Underground wire locator circuit anyone?

[ronsimpson]

I just went back into an old post from months ago. See below. I use radio waves.

Cable and pipe tracer.

I needed to build one in an evening to track the water pipe and 110 volt wires going from the house to the well. With no water time was critical. (make it simple)

The receiver: Use an AM portable radio.

The transmitter: 9 volt battery, LM78L05 voltage regulator, 1000pf 500 volt capacitor, two alligator clips, crystal, and 74HC4060 osc/counter. The 500 volt capacitor blocks DC and 60hz AC from coming into the output stage. I chose a crystal frequency with a harmonic in a quite place on the radio dial. The 74HC4060 has many Q-outputs. One of the outputs had an approximately 2khz tone. Using a simple OR circuit I summed the CLK2 and 2khz together. The output was a square wave with a harmonic at 1mhz, turned on/off by a 2khz square wave.

To use:
(ground lead from transmitter) Connect one alligator clip to ground, or your metal tool box, or a 2 foot piece of wire. Almost any thing.
(signal lead with DC blocking capacitor) Connect one alligator clip to the wire or pipe you want to trace.
Wave the radio near the wire/pipe. Twist the radio around. Most AM radios are more sentient in one direction.

I followed a, 5 foot, buried wire 50 feet. At the house I could hold the radio and walk. At 50 feet I had to set the radio on the round to detect the wire.

 

[Centretek]

Gee you blokes make EVERYTHING complicated.
The device in the original question, introduces an 8KHz square wave signal into the cable. Because it is a square wave, a portion of the signal is in the RF band and is readily picked up by a high gain amplifier with an unbalanced input.
The closer you get , the louder the signal. A simple slope detector (eg crystal set) feeds to an earphone so you hear the 8KHz audio tone.

 

[Menticol]

I've exhumated this buried thread to avoid creating a repeated one.

Do you think this circuit deserves a try?

 

[audioguru]

The telephone guy had a very expensive high tech tracer for buried wires. He connected part of it at my house and traced the cable TV cable and found buried old car parts. Then he traced my telephone cable on the other side of my yard.
The cable was broken so deep that he used a ladder in the hole that was dug by a machine.

 

[Menticol]

and found buried old car parts. Then he traced my telephone cable on the other side of my yard.
The cable was broken so deep that he used a ladder in the hole that was dug by a machine.

At least you didn't found bones from an ancient cementery

I'm not going to search below ground, instead, I'm working on a house where the wiring was done avoiding ALL construction codes as possible. I wonder if there is wiring buried into the walls or concrete, without pipes!

 

[audioguru]

I have never seen a house with electric wires in metal conduits. I could put a nail for hanging a picture and the nail might short the electric wires in the wall. Or the nail could be "hot". Or the nail could make a weak spot on the electric wire.

 

[Menticol]

I have never seen a house with electric wires in metal conduits. I could put a nail for hanging a picture and the nail might short the electric wires in the wall. Or the nail could be "hot". Or the nail could make a weak spot on the electric wire.

Neither I. Wiring is always ducted through pvc tubes, at least here.

I blew a 120 VAC line with a drill bit. The explosion was great! Routing the wire through another location was easier than replacing the damaged one.

As I was saying, 1950's homes where made by empirical workers. Instalations without breakers, wires that travel from a switch in the living room to a light in the bathroom (tens of meters away), embeeded lighting fixtures and wiring into concrete, solidified electric tape that cracks with the wind, and lots of spiders and bugs. Pretty cool!

So, building the tracer is a must for me

 

[user_88]

... a similar device for circuit breakers

This device might operate on a similar principle .... You plug a signal generator into a wall plug, and use a receiver wand to find the correct breaker switch in the central box.
Amazon.com: Zircon 59353 Circuit Finder Pro with CF12: Home Improvement

.... Maybe your device just has a better receiver....

 

[butgoose]

hi people im new to this site why cant i start a new thread?

 

[audioguru]

My first home had huge aluminum electrical wires that wouldn't fit on the screws on switches and receptacles and all connections became loose and hot.
I replaced every switch and receptacle with ones approved for aluminum wires and the screw heads were much bigger.

 

[Menticol]

This device might operate on a similar principle .... You plug a signal generator into a wall plug, and use a receiver wand to find the correct breaker switch in the central box.
Amazon.com: Zircon 59353 Circuit Finder Pro with CF12: Home Improvement

.... Maybe your device just has a better receiver....

Thank you User_88 by your effort! You readed my mind, I'm adding a circuit breaker for the wall plugs, because there is not anyone.

Unfortunetly I have no time or budget for import it maybe when I get more professional I'll need an equipment upgrade

My first home had huge aluminum electrical wires that wouldn't fit on the screws on switches and receptacles and all connections became loose and hot.
I replaced every switch and receptacle with ones approved for aluminum wires and the screw heads were much bigger.

Aluminium wiring? never imagined it. I guess AWG standards doesn't apply, right?

 

[Analog]

Wow, my thread was unburied!

 

[audioguru]

Aluminium wiring? never imagined it. I guess AWG standards doesn't apply, right?

Copper wires in a home are 14AWG. The aluminum wires were huge, 12AWG or 10AWG. The metal is soft so it "creeps" and becomes loose under a screw head.

 

[Menticol]

Wow, my thread was unburied!

Hahaha, maybe "buried" was a too hard word... I need to expand my vocabulary

I see finally you answered your question

By the way, as no one warned me to do the opposite, I'll build the schematic I've posted before

 

[Binford]

I've exhumated this buried thread to avoid creating a repeated one.

Do you think this circuit deserves a try?

You built it, and did it work? What did you use for each of the IC's?

**broken link removed**


Edit: found the link **broken link removed**

 

[canadaelk]

google 200FP filter probe by Tempo