diyguy10001
New Member
Dear group, I'm an appliance tech. I own a condo and have an open Line wire from a light switch to an outlet in a bedroom. My Klein ET450 has not been as great so far, looking for any tips about what to do to find the Junction box with my problem wire.
1. Tested continuity with a wire to wire connection using a DMM on the black wire (my Load of Interest) no continuity, red and white wires have continuity.
2. Live 120v no voltage on the Black, White, or ground wires from the Light Switch to the outlet, 120v measured in LoZ at the outlet (switch removed). I'm assuming an Open in a junction box, we have had about 4 smaller earthquakes lately.
3. I have a Klein ET450 circuit tracer works with Live or Dead 120v and the Klein VDV500 tone generator (only works in dead circuits). Both showed a potential issue in the drywall near a corner. Opening the wall resulted in a false reading, now I don't trust either one.
4. I tried the unit following the directions with ground using a water line pipe as ground and the in box ground with the same results. I also tried with and without 120V on the ET450 only.
5. I tried different sensitivity settings from 5-6-7(8 is max) currently showing me two potential areas on a different wall 1 above the light switch and another about 6 feet away above an outlet that is fed by a different circuit.
The condo has 3/4 drywall thickness and I am not trusting my meters since the above, wondering if I might be doing something you don't agree with. I let the meter have 5-10 sec to send the beam out before moving a few inches, and I have tried letting the meter go to 0 before getting a reading. a I can normally get some reading. 10-20 and a few areas I see changes in the 30-50% range but that's exactly what happened on hole #1.
On setting 5 with no power I get about 55 on the drywall as a solid reading on 6 I can get to 99(max) the manual said to use the middle scale where possible. On level 7 I was not placing the (hand wand) on the drywall at all and to get some readings on areas where I was seeing 0 or close to 0 (4-13). Thank you if you can help me out.
From the manual:
TRACING WIRES
1. Connect the Transmitter to the circuit to be traced and power on
the Transmitter.
NOTE: The direct ground and remote ground connection methods
can be used on both energized and de-energized circuits, but an
energized circuit produces a higher signal strength.
2. Power on the Receiver, and use the Increase Sensitivity button 4,
to set the Sensitivity Level to 8 (highest level).
3. Starting a few feet from the Transmitter, slowly move the Receiver
around to locate the direction of the strongest signal. The wires may
be located behind the wall, in the ceiling, or underneath the floor.
NOTE: If the signal strength displays "99", the signal is saturated.
Use the Decrease Sensitivity button 5 to reduce the sensitivity level.
NOTE: If the signal strength is too weak, use the Remote Ground
connection method (if not done already) to strengthen the signal.
4. Continue to follow the location of the highest signal strength until
the destination is reached.
NOTE: If the circuit is de-energized, the Transmitter can be
connected to the neutral and ground wires, which will create a
stronger closed loop signal, as neutral and ground are bonded
together at the panel.
1. Tested continuity with a wire to wire connection using a DMM on the black wire (my Load of Interest) no continuity, red and white wires have continuity.
2. Live 120v no voltage on the Black, White, or ground wires from the Light Switch to the outlet, 120v measured in LoZ at the outlet (switch removed). I'm assuming an Open in a junction box, we have had about 4 smaller earthquakes lately.
3. I have a Klein ET450 circuit tracer works with Live or Dead 120v and the Klein VDV500 tone generator (only works in dead circuits). Both showed a potential issue in the drywall near a corner. Opening the wall resulted in a false reading, now I don't trust either one.
4. I tried the unit following the directions with ground using a water line pipe as ground and the in box ground with the same results. I also tried with and without 120V on the ET450 only.
5. I tried different sensitivity settings from 5-6-7(8 is max) currently showing me two potential areas on a different wall 1 above the light switch and another about 6 feet away above an outlet that is fed by a different circuit.
The condo has 3/4 drywall thickness and I am not trusting my meters since the above, wondering if I might be doing something you don't agree with. I let the meter have 5-10 sec to send the beam out before moving a few inches, and I have tried letting the meter go to 0 before getting a reading. a I can normally get some reading. 10-20 and a few areas I see changes in the 30-50% range but that's exactly what happened on hole #1.
On setting 5 with no power I get about 55 on the drywall as a solid reading on 6 I can get to 99(max) the manual said to use the middle scale where possible. On level 7 I was not placing the (hand wand) on the drywall at all and to get some readings on areas where I was seeing 0 or close to 0 (4-13). Thank you if you can help me out.
From the manual:
TRACING WIRES
1. Connect the Transmitter to the circuit to be traced and power on
the Transmitter.
NOTE: The direct ground and remote ground connection methods
can be used on both energized and de-energized circuits, but an
energized circuit produces a higher signal strength.
2. Power on the Receiver, and use the Increase Sensitivity button 4,
to set the Sensitivity Level to 8 (highest level).
3. Starting a few feet from the Transmitter, slowly move the Receiver
around to locate the direction of the strongest signal. The wires may
be located behind the wall, in the ceiling, or underneath the floor.
NOTE: If the signal strength displays "99", the signal is saturated.
Use the Decrease Sensitivity button 5 to reduce the sensitivity level.
NOTE: If the signal strength is too weak, use the Remote Ground
connection method (if not done already) to strengthen the signal.
4. Continue to follow the location of the highest signal strength until
the destination is reached.
NOTE: If the circuit is de-energized, the Transmitter can be
connected to the neutral and ground wires, which will create a
stronger closed loop signal, as neutral and ground are bonded
together at the panel.
