break in extension cord
csaw
location. I could cut it in half and end up with a good 25-foot
extension cord, but it may be that the break is close to one end, so it
seems like a shame to sacrifice the remaining good length, which is what
makes the cord potentially useful in the first place. Is there a
low-tech non-destructive way to locate the break? BTW, I do happen to
have an ancient signal generator, but no working oscilloscope.
--Steve Wise
"Out with the bad, in with the new."
Beau Schwabe
My suggeston is to buy a new extension cord, However if you are set on
finding the break, I have seen a "signal-tracer" type of device that finds the
"burnt-out" light on a string of Christmas lights. But by the time you do all
this you might have been able to buy two 50ft extension cords. Your last
statement pretty much sums it up... "Out with the bad, in with the new."
Beau Schwabe
bsch...@ionet.net
Sam Goldwasser
the problem is at the plug or receptacle connections at the ends.
These get stressed the most and the connections tend to corrode
over time.
Or, make the two prongs the capacitor in an oscillator. Then the frequency
will depend on the length of the unbroken segment of wire.
Or, inject a suitable signal at one end and use an AM radio to detect it.
--- sam
Helmut Wabnig
>
>I have an old 50-foot extension cord with a broken wire at an unknown
>location. I could cut it in half and end up with a good 25-foot
I would hold the wires one by one on both ends and pull as strong as
I can.
The wire, which comes out first, is broken.
At least, then.
have fun!
wabi
csaw
: I bet that in 99% of the cases, if there is no visible break anywhere,
I did try cutting off a couple inches at each end. I also tried injecting
RF in the range a transistor radio can pick up. It jumps right across the
break, as can be verified using two good extension cords by plugging
together just one side and feeding the signal into the other side.
But I did find the break by using an even lower-tech approach: This is a
two-conductor cord, each side stranded copper. It's hard to see how every
strand could be broken without some visible damage on the outside, unless
it was over-stretched. If it was over-stretched, the two ends should be
sitting close together so that flexing it at that point ought to give some
intermittent contact. So I started from one end flexing a little at a
time and sure enough I found a place about three feet from one end where I
could feel a lump under the surface and flexing there closed the contact.
So the story has a happy ending, and speaking of happy endings, if there
are any Japanese readers out there could you tell me what it means at the
happy ending of a Japanese folk tale when it says "Ichigo buranto kudatta"
translated (literally?) as "the market was good; everything sold out."
aalm...@msmail3.hac.com
> In article <4c5a3l$q...@ralph.vnet.net>, csaw <cs...@lys.vnet.net> wrote:
> >I have an old 50-foot extension cord with a broken wire at an unknown
> >location. I could cut it in half and end up with a good 25-foot
> >seems like a shame to sacrifice the remaining good length, which is what
> >makes the cord potentially useful in the first place. Is there a
> >low-tech non-destructive way to locate the break? BTW, I do happen to
> >have an ancient signal generator, but no working oscilloscope.
> >--Steve Wise
9 times out of 10 the break is at the plug. I would search for it
thusly: Plug a light into the female end. Make sure the light switch is
on. Plug the male into a live extension cord. Start at one end ( I would
start at the male end) and hold the wire in 2 hands and flex it in all
directions. Move down the length of the cord. When the light flickers,
you have found the break.
Richard Steven Walz
>I have an old 50-foot extension cord with a broken wire at an unknown
>location. I could cut it in half and end up with a good 25-foot
>extension cord, but it may be that the break is close to one end, so it
>seems like a shame to sacrifice the remaining good length, which is what
>makes the cord potentially useful in the first place. Is there a
>low-tech non-destructive way to locate the break? BTW, I do happen to
>have an ancient signal generator, but no working oscilloscope.
>--Steve Wise
It's stranded wire. Use a needle jammed through it at several places
one after the other, (same needle), and an ohmmeter; with it unplugged,
of course! Just check the loopback at the receptacle prongs! Where the
needle finally lets you see the resistance soar, the break is between
that needle position and the last one. Heat shrink the holes if you
commonly use it outdoors, but the plastic closes up well for small
needles. Use a locking pliers with the needle, or a needle holder like for
thick sewing. If you really wish to be precise, use one needle in each
wire and an alligator wire between them. In the neighborhood of the
break, the best repair can be effected by slitting the outer insulation.
