hey guys,
i cannot figure out how to use this tool. I read the manual, and seen all video on youtube which are only like 3. still cannot understand how to use it? any idea?
i connect both leads to battery, green lead to circuit i want to find short . IE, fuel gauge. i connect green lead to wire going to sensing Unit,. turn on handheld device, and it starts beeping, then nothing else. i get lost
I haven't used that particular model mine was about 1/10th of the price but generally circuit tracers are more useful for tracking down opens in wires than finding shorts to ground.
But having watched the videos with the ECT3000 they claim you should be able the direction to the short but I suspect where the wiring harness is very close to chassis or the bundle of wires contains ground wires this is much less likely to work. If nothing is obious from a close visual and tugging & bending the wires
You may have more succes with a test light and a low range clamp ammerter or a clip on type short finder to indicate the direction to the short or use piercing probes and a voltmeter to look for voltage drop.
The last resort is devide and conquer make cut breaks in the wire to narrow down where the short may be.
Low voltage high ressistance .
" We're trying to plug a hole in the universe, what are you doing ?. "
(Walter Bishop Fringe TV show)
I have that tool. From what I recall you inject the signal into the circuit, then turn on the receiver. You'll hear the double tone to know it's on.
Then you need to adjust the sensitivity. As you bring the tool closer to the wire you are tracing, the tone frequency will increase. I would bring mine in until the receiver was emitting a solid tone and then press the button on the receiver. I think that "calibrates"the receiver to alert when it picks up on the signal from the generator at that intensity. From there you probe the wand of the receiver around the harness and follow the direction of the LEDs to the open or short in the harness... In theory any way.
I've never found it to be very effective.
The signal can be induced into adjacent wires in the harness and lead you on a wild goose chase.
I think maybe one time it got me to within a foot of a problem section of wire, but the results just weren't repeatable enough for me to incorporate the tool into my routine. Now it takes up real estate in my too box
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