How do I find far end of el wire in attic

(clip) Does HF have it? ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Yes. I have one somewhere that I got at HF. You clip it to the circuit, and it sends pulses down the line which you can follow with a hand-held detector.

Well, not for $10. There are devices that send a 15 khz signal over the wire. Has a transmitting part, and a receiving probe, to tell where the wire is. Cost is about $300.

Since this group has it's trolls, I'm not willing to go out to the shop to get the name or brand. If you are sreious about the discussion, please continue. I've been there, with a lot more difficult issues. Dave

snipped-for-privacy@noplace.org fired this volley in news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com:

If you can borrow a standard telco-style toner set, it's a piece of cake.

Kill the circuit, hook up the transmitter at the breaker box, then set the detector on "high" and start sweeping the area, low as you can get to the suspected location. It'll find a tone up to two feet away with a little careful listening, and bang your ears off when you get close.

I've even used them to find underground cable breaks... just listened for a raucous leakage hiss against the normal 60Hz AC hum. (on a live circuit).

Of course, if you're doing that, you must know ahead of time where the cable is buried, because it has no effective "finding power" for a buried line. For that, you need the real McCoy the power guys use.

LLoyd

On Wed, 12 Dec 2007 20:11:47 -0800, with neither quill nor qualm, snipped-for-privacy@noplace.org quickly quoth:

I have one which is too sensitive, a GE Circuit Breaker Locator. You plug it into the outlet and should be able to trace it back to the breaker. To use it in this case, I'd disconnect the breaker in question, hook the transmitter up to that end, and then find it downstream.

eBay, $18 delivered, bought in 2004.

-- Bite off more than you can chew, then chew it. Plan more than you can do, then do it. -- Anonymous

This is my first reply on this group...hope it gets there. You can use one of those cheap testers that you use on strings of Christmas lights. They will detect current in a wire but only if you are within a few inches of it and it must be hot. I got mine at KMart for a couple of bucks. If I understand you, you don't know where this circut ends, hopefully it is not "dangling". If it has not been hot lately, I would hesitate to turn it on.

Good luck Sam

Hi Thanks All. So there is such a low tech. el chepo. Will try HD and Kmart - I'm willing to pay extra for the name.

Called a fox and hound. Generally best used on a dead wire.

Only problem is those cheapies require the line to be powered and the "injector" plugged into the end of the line.. It is line powered. The receiver is battery powered. They work - sorta - just like most chinese CRAP.

And the light tester ONLY works with a load on the line.

A tone gererator is what you are looking for, such as this one.

I am sure there are some a little less expensive in the $20 range look at google.

Roger

Thanks I needed that years ago and did not know it.

O.K. What *I* would use is a pair of tools used by telephone workers in offices and homes. The first is a lump with two clips which can fasten to the wires, and the lump generates a rather noisy tone. The second is a tracer with a speaker and ears to connect to a lineman's handset. for more convenient listening. When you get the ponted tip fairly close to the wire carrying the signal, you can hear it. If you connect one side of the lump to ground and the other to one of the wires, you can sense it from a somewhat greater distance. Each object is typically powered by a 9V transistor radio battery.

*Obviously* -- disconnect the wires from the breaker before clipping to them. :-)

I got mine at hamfests, and use them from time to time. You can go to an electronics parts store which carries telephone repair tools, and pay a lot more than I did for them -- which might make sense if you need them quickly, and have potential other uses for them.

Hmm ... if you have an old portable AM radio, you might try another trick -- assuming that you have a DC relay somewhere around which you could play with. Take the relay, a battery of appropriate voltage, and wire it so the normally-closed contacts are in series with the coil, thus turning it into a buzzer. Connect a wire from the junction of the contacts and the coil to the wires (again, after disconnecting it from the breaker), and go around with the radio looking for where the noise is strongest. For greatest sensitivity, tune between stations. To decrease the sensitivity a bit, tune to a distant station, to decrease it a lot, tune to a strong local station.

Understood.

Good Luck, DoN.

So having the wire live with power is not enough? I have no way of putting a load on it.

A voltage sensor needs no load. A current sensor does. The bulb checker is a current sensor (at least the ones I've seen)