Top Best Circuit Breaker Finder

Circuit breakers are the most common way to protect electrical systems from overloads

But it can be difficult to identify which breaker controls what switches, outlets, or light fixtures (unless your circuit breaker box is mapped very carefully, which it rarely is).

A circuit breaker finder makes it super easy to locate a circuit in a breaker box. These devices work for either circuit breakers or fuses, and allow you to make sure you’re turning off the right circuit breaker feeding the electrical outlet or light fixture that you want to work on

The best electrical circuit breaker finders can quickly identify breakers and fuses, while a poorly-made one is nothing but a huge waste of time. We don’t want to waste your time either – so here are the Top 5 Best Electrical Circuit Breaker Finders of 2022.

What is a Circuit Breaker Finder?

Circuit breakers are safety devices, promoting convenience among their users. It is used to protect electrical systems from overloading the circuit wires or experiencing a short circuit. Circuit breakers perform a very important role as they make sure that the electricity is disabled whenever people have too much load on their single circuit.

A device called a circuit breaker finder makes it easy for people to sort out and fix common household electronic troubles. It easily locates a circuit within an electrical power panel or load center. This device also works for either circuit breakers or fuses.

Circuit Breaker Finder vs Circuit Breaker Tracer

A circuit breaker finder typically works on circuits that are energized. The transmitter plugs into an outlet and draws spikes current off the line for a short duration, yielding a strong signal. With this, the device doesn’t need batteries and it doesn’t really do much other than drawing current pulses that the receiver detects. In addition, the device is only intended to work on short distances between the current carrying parts in the breaker and the tool. Therefore, the receiver doesn’t need high sensitivity that much to determine the proper breaker.

A circuit breaker tracer is a device used to follow or trace the path of a circuit. Electricians, especially professional ones, use this device to trace wires for them to be able to remodel a house, knowing the circuit system behind the walls that workers may or may not be removing. These tools are also used to find short circuits or follow a wire located within an electrical conduit.

Circuit breaker tracers can work on either energized (live) circuits or de-energized (open) circuits.

Now that we know what circuit breaker finders are and what they do, let’s answer the question: How does it actually work?

How Do Circuit Breaker Finders Work?

The electronic breaker finder works with a transmitter and a receiver. The transmitter is plugged into the outlet where you’re trying to determine the controlling circuit breaker or fuse. As what have been previously told, the receiver detects the current pulses that the device draws.

At the electrical service panel, the user will use the electronic receiver paired with the transmitter. When the receiver detects the electronic signal from the transmitter when it passes over the circuit and the circuit breaker, it rapidly beeps and flashes.

A follow-up question to this section will be: How do you use such device?

How to Use a Circuit Breaker Finder?

Before anything else, you always have to test the device’s transmitter and receiver. Make sure the receiver will detect the transmitter’s signal. Place the receiver near the transmitter. If the receiver is working and the wall outlet’s power is on, a distinctive beep will be heard, occurring about six times per second, and the LED will flash

Here are the steps on matching a circuit to a circuit breaker:

While the power is on, plug the transmitter into the said wall outlet.
At the circuit breaker panel or fuse box, hold the receiver such that the surface of the tapered end is at a right angle, directly on the face of the circuit breaker or fuse.
Slowly move the receiver in an up-and-down motion over the row(s) of circuit breakers, while continually lowering its sensitivity by rotating the wheel away from the panel box until only one breaker causes it to beep.
After locating the right breaker, turn off the circuit and the receiver will stop beeping.
Check if the red light on the transmitter in the outlet is off as this confirms that the right breaker had been turned off.

Things to Consider Before Buying a Circuit Breaker Finder

Before buying any product, there will always be things you should keep in mind before actually going to purchase an item. Here’s a very short list of 3 things to consider before placing a purchase on a circuit breaker finder:

QUALITY: As always, this is included. You never go wrong with an item that has an outstanding quality. If the products were made of high-quality materials, consumers like you will save big time on time and money. Important reminder: Just because the product is expensive doesn’t mean it’s as what it’s advertised. Sometimes, these things can lead you to more expenses than what you originally intended to pay for.

DURABILITY: Quality and durability will always be on this kind of list. Durability is the strongest one to determine if your item will last long for your benefit of usage. If a product were high-quality made, there’s a big possibility that it also has a high durability feature.

FEATURES: What does this circuit breaker finder have that other brands don’t? Are these features worth every penny? Do these features suit the job needed?

These questions are just some of the things you should ask yourself before going to buy the tool. Keep in mind that knowing the products’ features is very important as it will greatly affect how you’ll perform and finish the given task with the tool. We’ve used these questions to help us pick the top 5 circuit breaker finders on the market.