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| Subject - Tracing Hidden Wires? | |
| tommcrorie | Does anyone know of a good way or equipment for tracing hidden electrical wires? The problem is that several recepticals in a string stopped working and the breaker is not blown. We need to be able to determine where the wires in the wall go next to find the open connection. |
| greenelectric | Have you done an individual receptacle connection inspection? You may be able to find your answer that way, if so than pigtail every connection in your run, this will prevent any future "string" of receptacle going out because of one loose conection in any receptacle box. You don't need any tracing equipment for this, do your trouble shooting first. |
| tommcrorie | I already tried this, but with the wiring inside the walls, I can't be sure I have all the recepticals in the string, that's why I need to trace the wires so that I know that I have covered the entire string from the breaker.quote: |
| Scott Vickrey | quote: It should be obvious which receptacles are on the circuit they will be the ones not hot. Right? Nothing usually goes wrong with the wire in the walls the weak link is almost always a connection. Connections are always in boxes and accessible. Well they should be anyway.  |
| lucky1122 | hey, do all the recepticals not work with the breaker on? If thats the case its possible you may have an open neutral . I assume you tested from the hot conductor to ground assuming there is a ground( and you are not talking about an old system that has no equipment grounding conductor). If you checked for voltage from the hot conductor to ground at the beginning of the run and you get nothing the problem must be an open between the panel and wherever you are checking from . If there is no ground use a field tester a (non contact tester). That may help you to see what you cant with a meter. if your getting a voltage indication but the recepticals dont work the neutral is probably open . you have to find where its open. usually when the neutral is open it reads like a hot wire. just a shot in the dark here. |
| lctrc789 | I would say they are right here, to open all conductors hot and neutral and make sure all your connections are good and proper. It could be in a wall switch. j box or light box that they fed from point A to Point B as well.... Check your voltage hot to neutral and see what you have if you have 120 OK if you don't check from hot to ground if you do you lost neutral if you do not you lost a hot check all your connections first all boxes and openings that may have to do with this circuit... If you have acces to an inductance type checker the kind that the phone guys use, they work well in drywall to trace wires if you turn them up all the way for sensitivity in many cases... good luck and keep us posted on what you find. |
| NonLinearLoad | All the posts are good troubleshooting tips. The biggest thing is to blow it all apart and verify each section of wiring from point to point is in tact, wire continuity from point to the next point and it gives you a reading. A fast backwards method, not always the best approach. Is at the last good readings for hot,neutral, and ground, undo all splices and verify the wires heading to the panel. Then check downstream for any readings on the areas that were the problem, should all be without readings. Now get an extension cord and plug in the wires that are heading downstream, get ready for a short to happen in your hands, who knows what can happen. Now you can check at each location for any readings. You can also go to the end of the line in the problem area and backfeed the wiring. This is definitely not the approved method of troubleshooting in any case! The tried and true tracing opening to opening method is always the safest! Yet it can produce results in a usually quick fashion if all else has pulled your hair out. I do a lot of remodeling, newer homes, older homes, business'.If you have seen a lot of methods and ages of wiring and wiring styles you can get a feel of what might have been done. Hidden j-boxes, and flying splices can be a favorite of the handyman and DIY! Good Luck! |