.......something that can make random bleeping noises, accompanied by a really uninformative visual display, as you waft it around on a surface you need to drill into? My Stanley S200 stud and cable detector seems ideally suited to the job, but I wanted to check whether I might be missing out on something even more useless.

Cheers.

Terry.

wrote:

can anyone recommend ... something that can make random bleeping
noises, accompanied by a really uninformative visual display, as you
waft it around on a surface you need to drill into?

My Bosch GMS120 seems capable of giving false positives and false
negatives when scanning areas that I know do/don't have buried wiring.

On 29/12/14 23:21, wrote:
......something that can make random bleeping noises, accompanied by
a really uninformative visual display, as you waft it around on a
surface you need to drill into? My Stanley S200 stud and cable
detector seems ideally suited to the job, but I wanted to check
whether I might be missing out on something even more useless.

Cheers.

Terry.


My conclusion is I haven't found a good one yet.

Studs - test by tapping and a magnet to locate screws/nails.

Pipes - these do have some success with a good pipe detector.

Wires under plasterboard - nothing works, the whole PB sheet just looks
"live" - I suspect being slightly damp and gypsum what it is, it's
probably a bit conductive and distributes the electric field from a
cable over a wide area. Solid plaster on brick is easier - the brickwork
"earths" the plaster generally so the field is localised, but a sheet of
PB on wooden studwork is like a big plate capacitor.

My theory anyway.

That's before you get into vapour barrier PB with (possibly) metallised
plastic coverings.

On 30/12/2014 08:32, Tim Watts wrote:
On 29/12/14 23:21, wrote:
......something that can make random bleeping noises, accompanied by
a really uninformative visual display, as you waft it around on a
surface you need to drill into? My Stanley S200 stud and cable
detector seems ideally suited to the job, but I wanted to check
whether I might be missing out on something even more useless.

Cheers.

Terry.



My cheap/basic metal/live wire Aldi device:

My conclusion is I haven't found a good one yet.

Studs - test by tapping and a magnet to locate screws/nails.


Gives a few false positives on lath/plaster (lots of nails), no chance
on plasterboard.

Pipes - these do have some success with a good pipe detector.


Pretty good.

Wires under plasterboard - nothing works, the whole PB sheet just looks
"live" - I suspect being slightly damp and gypsum what it is, it's
probably a bit conductive and distributes the electric field from a
cable over a wide area. Solid plaster on brick is easier - the brickwork
"earths" the plaster generally so the field is localised, but a sheet of
PB on wooden studwork is like a big plate capacitor.

My theory anyway.

That's before you get into vapour barrier PB with (possibly) metallised
plastic coverings.

Finds mains wires quite well, I always thought.

--
Cheers, Rob