Figured out a trick for tracing intermittent wires in the 737 overhead panel

Been working on a 737 that had a flickering fault in the overhead panel for almost two weeks. Every time I'd hook up my meter, the problem would disappear. Finally tried something different: I used a cheap tone generator and probe set from Amazon, cost me about $35. I clipped the tone generator onto the suspect wire at the connector, then slowly went along the wire bundle with the probe while gently wiggling the harness. Found the break in about 20 minutes near a cable clamp where the insulation had chafed through but only made contact when the plane was in certain flight attitudes. Anyone else use tone tracing for intermittent faults, or do you stick with the old wiggle-test method?

2 comments

2 Comments

martinez.anna23d ago

Ha! I can barely trace the kids' lost toys, let alone wires.

-1

burns.ruby22d ago

Used to think tracing wires was just for electricians too, honestly. Then we had this mystery flickering light in the basement that drove me nuts for weeks. Finally caved and bought a cheap toner and probe set, and it was like magic finding where the dang thing split off from the wrong breaker. Ngl, I felt like a total nerd but it saved calling in a pro.