The wire can be found in the insulative bundle by careful palpation with
the fingertips. Fully extruded external insulation often HELPS keep
the wires located! I like that orange stuff! You can tell my
grandfather used to make me use the electric mower, ;-) , even though
I used our gas powered in the country! I must have shocked myself more
than I EVER felt endangered by flying debris!! Maybe THAT's why I'm
this way, jw?! ;->
--
-Steve Walz rst...@armory.com ftp://ftp.armory.com/pub/user/rstevew
mirrored: ftp://ieee.cas.uc.edu/pub/electronics/faqs/ftp.armory.com
and Europe: ftp://ftp.cised.unina.it/pub/electronics/ftp.armory.com
and Oz: ftp://ftp.peninsula.apana.org.au/pub/electronics/ftp.armory.com
Sam Goldwasser
> In article <4c5a3l$q...@ralph.vnet.net>, csaw <cs...@lys.vnet.net> wrote:
> >I have an old 50-foot extension cord with a broken wire at an unknown
> >location. I could cut it in half and end up with a good 25-foot
> >extension cord, but it may be that the break is close to one end, so it
> >seems like a shame to sacrifice the remaining good length, which is what
> >makes the cord potentially useful in the first place. Is there a
> >low-tech non-destructive way to locate the break? BTW, I do happen to
> >have an ancient signal generator, but no working oscilloscope.
> >--Steve Wise
> -------------------------------------------------
> It's stranded wire. Use a needle jammed through it at several places
> one after the other, (same needle), and an ohmmeter; with it unplugged,
> of course! Just check the loopback at the receptacle prongs! Where the
If it is an outdoor extension, you now have a leaky outdoor extension.
If it is a round extension, then hitting the conductor(s) might prove
challenging.
Anyhow, Steve, isn't using anything invasive violating the spirit of the hunt?
Actually, he apparently found the break by careful palpation (as Steve
suggests below) at suspect locations. So all is well with the world.
--- sam
Greg Ebert
to find the open.
Find the open conductor with an ohmmeter/continuity-tester/psychic?.
Connect a high-voltage source (say 5KV neon sign xformer) across the open
conductor. It will arc and heat-up, and (possibly) audibly sizzle, where the
break is. Leave the HV on awhile, maybe you'll get some smoke and flames, too !!
Donnie Savage
First get a _small_ sharp sewing needle and a multimeter.
Connect the multimeter to one prong of the cord.
connect the other end to the needle.
'stick; the needle through the plastic of the wire close to the
connector prong you are testing
If you get a reading move half way down the wire, retest.
then test at the other end of the wire.
repeat for the other prong
with a few 'sticks' of the needle you should fing the break. Also
with a small needle the plastic will reseal well enough not to cause a
hazard useing the cord indoors.
Well good luck.
-donnie
cs...@lys.vnet.net (csaw) whispered to all:
>I have an old 50-foot extension cord with a broken wire at an unknown
>location. I could cut it in half and end up with a good 25-foot
>extension cord, but it may be that the break is close to one end, so it
>seems like a shame to sacrifice the remaining good length, which is what
>makes the cord potentially useful in the first place. Is there a
>low-tech non-destructive way to locate the break? BTW, I do happen to
>have an ancient signal generator, but no working oscilloscope.
>--Steve Wise
>
> "Out with the bad, in with the new."
-donnie
mailto://dsa...@cris.com
http://www.cris.com/~dsavage
Gregg McKenzie
>
>But I did find the break by using an even lower-tech approach: This is a
Got into this thread to late to relate the following before you found it:
Way back when I was in high school, I worked for a real cheap-o:
But, I was lucky enough to be getting payed by the hour to find such a break
in a cord. The situation was a bit different in that it was a 50 foot cord
that was routed around some office furniture and in some places tacked
down...so I could not get the ends in site of each other. With my ohm meter
on one end and a paper clip shorting the other, I inched along the cord
pushing and flexing portions until the boss (watching the meter) yelled.
In this case, it was 40 feet from the end that I started at :) more $.
Cut and splice was the easy out.
Gregg, not TI.
gareth alun evans
> >location. I could cut it in half and end up with a good 25-foot
> >extension cord, but it may be that the break is close to one end, so it
> >seems like a shame to sacrifice the remaining good length, which is what
> >makes the cord potentially useful in the first place. Is there a
> >low-tech non-destructive way to locate the break? BTW, I do happen to
> >have an ancient signal generator, but no working oscilloscope.
> >--Steve Wise
How about.....
Connect the sig genny to one end. Create a loose sleeve of aluminium
baking foil. Attach wire from loose sleeve to audio amp. Slide sleeve
up cable until sharp drop in volume - caution because of capacitive
coupling into other conductors, this will be a drop and not
a cessation.
Have not actually tried this, just a suggestion.
--
73 de G4SDW Gareth Evans