My jerk boss sent me out to this job in a very large facility with around 30 panels and probably over 1000 breakers. I'd say around 4 acres with panels everywhere. 24/7 facility. I have to fix a couple outlets and a couple 277v lights. I have no idea which panel or breaker they come from. Nothing is labeled at all. I tried my 61-958 ideal tracer and it did not work. My boss said to just short it out. Any other ideas?
Finding the Breaker
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I have put a certain amp load on something and find it that way if possible. Short it out and what you still have to LOTO the circuit so it's safe to work on.
I make all the electrons line up for their Flu shots
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Don't short anything out. There are better ways to find it. Have you got a helper? Plug in a whole hog and have him repeatedly pull the trigger while you amp check all the circuits till you find the one that swings the "needle". You could do the same thing for the lighting circuits by flipping the switch on and off the same way while you find the breaker. Don't forget to put on your space suit to work around that open panel.........:whistling2:
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Do not short out any thing , you could dump the whole building and your boss will get his head handed to him, this is not the old days and he could get sued big for that.
What Macmikeman said is the way to go..:thumbsup:
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HARRY304E said:
????
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Are you adjusting the sensitivity? My 958 has never let me down, as long as I find the right panel. Maybe there is one you haven't found yet?
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Check out this thread, 480 posted it. Eagle makes a bunch of new ones
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Have you tried rotating the position of your tracer slowly at the panel you think the breaker might be in. To induce a signal in the tracer you have to be parallel (I think) to the signal carrying wire.
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The ideal is the only tracer I've ever had any luck with in large buildings. I got real turned off of tracers by amprobes that never seemed to get it right but the ideal is awesome.
How are you hooking the transmitter to the circuit you are trying to trace?
How are you hooking the transmitter to the circuit you are trying to trace?
won't work on both
yes. some of the readings are so close i am leary of flipping breakers as we might shut down the wrong items which would be a disaster here
that may work but I would have to clamp on 1000 different breakers over a 4 acre facility
the correct way I think. Clipping on the open lead of hot and a separate neutral with 25ft cord
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Sometimes clipping to the fire or compressed air system works better for long distance tracing.
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As a last ditch effort you can overload the cb with a 30 amp load rather than ground faulting it.
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Chances are highly likely that the panel you want is close to the offending issue. Places don't normally spend more money than they must, and long wire + long conduit + long labor hours = excess money. You can usually eliminate 800 breakers of your thousand.
Start at the closest panel that has the correct voltage and configuration.
Start at the closest panel that has the correct voltage and configuration.
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Don't short things out: No guarantee you'll be able to find it even after you short it out, and now they don't have power. Then you're really screwed. Also, at 277 you might dump a much larger breaker upstream.
I agree the flasher trick can work great. I used to have a super-sized version I made out of a 1kW heating element and a multi-tap transformer. You can find a lot of stuff at a variety of voltages.
I agree the flasher trick can work great. I used to have a super-sized version I made out of a 1kW heating element and a multi-tap transformer. You can find a lot of stuff at a variety of voltages.
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