Find Hidden Cables with Cable Wire Locators

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Locating buried and hidden lines prior to construction or maintenance projects is critical to ensure the safety of your crew and reducing the potentially costly mistake. Cable locators and wire tracers are specially designed to aid in locating energized and de-energized wires, cable and pipes whether underground or hidden in a wall.

Cable locators are reply on the target having a charge or signal placed on them which is detected by a receiver within the locator, many locators are able to induce a signal onto the line using a transmitter in order to find it. Generally, the target must be metallic in order to conduct the signal, through a sonder or mini-transmitter can be used with plastic pipes. When induce a signal onto a pipe or cable, the transmitter is most commonly connected directly to the line or pipe to be located using signal clamps or clips. The signal will then transmit along the pipe or cable. In areas where there is no access to the line, the transmitter can also induce a signal from above, through the gourd to reach the utility.

Depending upon the application, there is a range of cable locators to be chosen. Some are designed for use for underground lines and pipes while other better suited for the tight confines of a walllikes wire trackers. Cable locators usually include a transmitter and a receiver. A widely used underground cable wire locator is NF-816, which is designed to locate the path of none-energized wirebehind walls or underearth. It can rapidly find the target wire from among plenty of telephone wires or network wires. By comparing the volume of the “tout” sound and the brightness of the signal indicator, you can find the target wire which has the highest volume and brightest indicator.

There are two primary methods of sweeping for lines and pipes with a cable locator: Passive locating involves sweeping an area looking for unknown lines while actively locating searching for a specific line by using either a direct connection or by inducing a signal. When using a cable locator to find underground lines and pipes, the underearth condition has a significant impact on the signal. Lays and camp solids help the signals travel down the line or pipe stronger with less interference than dry soils. So it is necessary to add water to the ground near the transmitter to improve signal strength.