Open or short circuits- this tool will find them!
Feb 19 '06
Product Rating: 5.0
Pros
fast, easy, and highly portable. Pays for itself the first time used.
Cons
For DC only. NOT for Live AC circuits.
The Bottom Line
An excellent tool that saved me HOURS of time and HUNDREDS of dollars the first time I used it!
Full Review I have been working on cars, motorcycles, and other such machines for a long, long time. Since I was in high school back in the late 60's (that's the NINETEEN sixties) and didn't have the money to either buy a good car or afford to have someone work on it, I have wrenched, tooled, modified, installed, repaired, and just about anything else you can do to cars for myself. Although not a trained or professional mechanic by any measure, I was the guy who all his friends would come to with their cars, motorcycles, and even bicycles (yes, I am an experienced bicycle mechanic as well)! In that time cars have changed dramatically. I am not referring to their aesthetic design but to the electrical and electronic circuits that all cars now depend on to operate. From electronic ignitions, cars without distributors, computers controlling ignition as well as fuel delivery, and now with hybrid cars with vast amounts of electronics and computers, cars have changed.
With that change has come lots of wires, and the failure of any one of them can stop a car dead in its tracks... or even a motor home, and that's where the story begins. We bought a used motor home a few months back and when a stretch of good weather hit we wanted to take it out for the day with the doggies. It was a nice ride until we got about 1/2 mile from home and the thing died. Electrically there was nothing. It was as if the battery had been stolen mid-drive. We found a melted wire at the solenoid but could not find a fault. $225 poorer after paying off the tow truck driver, the motor home sat in the driveway awaiting its fate.. and our bank account.
I have done a lot of wiring on vehicles- enough to know that I had quite a task ahead of me. I knew I would need help because tracing wires in a 30 foot long motor home without some sort of assistance is nearly impossible. So off to the Internet I went to find a tool to assist me. This is how I ran across the FaultFinder FF310 from General Technologies Corp (http://www.generaltechnologies.net/FF310.html). This Canadian made tool(!) is specifically designed to work on DC circuits only (or on circuits that are in no way connected to a power source) and on circuits from 6 to 42 volts, making it ideal for the newer hybrid cars.
It is basically two parts- one is a signal sender that creates and charges the wire being traced with an electronic signal. The second part is a signal finder- it looks sort of like a walkie talkie with a 9 inch long flexible and bendable antenna. The bright yellow, plastic tip of the antenna receives the signal. The color makes it easy to see where it is being placed.
It is really quite easy to use. Connect the sender in line with a wire that is either shorted or open, then trace along the wire with the antenna of the receiver, listening to the beeping of the receiver. The faster the beeps occur the closer you are to the wire you are tracing. When the beeping stops or suddenly diminishes you are very close to the fault. It is sort of like using a Geiger counter to look for radiation.
If you understand the basics of electricity the instruction manual will be easy to understand. It does a great job of outlining the various ways signals travel through the wires being tested and how these signals can be interfered with to cause false responses. The manual also diagrams different ways to hook up the FaultFinder to use it to trace wires. Ever wonder where the manufacturer runs the wires for your speakers or for the dome light? Even try to find a broken wire that is not letting the door locks work correctly? This device can even trace wires through door panels and under carpeting. The receiver even has three levels of sensitivity so if you can't get close to a wire you can select a higher sensitivity to read from a bit more distance from the wire. Ever look at a wrapped wire harness and wonder if the bad wire is "in there"? This could be an electronic nightmare, but not with the FaultFinder in hand.
The FaultFinder can be used to trace just about any wire even if it is not of the correct voltage (like the AC wiring of a motorhome). Just disconnect the wires from their power source (or completely disconnect the power source) and use a 12 volt source like a small battery charger to send the voltage through the FaultFinder's transmitter and then through the wire.
Each of the two parts are powered by an included Duracell 9v battery and all the parts come housed in a handy clamshell carry case with foam internal custom fit padding. Also included is a set of blade-style fuse adapters. Just remove a blown fuse, insert the adapter, connect the sender, and it becomes and easy matter to trace a bad circuit. The FF310 also comes with a special voltage tester made to find power on sensitive electronic devices like computers and such.
While not cheap (best price I found at time of purchase was $138 shipped) that amount would only buy about 1.5 hours of labor at the local mechanic's shop. Add the price of a tow to get the vehicle to the shop and the FaultFinder now looks downright affordable.
So, how well does it work? I was able to find the faulty wire in less then five minutes including hooking up the meter, getting into the motor home, and opening the dog hose for access to the motor. it traced the wire for about eight feet even though it was part of a wire harness that was over 1" thick(!).
At just over half the price of a 1/2 mile tow it paid for itself in a hurry. I will tell you that the GRC FF310 will be part of our motor home's traveling kit! There are similar units designed to be used on household wiring (115 volts), but if you work on vehicles, whether a shade-tree mechanic or pro, this toll will pay for itself the first time you use it!
Recommended:
Yes
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