Centech Cable Tracker An awesome waste of currency
Vložit
- čas přidán 24. 01. 2021
- I thought this might be a usable, cheap tool for finding wires and/or isolating the fault in a wire if it worked reasonably well. That turned out to be a bigger "if" than anticipated... In fairness, I would guess I used the brand new batteries in this setup a total of 10-15min over 2 days. Since it uses 9 volts, which I consider expensive, I may buy some additional rechargeable NiMH 9V cells and continue troubleshooting it. Possibly modifying it. As far as usability directly off the shelf, I don't think it is worth the $20-$25.
- Věda a technologie
Not sure what your problem was but this product really works, and I would highly recommend it. I used it to trace 14-2 romex receptacle's connection from all the way across our house over stucco, drywall, insulation for around 125 feet. Saved me I estimate 500-to-1000-dollar electrician fees. It ended up being a very weird wiring arrangement which the builder installed as it went through switches, etc. inside and outside of the house, in and under the attic. The single strength was very pronounced.
I love this tool I've gone through 3 of them in the last 8years 😎🥃 I use this particular unit all the time. Happy with it all the way around. Works great every time.
These are great, save so much time in checking miles of wire.
These are inexpensive pieces of equipment, I’m sure you could buy an expensive sniffer to suit your needs. I can agree at time the signal can less pronounced however I personally found it useful.
I hope this video doesn’t discourage people from buying, this can be a life saver
This unit was a lemon. I've had one for years since worked perfectly. I'm not experienced any of the issues you claim to have. Take it back and they'll give you a good one. Certainly don't put up a review like this until you've at least done that.
I have this one and also the older Greenlee version. Both work very well for me. I've also used the amplifier to pinpoint noisy components in electronic circuits.
We used a hopped up version of these tools to find gas lines and etc in the ground because they have to run a copper wire alongside the line when they bury it, so it's easy to track underground, it's not perfect but it's a good system for sure. The harbor frieght one definitely needs a battery upgrade for sure
I now have this and it does work, picks up lots of AC hum and it doesnt pick up that station but it will make a nice mini amp.
How would I use this to trace a potential short in CAN wires on a truck
I used it to find a break in the dog buried fence wire that circles our five acres. Lots of hum near power lines but it lead me straight to the break in the wire.
Just finished using this to find a break in my underground fence. Mine worked great but I had to hook to both ends.
I dont know what your beef is , but I got one and traced wiring in a vehicle wiring harness which had component fuse blowing..it found the broken or chewed up wiring in an area where it was impossible to to see . It worked, the receiver has to away from the probe. 2 weeks of hunting for short solved in 5 minutes
I have a short circuit in my motorcycle.
Blowing fuse.
I’m not electric savvy…
How do I find a short using this product?
Strange. I used this last night trying to trace a circuit in my house. I had the transmitter in the garage, and was getting a signal half way across the house.
you need to turn down the sensitivity, until you can just barely hear the beep.
i have a family member who bought this to try to find an irrigation valve that maybe is having issues (tracing the wire to it) ... the amount of hum it picks up is annoying and after weeks of using it we still cant find 2 of the 4 valves (we knew where one was but used a different tool to find the olther)
I cant tell if this is useless to us or not for what we are trying but below maybe 1 1/2 inches of soil the signal almost dies ... its loud next to the wire we know (somewhat above ground and it was clear when we tested this device to see if it worked at all.
I can confirm that in no time at all the batteries (even if originally new) in both the transmitter and the other part die right away .... not sure if a more expensive type product would be better or not but the proce of this + the battery cost alone ... we could have maybe bought a much better one that maybe would work better .... we STILL need to find the wire and its been awhile already
This is a great wire tracer and works well. I added a Ethernet plug to the transmitter, so now i can trace phone and Ethernet wires.
I may still get this because if it's useless as a cable tracker I can use it as an amplified speaker with some modifications. Also it might be able to pick up a strong radio signal from a 100,000 watt FM station that I live near.
I can't get mine to make any noise, I am trying to track breaks in insulated wires on a truck.
@@kevinragsdale6256 Check batteries in both transmitter and receiver. Then open up the transmitter and check for broken wires. Receiver should work when volume knob is turned on and button pressed.
Ahahahha!!! Love the name of the video - had to read it twice ... made me laugh!! I just picked one up this morning @ HarborFreight ... along with tons of other cool HF stuff .. about to set it up & try to find an open camshaft exhaust sensor circuit on my car .. 🤓
How do you feel about it after a year or so?
How do we turn up the transmitter as it’s likely designed to comply with FCC limits
Just bought mine, open d it there’s no serviceable POTS to amplify it. I suppose I’d see what the voltage into the board is after the regulator and make a power supply via usb battery pack to keep it alive for longer. Yes, not practical for most but it’ll work for me
Upon further use, this requires both wires hooked up, perhaps something to do with SWR? Not sure. I used it to chase a series break in a receptacle, worked better with both cables hooked up. It wasn’t strong enough to send a signal to the breaker box however
I have AC unit and an automotive one both work great!!!
