circuit breaker finder

[Richard Grano]

I am in the process of rewiring my shop and am looking for a good circuit breaker finder.

I bought one by Sperry and it finds the circuit but I have to find the exact circuit breaker since it beeps on 2-3 breakers.

[Alan Gan]

Never used something like that, I have used wire tracers that work fine on dead circuits. May just have a friend and talky-walkies, plug a lamp into an outlet and you start shutting down the breakers until you get to that one and mark it, do for each breaker.

[Jerome Stanek]

I use a shunt to trip the breaker

[Duane Meadows]

I use a shunt to trip the breaker

I knew a guy that did that... his "shunt" was a screwdriver.

[Jim Andrew]

I just plug my work light into the plug I need to find the breaker to. Turn the light on and point it at the breaker box. Then turn off breakers till the light goes out. Then I do the work.

[Harry Hagan]

When I'm alone, I plug in a radio and turn it up loud enough to hear it at the breaker box.

[Steve Baumgartner]

I also have one of the inexpensive circuit tracers and find that it can be tricky to use. The signal picks up on adjacent items, which sometimes makes it difficult to be sure which is the real live one. I have found that it helps to open the panel and separate the wires leading to adjacent breakers as much as possible, though manipulating wires inside the open panel isn't especially safe.

An assistant with a cellphone is the best solution, with a loud radio as Harry suggests a good alternative.

[Rick Moyer]

I just plug my work light into the plug I need to find the breaker to. Turn the light on and point it at the breaker box. Then turn off breakers till the light goes out. Then I do the work.


When I'm alone, I plug in a radio and turn it up loud enough to hear it at the breaker box.


May just have a friend and talky-walkies, plug a lamp into an outlet and you start shutting down the breakers until you get to that one and mark it, do for each breaker.

All that's fine when you're checking an outlet, but what about a switch?

[Matt Meiser]

All that's fine when you're checking an outlet, but what about a switch?

Surely the switch controls something?

[Steve Baumgartner]

Surely the switch controls something?

Yeah. Just turn on the switch and proceed as suggested. If the switch is dead, of course, none of the above will tell you what circuit it is on!

[Rick Moyer]

I was just making the point that it's not always as simple as plugging something into an outlet. For instance, we moved into our current house almost six years ago and there are a couple of switches that I still haven't traced to a breaker OR an end source. I suspect one was sent to an outdoor light that is no longer there, one possibly to a roof vent fan that used to be in place but was removed when a new roof was installed, etc.

[David L Morse]

...it beeps on 2-3 breakers.

I've used several types of those tracers and on all of them the transmitter (the little box that plugs into the receptacle) was line powered, not battery powered. If your transmitter does NOT have a battery then just shut off the indicated breakers one at a time. When you get to the one that powers the receptacle with the transmitter it will no longer transmit and the beeping will stop.

[Tom M King]

I have a Klein one, and even it is not 100% reliable all the time. I just wire one circuit at the time, mark on the wire cover at the box what circuit it is. Set the box cover near the box when you wire the breakers, and mark each position in the cover as you hook up each wire. It really doesn't take any more time, and certainly less than having to trace every circuit.

If we are tracing old ones, we use walky talkies.

[Steve Milito]

All that's fine when you're checking an outlet, but what about a switch?
You can always pull the switch out of the box and measure the voltage across the leads while someone else toggles the breakers. Alternatively, you can use alligator clips to on the lugs to power a device and proceed as mentioned.

[Jim Andrew]

I would hook a light onto the switch so you can turn on the light, then see what breaker turns it off.

[Ole Anderson]

Man up! Don't need to trip no stinkin breaker to work on a switch! That is why they invented life insurance!

[Curt Harms]

Man up! Don't need to trip no stinkin breaker to work on a switch! That is why they invented life insurance!

A REAL man! Can I be named as your beneficiary?:D :D

[Curt Harms]

I am in the process of rewiring my shop and am looking for a good circuit breaker finder.

I bought one by Sperry and it finds the circuit but I have to find the exact circuit breaker since it beeps on 2-3 breakers.

I have a Sperry as well. Playing with the red 'sensitivity' wheel helps but yeah, they're not perfect.

[Steve Baumgartner]

I've used several types of those tracers and on all of them the transmitter (the little box that plugs into the receptacle) was line powered, not battery powered. If your transmitter does NOT have a battery then just shut off the indicated breakers one at a time. When you get to the one that powers the receptacle with the transmitter it will no longer transmit and the beeping will stop.

I just had a tremendous "Doh!" moment. Why didn't I ever think of that? ...assuming, of course, that you can turn off the other circuits without causing problems.

[Curt Harms]

Originally Posted by David L Morse http://www.sawmillcreek.org/images/buttons/viewpost-right.png (http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?p=2327561#post2327561) I've used several types of those tracers and on all of them the transmitter (the little box that plugs into the receptacle) was line powered, not battery powered. If your transmitter does NOT have a battery then just shut off the indicated breakers one at a time. When you get to the one that powers the receptacle with the transmitter it will no longer transmit and the beeping will stop.



I just had a tremendous "Doh!" moment. Why didn't I ever think of that? ...assuming, of course, that you can turn off the other circuits without causing problems.

+1 on the "Doh"!:o. If the normal mode narrows it down to 2 breakers, you only need to flip those two.

[Charles Lent]

With the Sperry and even others you can sometimes eliminate the false trips by holding the receiver at different angles while rechecking the breakers that indicated. Usually you can check them several times and weed out the false indications so only one is left. It's not bad and doesn't take long because you only need to do this on maybe 3 breakers tops.
I like the Ideal brand the best, but even it will false indicate sometimes.

Charley

[Malcolm Schweizer]

299318Well, look on the bright side- it could be worse. You could have to trace these. (not my photo)

[paul cottingham]

299318Well, look on the bright side- it could be worse. You could have to trace these. (not my photo)

Holy cow! That will haunt my dreams!