I don't know why this hasn't come up before, but here I am. I need a cable tracer that will tell me which breaker powers a particular set of wires so that I can safely open up a junction box and add a Quad outlet to it.

Back in the last century when I was buying my equipment, I noticed that cable tracing equipment generally had a warning against connection to live electrical power circuits, but that's exactly what I need to do.

Spending all of two minutes on a google search yields many cable tracers, but I don't see any touting their ability to trace a live electrical power cable. I figure if any of you have such an item, you can save me quite some time reading specs of one product after another, and if so, I thank you in advance!

I have had success with the Ideal and GreenLee Circuit Tracer

http://idealcircuit-tracer.com/

[Link: greenlee.com]

Not the least expensive units out there - yet it has saved me countless hours of flipping breakers on/off - or getting that warm fuzzy feeling when you can not find the right breaker...

I once saw an electrician purposely short the outlet to trip the breaker, then turn to me and say " you didn't see me do that "

I once saw a HVAC guy do the same thing when trying to find the furnace circuit. He didn't know that the electrical panel was a Federal Pacific panel. Well the short bypassed the breaker, bypassed the main breaker, and basically kicked out out the transformer feeding the neighborhood. Power was down for hours! LOL Made the furnace change out a little more difficult!

$40 and you have a live circuit tracer with a GFI tester built into the transmitter.

Klein ET310.

A short video review.


KOT

Seems a little DIY and not professional. My "professional" application is turning off the power going through a junction box in a warehouse so that I can add an outlet. There is no outlet.

In order to be safe so that I can install an outlet on the box, I have to install an outlet on the box.

The "pro" device would allow clipping onto wires instead of just connecting to a power outlet.

Puts me ahead of where I was, though!

Two insulated alligator leads and you can do this.

There is no "Pro" device for something like this. It is an extremely simple design.
And everything you mentioned is available on these devices, just order the parts.

Here is a kit I ordered for $34 that has all those accessories with it. I also got a case to keep it all in for $14. It is out of stock now, but you can probably find it somewhere for sale.
[Link: amazon.com]

You asked a question that he answered with an good option.  I don't know why anyone bothers answering you.

A 'pro' electrical service installation would include labeling the freaking breakers, right? Wouldn't you be able to look at the panel and figure out which outlets are near the location of the new one and determine whether one can be added to that leg? Is there a space for another breaker in the panel?

Or, you could use a clamp-style ammeter and add a load to the J-box you want to tap.

Are you a licensed electrician?

Cheap solution.

Plug a radio into the outlet you want to mess with, turn it on and the volume way up, flip breaker, sound goes away, voila.

Will work in most cases.


Seen it done by the electrician, and thought, why not?

I know that reading comprehension isn't your strong point. Is there someone in your household who could explain Post 6 in this thread to you?

The "room" that needs the added Quad is a warehouse that measures about 400 feet x 250 feet. It is likely that the half dozen fork lifts running at any particular time will be louder than the radio, especially at, say, four hundred feet of distance.

There are several panels. This place is open 24 hours a day and it will not be acceptable to go flipping breakers. That would make the boss go flipping bonkers.

I know him. He calls himself Sparky. In my particular location (a distribution warehouse that measures about 425 feet x 250 feet, with fifteen or so roll-up doors), that short would have killed the temporary power to the indoor tent that the CEO runs things from... because the power is temporary and things are not well labeled. And that's not anything I have control over.

The first post told what I need. There have been several great answers.

What some of you don't seem to realize is that while you don't like my long posts, when you go off in a direction different from what I'm asking about, it becomes necessary for me to go into further detail in order to elicit more appropriate responses and fewer "try this" responses.

Sparky also, by the way, has no feeling in his right index finger.

Do it live... If you are only adding a 15A receptacle what's a little tingle on your hand (I am kidding by the way, no one should work on live electrical even if it's only a 15A circuit)? Tell the "boss" that he needs to get someone to locate the circuit so you can safely work on it or you are just going to flip breakers until you find it. You know what that person will do? Flip breakers until they find it and put some dumb label on it.

The only tracer I know of is what KOT had provided and is NOT a DIY product. Our one electrician has it and it's a huge time saver when going into renovations/older homes that have panels with 10 labels of "receptacles".

If you felt comfortable enough you could tie the black and white directly onto the receptacle portion and trace the wire that way. outside of that you are flipping breakers or shorting the wires to trip the breaker.