Hi, as you don't like it can I offer to buy it from you. Unfortunately I am in England and cannot get HF tools. I use cable tracers daily and from other videos I have seen, I particularly want this model, as it has an extended aerial. The reason you are having trouble is that you need, to be looking for a pair if wires, ie speaker cable, with both clips attached, one on each wire.
I agree it would work better with both probes connected to shielded wire, the issue is it is advertised for use in automotive and general troubleshooting in standard non-shielded wire. At some point, I plan on making it better. You should check out Paul Carlson's Super Probe if you are having trouble buying one. It works exponentially better than this and is made with off the shelf componets.
Just bought one. Doesn’t work unless close to receiver bringing it back
you should connect the black wire to negative terminal in battery then start test
Same exact scenario, I'm not impressed with it either. For locating a circuit path it's vague at best. It even gives me tone where the wires could never be. I'm trying to trace Romex in my mobile home, I don't want to tear apart my walls trying to locate wires.
I wish I knew of a more capable, higher quality unit, a different brand (that isn't priced high for contractors/professionals).
The wire you're testing isn't grounding is it?
Great video
The instructions say you have to connect to a pair of wires - which then works perfectly, as long as its a pair you want to trace and you know the "pair". For a single wire trace it does not, and cannot work. Useless as a single wire trace, it would never do what this video test portrays.
These are get what you pay for. If you want a quality wire tracker get a tempo 701k-g or triplett fox and hound.
Mine doesn't sound like that should have beeping sound
Price
Mine behaves exactly as yours does. you get a very indistinct signal when the sensor is close to the signal generator wire itself. The best the thing can do is find the signal generator if you were to have misplaced it (joke).... Use the sensor any further than one foot from the signal generator itself and it's worthless... Mine goes back tomorrow
There are lots of testers where its better to spend a bit more. And get better quality tool. Especially using it as a pro.
Mine is more discrete I got the same model but from Amazon , what I understand of the chinenglish instruction one of the two wires from the transmitter got to be connected to ground maybe for noise shielding ? it's designed for car or truck use from 12 volt to 48 volts powered no more ! I went to your video trying to understand the sketchy instructions that says your should connect the black wire of the transmitter to the powered 12 volts line of your car and the red to the ground who in my mind doesn't make any sense , testing on powered circuits for scenario where your powered line is switch on only when its powered by a solenoid or relay ! you can have 20 wires who turn on powered but only one from the source where your trying to detect ! as a dead wire tester not really necessary any good ohmmeter that beeps on ohm will do the trick ! But on powered line identifier, these tester are not common thing !
User error. Works good for me
HEY - YOU MAY HAVE A BAD UNIT - GOT EXACT SAME ONE AND IT WORKS WAY FARTHER DISTANCE
Indonesia hadir 🙏👍
You have to turn off the 60 Hz AC
Black wire has to be grounded.
RADIO FREQUENCY BASED TESTERS AND CHEAPLY MADE ARE A BAD MIX TO WORK WELL
Glad I didn't buy it, I was looking for one. I see the same thing on eBay for 1/2 the price. This guy actually did a teardown of one version: czcams.com/video/qQHcZgMC-Iw/video.html
Doesn't seem to complex to make.
Malisimo ya e comprado varios y no duran mucho se daña la cajita generadora de tono no da tono.
Dude, this is for automotive use and the black probe is supposed to be connected to the 12v and the red one to the wire you want to trace. If it is not part of the circuit it will not perform properly. Read the manual!
Dude, It's advertised as and called a 'Cable Tracker'! What cables do you have on your car, other than battery cables?
Really think this one belongs to operator error or you're paid by the competition to do this. This is an awesome product! No "hiss" or interference and the battery that's in mine is the original ones that came with it when I bought it a year ago! You just suck!
Wow you must have a dud because mine is still working great and had saved me tons of time and money but hey at least you didn't make yourself look like you don't know what your doing..... Oh wait I just finished your video and we'll I don't recommend or not recommend people's videos but wow not good my bro. Always double check your equipment before posting about it I mean what did you spend on it 10 bucks. Lol. Otherwise your videos are great and I have used them but this one not so great. It's a great tool of you use it right and the battery is still strong in mine after almost a year of using it about 4 times a month
❤🎉😂
QUALITY AND HARBOR FREIGHT ARE NOT SYNONYMOUS - GOOD ENOUGH AT BEST
Very unclear as to which wires your testing.
Wish I'd seen this before I bought one - heap of junk!
Man thats pretty sad when more people question your negative review than you actually worked at researching the information about the product considering that it dont take a Rocket Scientist to operate.😮😮😮😮😮
I returned my , not happy
Hes not using it right is why its not working
this is good for one wire.....but if its a bundle wire....its the most useless tool
Garbage review. I love mine.