You forget to mention or don't realize that a huge advantage of the included meter is that the direction the direction of the short is indicated by the direction the needle bounces towards. If the short happens to be in a bundle of wrapped wires, the needle will point strait up when it is directly over the short. Further, it will work through a headliner or pillar trim (for example) without having to remove them.
I have found this tool useful many times over in an automotive environment. It saved me from wasting fuses and gave me direction (no pun intended) through the needle movement of the ammeter. Surpised how many commentors were swayed by this video.
Just for correct for viewers information this is not an inline relay , It is a automatic circuit breaker . This circuit breaker were used a lot in semi trucks . Great Explanation ! 6/6/23
Interesting. Questions about these things came up on Reddit/Tools the other day. As an electronics technician (ham) I was curious about it. Someone sent me the manual, which helped a bit, although it refers to a buzzer bridging the blown fuse. I wondered what kind of sensor was in that meter. Since you explain that the box is a multivibrator, that is revealing. That would generate pulsed DC which would be pretty detectable. If they were cheap I’d get one to play with on an oscilloscope. I still don't understand the plus/minus (?) needle excursions. Thanks.
A good way to find a short in a car is to replace the blown fuse with a light bulb that takes a couple amps to limit the current then poke around with a compass. The compass doesn’t need a changing magnetic field to work.
You are wrong about it being only good for trailer lighting. You cannot harm the electronics with this. They say not to use it on sensitive electronics only so they won't be liable for someone damaging expensive electronics such as the ECU, when it was actually the fault of the person testing it incorrectly and not the tester itself. When you measured that 22 amps, you were just measuring a spike in current, not sustained current. There was no power behind that to do any damage. In fact, the current going through there wouldn't even blow a 10 amp fuse. Try it yourself. Connect a 10 amp fuse in series with that breaker and connect it across a battery. You'll see that the fuse does not blow, even though you see 22 amp spikes using your clamp meter. The fuses in a car are not there to protect electronics. They are there to protect the wiring and to prevent fires. If there is a short somewhere in the wiring, the fuse will blow to prevent the wire from burning up and causing a fire. If the short is in an electronic component, that component is already shot, so a fuse isn't going to save it. That tester should work fine on any circuit that uses a 5 amp fuse or higher.
I almost bought one of those, was wondering how they work. Glad I watched this, I'm not going to get one. Someone else pointed out you can just check of the + goes to the ground after removing the bulb or whatever it's powering.
Great video, thanks so much! I am curious if a short only blows the fuse when the engine is running, would this tool find the short? Fuse does not blow immediately with ignition off or just on. Truck starts and runs for a few seconds and fuse blows. If the short only gets grounded by engine vibration, I wonder if this tool would find it. Thanks again!
Good review! Actually any car after '95 should have a few automotive circuit breakers in them, check the fuse boxes under or at sides of dash, especially a window defogger ckt. I agree on the danger of using these. Any "solid state" digital type can easily have diodes & transistors, fets blown out by this. But & its a BIG BUTT, if you can remove any "sensitive" loads from a segment of cable and isolate that segment through a major/minor connector, then these can be well worth it. In my 2003 Impala I have a cable channel of 30-40 signals running from dash down passenger side feeding lights, coils, fuel pump, door locks, seat motor & defogger. One power supply line is shorted.So I can isolate entire cable at fuse box & without to much pain disconnect certain loads like the seats & doors. Its 7 feet of main cable bundle so if this points me to the location its worth it, even outrageously priced. I watched to see what quality/worthiness was in these thanks much.
Oh great just bought a K & D short finder near $50. I worked in a dealership, became friends with the S.O dealer, he gives me price break, sure be more.
Your clamp meters are not sensitive enough, you can try a special clamp meter for measuring leakage current. I've got one, can measure between 1µA and 100A. It is AC only. A nice tool if you're looking for the reason why an RCD/GFCI is tripping. Simply put line and neutral together in the clamp, then you can see the "missing" current which travels the wrong path. www.benning.de/products-us/testing-measuring-and-safety-equipment/current-clamp-multimeter/benning-cm-9.html Fluke was too expensive in that case (The Benning isn't cheap either), Megger uses small button cells....so I bought this one, it uses tripple A batteries. www.amazon.de/Benning-CM-True-RMS-Leckstromzange/dp/B002A024KC/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1553106744&sr=8-1&keywords=benning+cm9 It is also required if you perform a PAT (portable appliance test) for a three-phase appliance. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portable_appliance_testing
You forget to mention or don't realize that a huge advantage of the included meter is that the direction the direction of the short is indicated by the direction the needle bounces towards. If the short happens to be in a bundle of wrapped wires, the needle will point strait up when it is directly over the short. Further, it will work through a headliner or pillar trim (for example) without having to remove them.
I have found this tool useful many times over in an automotive environment. It saved me from wasting fuses and gave me direction (no pun intended) through the needle movement of the ammeter. Surpised how many commentors were swayed by this video.
