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PCE-191 CB is a handheld, portable wire tracer, cable detector or cable fault meter used for locating wires and cables hidden behind walls and insulation.
PCE-180 CBN is a handheld, portable, battery-powered wire tracer or cable locator that consists of an amplifier probe and acoustic signal or tone generator. This locating device is designed to detect wires or cables hidden behind walls or insulation.
The PCE-CL 20 is a cable locator used to detect live and voltage-free electrical wires. This cable detector also can be used to locate metallic and non-metallic gas or water pipes, identify short circuits, and follow lines inside walls or under flooring.
What is a cable locator?
A cable locator is, as the name implies, an auxiliary tool for an electrician, which helps to look for and find the laid cables in the buildings as well as in the ground.
The cable finder / locator usually consists of two devices: a signal generator and a receiver. A signal transmitter modulates a signal to the “dead” or live cable that should be searched for. A receiver, a cable locator, receives this signal via the built-in sensors and represents the reception strength via display and / or an acoustic signal.
It can be seen like that: the higher the signal swing / the louder the beep, the closer you are to the searched cable. Cable locators of this type can be used for many different applications. In such a way, short circuits or even the boundary wires of the lawn mowing robots can be located.
In addition to the operating mode with a galvanically connected transmitter, cable locators can find connecting cables that are mains voltage-carrying. The cable locator then detects the electromagnetic field, which spreads annularly around each electrical live conductor. These simple cable locators are often used during renovation works in the household.
A fundamental difference between cable locators for indoor applications is the ability to use the cable locator on live or “dead” cables. Cable locators for free of power cables are often used for the detection of cable pairs in the telephone and network technology before the cables are patched. Cable locators for live cables, are used to route the power cables and already laid cables or to locate the cable breaks / short circuits.
These two types of cable locators can usually be applied for indoor cable localization. In very rare cases, they can also be used outdoors. Special cable finders for the outdoor area have additional functions that are better suited for the applications especially in the field of gardening and landscaping or in other public works. These cable finders can also easily locate those cables that are dead / free of power and without transmitter operations, if they are longer than 100 m.
A cable locator is a practical tool for non-destructively determining the position and route of the concealed cables. Depending on what the cable locator is to be used for, there are great differences between the available models. In order to determine whether power, water or heating lines are located in a certain area, a simple cable locator with a material selector switch is often sufficient. Other types of devices make it possible to determine the exact position even of the deep-set cables, to locate short circuits or earth faults or to allocate individual cables in cable ducts or on switch cabinets.
Areas of application for cable locators
There are many compact cable locators on the market that give craftsmen and handymen a rough indication of whether there is an electrical cable, a metal pipe or profile or a wooden substructure in the ceiling, wall or floor at the location being examined. However, there are also many cable locators on offer that have been optimised for special tasks. For example, a suitable cable locator helps electricians, telephone and network technicians to assign a cable to a specific connection during new installations, repairs and extensions of systems. With the suitable cable locator, the exact position of the cable breaks or short circuits can also be found quickly and without time-consuming and costly destructive actions.
It is also often a good idea to use cable locators when working outdoors with the laid cables on public or private properties. If it is certain where which cable is located, it is usually only necessary to uncover the relevant area for repairs or new connections. This can significantly reduce the costs for uncovering and covering the cables again. In the case of the earthworks that do not affect the pipeline, prior testing with the cable locator can specifically prevent the supply lines in the affected area from being damaged by the construction work.
Selection criteria for the cable locator
Many professional cable locators for electrical cables and metal pipes actively give signals to the line to be identified. These models consist of two devices, a signal generator and a receiver. With the signal generator a fixed high-frequency electromagnetic signal is produced and injected into the line to be located. The receiver picks up this signal and evaluates its strength. The closer the sensor of the receiver is to the cable, the stronger the received signal is. If the transmission channel for the signal can be set in such a cable locator, several transmitters can be used at the same time, as the transmission channel is also shown on the receiver's display. By changing the transmission strength, the signal can also be adapted to the ambient conditions.
Before comparing different models, it is useful to define some minimum requirements that the cable locator should meet. The following list can serve as a basis for this.
- Which cables or materials can the cable locator locate?
