The cheap toner trick I laughed at actually saved my butt on a bad splice

I used to see guys carrying those little handheld toners from Harbor Freight and figured they were junk. Then I had a 300 foot drop in a crawlspace last month with the labels all peeled off the cables and zero time to trace everything by hand. Borrowed one from a coworker, and it found the right line in maybe 2 minutes after I spent 40 minutes guessing wrong with the built-in beeper. Now I keep one in my truck but I still refuse to pay the name brand price for it. Anyone else had a budget tool surprise them on a rough job?

1 comments

1 Comment

stone.jesse28d ago

That little handheld toner has saved my ass more times than I care to count. Had a similar mess in a data closet once, fifty plus cables all identical, no labels worth a damn. The expensive tracer I had kept picking up interference from the bundle. Grabbed the cheap one from the guy's bag, hooked it up, and walked right to the jack on the other side of the wall. Now I grab one off Amazon for like thirty bucks and it sits next to my meter.