New toy, Martindale CD1000 Cable Tracer

[stevethesparks]

Looking at one of these myself so would appreciate an update now you'be had a better chance to use it in the real world.
Cheers

 

[sshokooh]

I bought this for a contract I had for social housing work. I come across a fair bit of broken circuits and was so excited when I read the spec of the CD1000. I contacted Martindale and spoke to the sales chap for my area and then bought one. The phrase fool and money is one that comes to mind. Here is the story: It is a great piece of kit providing there are no other circuits in the vicinity. Absolutely everything interferes with it, the telephone cable, the aerial cable, other cables (dead or live). If you turn up the strength you will get interference, if you turn down the strength you get nothing and there is no in between. Yes you can find the break if there is nothing else within half a meter of detector. In real life, it is a useless piece of kit. I used an old £20 wand I had and found the break after about 2 hours of fluffing about with the Martindale. Since I can’t send it back, I am keeping it for that one in thousand chance where in an industrial setting I will get a single run with nothing else close by. I am so disappointed with Martindale that they have lost me as a customer.

 

[HandyPat]

The CD1000 is a time saving solution for cable fault location and circuit identification purposes so it's disappointing to hear that a customer is not satisfied. I recommend that you call Martindale technical support who will be able to assist you.

 

[richy3333]

The CD1000 is a time saving solution for cable fault location and circuit identification purposes so it's disappointing to hear that a customer is not satisfied. I recommend that you call Martindale technical support who will be able to assist you.

...with a refund?!

 

[uksparks]

Being an owner of one and one who knows how to use it competently , I would suggest you read the instructions fully then have another go. It's worth its weight in gold and can only assume you are usung it incorrectly.

 

[uksparks]

Just to add to that, I can find a break in a cable within an inch, seriously you need to read the manual.

 

[stevethesparks]

Would be a good idea if sshokooh could explain how he has been using it and for UKsparks to explain what he is doing wrong.

 

[uksparks]

Would be a good idea if sshokooh could explain how he has been using it and for UKsparks to explain what he is doing wrong.

Sounds fair to me, I know how to use it with pretty good accuracy and its never been a hassle using it etc, in fact I used it just the other week when trying to find where a bit of SWA went under an extension through the slab!!! then up into a plug socket.

it took me straight to it, quite straight forward, simply earth the cores you don't want to trace and connect the pulse if thats what you want to call it to the core you are tracing and then turn it on, i put it on max output, then on the receiver i put it on max at first to find it from a distance, then turn it down and down until i can have the cable within 6 - 8 inches of the end, i actually followed it all the way up the garden in to the house and under the floor.

I feel I need to video something to demonstrate it, I never got round to it before, but might do it now.

 

[richy3333]

Sounds fair to me, I know how to use it with pretty good accuracy and its never been a hassle using it etc, in fact I used it just the other week when trying to find where a bit of SWA went under an extension through the slab!!! then up into a plug socket.

it took me straight to it, quite straight forward, simply earth the cores you don't want to trace and connect the pulse if thats what you want to call it to the core you are tracing and then turn it on, i put it on max output, then on the receiver i put it on max at first to find it from a distance, then turn it down and down until i can have the cable within 6 - 8 inches of the end, i actually followed it all the way up the garden in to the house and under the floor.

I feel I need to video something to demonstrate it, I never got round to it before, but might do it now.

I'd been thinking of buying one so a video would be much appreciated if you get the time

 

[sshokooh]

I followed the instructions to the letter. It is not rocket science. The break I was looking for was the neutral in the ring. Disconnected both legs in CU, connected the generator to one leg and tried following it from the CU which was fine until got to the proximity of the phone cable and I picked up the signal from two sources, the phone line and the ring. Further along picked up two sources one from the sky arial and the other from the neutral conductor. Got fed up and changed the leg and tried to follow it the other way and the same thing again. I am certain it is quite capable of finding breaks so long as the conductor you are investigating is not in the vicinity of other powered conductors which renders it useless to me. The unit is still brand new and still in its box. I will contact Martindale to see if I can get a refund. It was purchased in Decemeber of last year and all components are still in their original packaging. I guess legally it does what is says so Martindale are within their right not to refund but we will see.

 

[elliot123]

bought something similar not long ago from maplins tone generator, does a similar thing not as advanced but does what i wanted it do and has got me out of some problems, can trace cables there studs/walls/floors/pick a single one out of a bunch and it was only a tenner but have seen more expensive versions probably better than mine but still considerably cheaper than that

 

[uksparks]

Sshokooh, can you confirm that when you are testing the ring you are earthing all the conductors you are not wanting to trace, so at the consumer unit, you have two legs, put a jumper from the busbar to the earth bar then switch on that MCB, that will then Earth the line conductor, disconnect the neutrals for the circuit, again, connect one of them to the earth bar with a jumper and the other neutral connect to the signal unit, and the other connection on the unit connect to earth.

This is should then make it quite easy to find, failing that try earthing everything apart from that conductor, so just use jumpers between busbar and the neutral bars to earth and switch all mcbs etc on.

is this what you are doing?

 

[sshokooh]

Absolutely. Everything on the board apart from the neutral under investigation was earthed. The point that is being lost is that the telephone cable or the arial were not earthed and to assume that you can earth every circuit on site is a folly. I don't always have the luxury of powering down all DBs on site or shutting down security, fire alarm, data or communcation equipment installed on site. Like I said, it does what is says providing there are no other sources of noise. It then begs the question, why is the insturment picking up other signals apart from that generated? Why does it recognise other signals as that which it is suppossed to have generated itself?

 

[Former Sponsor TM]

We sell quite a few of these cable tracing kits and generally good customer feedback is well received.

We recently sent a couple of kits to a customer who has written a fantastic review and one that I'd like to share with you all. Should anybody ever considering purchasing one, this is a must read:

View attachment Martindale CD1000 CEM CLS20 review.pdf

 

[sshokooh]

I think my point is once again being lost so here it is as clearly as I can possibly point it out. Cable finders including Martindale CD1000 will find cables and breaks in the conductors. CD1000 being the one I am concerned with and the one I purchased will 100% of the time find your break in the conductor PROVIDING there is no interference from other conductors in the proximity. Which means in isolated tests in the lab they will work perfect. In real life where there are multiple circuits from different DBs are around, it could not discriminate between the conductor under investigation and others. It clearly does not perform as the manufacturers claim and want us to believe. It has cost me around £300 to find this out for myself. An old fashion wand costing a fraction of the money will do the same thing. Now you can test this in as many labs as you like, I have to do my job in the real world not a lab.