. Maybe 75%. If you have half inch breakers or duplex breakers,
it's almost impossible to pick the right one with certainty, because
they are both connected to the same leg within inches of the breaker.

It's a difficult technical problem. You are trying to identify very
small differences in signal strength from breakers that are all
connected together very close to where you are trying to measure. The
only thing that gives you any chance at all is that every other
breaker connects to the opposite side of the line.

HTH,

Paul F.



Frank Denman
Denman Systems
(please remove the x from my email address)

This sounds promising. What specs should I look for on the Amprobe? Or
can I likely get probe that runs off my Fluke 77?

Frank

On Sun, 4 Nov 2007 21:30:35 -0500, "John Grabowski"
wrote:


"Frank B Denman" wrote in message
.. .
I've got a Sperry CS-500A that is essentially useless. It is never able
to narrow its detection to a single breaker.

Would appreciate recommendations for a better tool, if one exists. The
budget is ~$100.


My old reliable tracer was an analog Amprobe and a pigtail socket with a
flasher button and a 100 watt light bulb. Plug the pigtail socket into the
outlet you are trying to trace and clip the Amprobe over each wire in the
circuit breaker panel until you see the needle jumping up and down. This
works for the neutral conductor as well.
Frank Denman
Denman Systems
(please remove the x from my email address)

On Mon, 05 Nov 2007 17:35:25 -0800, Frank B Denman
wrote:

If I'm willing to pull the cover off the breaker panel and probe
individual wires, am I likely to have greater success? The CS-500A that
I've got doesn't seem to get any luckier when it has access to
individual wires......

Frank

snip

It helps a little..sometimes. If you've got a nice clean panel where
the wires aren't all a rat's nest it can help quite a bit. But those
are usually the panels that are well labeled to start with....

Paul F.

On Mon, 05 Nov 2007 17:37:06 -0800, Frank B Denman
wrote:

This sounds promising. What specs should I look for on the Amprobe? Or
can I likely get probe that runs off my Fluke 77?

Frank

On Sun, 4 Nov 2007 21:30:35 -0500, "John Grabowski"
wrote:


"Frank B Denman" wrote in message
. ..
I've got a Sperry CS-500A that is essentially useless. It is never able
to narrow its detection to a single breaker.

Would appreciate recommendations for a better tool, if one exists. The
budget is ~$100.


My old reliable tracer was an analog Amprobe and a pigtail socket with a
flasher button and a 100 watt light bulb. Plug the pigtail socket into the
outlet you are trying to trace and clip the Amprobe over each wire in the
circuit breaker panel until you see the needle jumping up and down. This
works for the neutral conductor as well.
Frank Denman
Denman Systems
(please remove the x from my email address)

Sure, you can get a clamp on current probe for your 77.

Frank B Denman wrote:
This sounds promising. What specs should I look for on the Amprobe?
Or can I likely get probe that runs off my Fluke 77?


Here's a cheap one: $13.00

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=96308

Frank B Denman writes:
I've got a Sperry CS-500A that is essentially useless. It is never able
to narrow its detection to a single breaker.

I've got one purchased from Home Depot for about half that amount; can't
remember the brand at the moment. It seems to be able to narrow the
breaker down to one of 2 or 3 on its own, particularly if you rotate the
pickup head to its most sensitive position (either parallel or
perpendicular to the breaker, again can't remember which).

Once you've narrowed it down that far, you just turn off one breaker and
see if the audio signal goes away entirely. If so, you've found the
correct breaker. (The tone generator is powered by the outlet it is
plugged into, and produces a pulsing audio note - it's very obvious when
it goes away even in the presence of other noise).

If the tone continues, try the next closest breaker till you find the
right one. This does have the disadvantage of occasionally turning off
the wrong circuit for a few seconds, but it's a lot better than going
through the whole panel trying each breaker. And it doesn't require an
assistant to tell you when the circuit goes off.

Dave

On Tue, 6 Nov 2007 20:39:10 +0000 (UTC), (Dave
Martindale) wrote:

Frank B Denman writes:
I've got a Sperry CS-500A that is essentially useless. It is never able
to narrow its detection to a single breaker.

I've got one purchased from Home Depot for about half that amount; can't
remember the brand at the moment. It seems to be able to narrow the
breaker down to one of 2 or 3 on its own, particularly if you rotate the
pickup head to its most sensitive position (either parallel or
perpendicular to the breaker, again can't remember which).

That is the trick. Learn to use it like it is supposed to be used.

You have to align it to the magnetic field the way it was designed to
line up.