It's actually a standard automotive circuit breaker. I use them quite often at work when adding a new circuit.
Just for correct for viewers information this is not an inline relay , It is a automatic circuit breaker . This circuit breaker were used a lot in semi trucks . Great Explanation ! 6/6/23
Interesting. Questions about these things came up on Reddit/Tools the other day. As an electronics technician (ham) I was curious about it. Someone sent me the manual, which helped a bit, although it refers to a buzzer bridging the blown fuse. I wondered what kind of sensor was in that meter. Since you explain that the box is a multivibrator, that is revealing. That would generate pulsed DC which would be pretty detectable. If they were cheap I’d get one to play with on an oscilloscope. I still don't understand the plus/minus (?) needle excursions. Thanks.
You saved me the price of this tool and whatever damage I might cause trying to use it. Thanks!
nice honest review. some u-tubers out there are selling products and not really reviewing.
A good way to find a short in a car is to replace the blown fuse with a light bulb that takes a couple amps to limit the current then poke around with a compass. The compass doesn’t need a changing magnetic field to work.
Exactly what I was thinking.
You are wrong about it being only good for trailer lighting. You cannot harm the electronics with this. They say not to use it on sensitive electronics only so they won't be liable for someone damaging expensive electronics such as the ECU, when it was actually the fault of the person testing it incorrectly and not the tester itself.
When you measured that 22 amps, you were just measuring a spike in current, not sustained current. There was no power behind that to do any damage. In fact, the current going through there wouldn't even blow a 10 amp fuse. Try it yourself. Connect a 10 amp fuse in series with that breaker and connect it across a battery. You'll see that the fuse does not blow, even though you see 22 amp spikes using your clamp meter.
The fuses in a car are not there to protect electronics. They are there to protect the wiring and to prevent fires. If there is a short somewhere in the wiring, the fuse will blow to prevent the wire from burning up and causing a fire. If the short is in an electronic component, that component is already shot, so a fuse isn't going to save it.
That tester should work fine on any circuit that uses a 5 amp fuse or higher.
I purchased one of these a few years ago, never have had the opportunity to use it yet. LOL
I almost bought one of those, was wondering how they work. Glad I watched this, I'm not going to get one. Someone else pointed out you can just check of the + goes to the ground after removing the bulb or whatever it's powering.
Used to do the same thing with a breaker & a pocket compass. Prefer my cable tracer now.
Great video, thanks so much! I am curious if a short only blows the fuse when the engine is running, would this tool find the short? Fuse does not blow immediately with ignition off or just on. Truck starts and runs for a few seconds and fuse blows. If the short only gets grounded by engine vibration, I wonder if this tool would find it. Thanks again!
Good review! Actually any car after '95 should have a few automotive circuit breakers in them, check the fuse boxes under or at sides of dash, especially a window defogger ckt. I agree on the danger of using these. Any "solid state" digital type can easily have diodes & transistors, fets blown out by this. But & its a BIG BUTT, if you can remove any "sensitive" loads from a segment of cable and isolate that segment through a major/minor connector, then these can be well worth it. In my 2003 Impala I have a cable channel of 30-40 signals running from dash down passenger side feeding lights, coils, fuel pump, door locks, seat motor & defogger. One power supply line is shorted.So I can isolate entire cable at fuse box & without to much pain disconnect certain loads like the seats & doors. Its 7 feet of main cable bundle so if this points me to the location its worth it, even outrageously priced. I watched to see what quality/worthiness was in these thanks much.
That explains that ! Thanks Saved me some money, I like the to the point explanation
We're calling them "ampmeters" now.
Is it supposed to connect the in-line relay to The fuses mount?
Where to buy?
Its not a relay its a circuit breaker
hello there you can make one with a circuit beaker and use campus simple and easy.
Very good information 👍
So nice of you
thanks, so much. regards
Can you make a home made one then please. And link the parts
Oh great just bought a K & D short finder near $50. I worked in a dealership, became friends with the S.O dealer, he gives me price break, sure be more.
👍👍
Your clamp meters are not sensitive enough, you can try a special clamp meter for measuring leakage current. I've got one, can measure between 1µA and 100A. It is AC only. A nice tool if you're looking for the reason why an RCD/GFCI is tripping. Simply put line and neutral together in the clamp, then you can see the "missing" current which travels the wrong path.
www.benning.de/products-us/testing-measuring-and-safety-equipment/current-clamp-multimeter/benning-cm-9.html
Fluke was too expensive in that case (The Benning isn't cheap either), Megger uses small button cells....so I bought this one, it uses tripple A batteries.
www.amazon.de/Benning-CM-True-RMS-Leckstromzange/dp/B002A024KC/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1553106744&sr=8-1&keywords=benning+cm9
It is also required if you perform a PAT (portable appliance test) for a three-phase appliance.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portable_appliance_testing
en español que significa