Customer Reviews

Hi-Tech HTP-6 Circuit Detective 90-120VAC Circuit Breaker Finder

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I was a little hesitant to buy this based on one of the reviews. But, I had walked about ½ mile back and forth between the breaker panel and the other end of the house trying to identify outlets to breakers by myself. I figured that for $20 I would give it a try.

It worked great! I put in a fresh 9V battery, plugged the transmitter into an outlet I wanted to identify, and walked to the breaker panel. I did the first pass "calibration scan", followed by the "identification scan", and bingo - breaker identified. There was no question which breaker it was. Not being too trusting, I tried it several more times moving the transmitter around the house - just to make sure it was really that simple and accurate - and it is!

This is brain-dead easy to operate, and worked flawlessly for me. I should have bought it before I did my last re-model project; I would have saved several hours and a lot of walking.

I've been a journeyman electrician for 20 years. We always keep these on our trucks. They work great and always find the circuit. Don't listen to the nay sayers. I do this for a living.

I personally own two different models of this product by this company, and I have sold many of each of the 3 different models made by this company. They work Great. I've never had any problem. You have to be sure you prescan the panel, hold down the button at the correct time as stated in the instructions, and that the circuit is live that you are trying to locate, but it defiately has saved me alot of time on many many occasions. Great product!

Works, with a little indecision on my home panel- useful there.

On my son's panel- inserting the transmitter trips the arc fault breakers (which I believe are becoming standard and required in many residential installations)! No use at all there!

Hi-Tech HTP-6 Circuit Detective Breaker Finder (seems same as the Reliance)

In limited testing it works so far. Some notes:

- you must do the pre-scan.

- you MUST have the power button on top (I almost gave up until I followed the instructions exactly)

- the power button is easy to bump in storage. I am fabricating a makeshift cover to try to keep that from happening. I've cut about 1/2 inch off the bottom of two of the compartments in a foam egg carton, gluing them inside each other (for strength), cutting a small notch on two sides to hold in place, and then rubber banding it over the switch. We'll see how that works.

- it's helpful to have a light socket adapter to plug the sending unit into to test light sockets, and an alligator clip adapter for testing light switches. They are available in several brands as a kit in the test equipment section at Lowe's and Home Depot for about $10 and and also here on Amazon- see Klein Tools 69411 Circuit Breaker Finder Accessory Kit or search "circuit breaker finder". Or you can buy just the light socket adapter by itself in any hardware store.

I purchased this based on the prior thoughtful reviews (not the emotional ones:-)), and two of the notes above are based on those comments. Thank you!

This device did everything I wanted with no issues.

I have a 200-Amp panel with about 25 breakers in it, a mixture of single and double pole breakers.

You plug the injector/transmitter into a plug and then use the detector at the circuit panel. First, you'll want to sweep the detector over every breaker. Notice that the green arrow will light up at several places, especially on any double-pole breakers. This is the "calibration" stage. Now, go ahead and sweep a second time -- this time around, you should only get the arrow on one of the breakers.

I think some of the other reviewers skipped the calibration pass. The instructions aren't entirely clear on this step - it says to do it, but doesn't completely make the "how" clear.

It's easier if you have a friend on the intercom, but you can verify this by turning off the breaker and seeing if the transmitter goes dead. You should also lose your green arrow on the detector.

I wish this device had a battery option so you could try it on dead/tripped breakers.

I'm giving it 4-stars, losing a star because of the lack of instructions.

I purchased this because the bone headed electrician who wired our home (built in 1976) didn't bother to label the breakers. There are 20 breakers in my main panel and this device found all of them with no errors. It saved a lot of running around the home to find the lights and outlets served by a breaker. I do not know why any others had a problem with it but for me it certainly was well worth the money!

Got sick and tired of running back and forth to see if I killed the right circuit breaker.

No longer have to do that. Once you calibrate this item it will pick out the correct breaker.

Worth every penny.

Great breaker detector, I don't know how I ever got along with out it. Every homeowner should have one. I even got a second one to use for a father's day gift.

It worked fine for me with no trouble.

The receiver beeps when it picks up a signal as strong or stronger than any it's seen.

So you make a pass over the breakers and ignore the beeps; then do it again and of course only the strongest one beeps.

That amounts to it telling you which breaker is carrying the strongest signal, and that's the one you want.

I suppose you could do it in one pass if you note the last beep, but of course you don't know at the time that it's going to be the last beep. It's easier make a second pass.