Extech TG20 Wire Tracer and Tone Generator

The Extech TG20 Wire Tracer and Tone Generator is an excellent tool for electricians, technicians and DIY enthusiasts. The device is easy to use and offers a variety of features that make it a great choice for tracing wires and identifying breaks or shorts. The built-in tone generator is a great feature that allows you to easily locate wires even in crowded or hard-to-reach areas. The ability to trace both shielded and unshielded wires is also a major plus, as it allows you to work on a variety of projects.The device is well-built and feels durable in the hand. The LCD display is easy to read, and the buttons are intuitive and easy to use. The volume control is also a nice touch, allowing you to adjust the tone to suit your needs.Overall, the Extech TG20 Wire Tracer and Tone Generator is a reliable and versatile tool that provides great value for its price. It's easy to use, and its features make it a great choice for anyone working with electrical wires. Whether you're a professional electrician or a DIY enthusiast, this tool will make your job easier and more efficient.

I bought this tracer to help me to sort out some telephone lines that were run on the outside of my house behind some of the construction materials. At first, I tried connecting the red lead to one wire and the black lead to another wire of a wire-pair. I seemed to only get a modest signal out of the tracer. However, I noticed that on both pages 1 and 2 of the instruction booklet, they mentioned connecting the black lead to ground and the red lead to the wire. This was specifically for if a load was on the line or identifying tip vs. ring. I used the ground-connection method just for tracing my line, which was unterminated. Having black connected to a ground resulted in a very positive pickup of the signal over the whole length of the wire, a distance of about 80 feet. This was through wood and stucco. It was possible to identify the specific cable among several other cables. The ground that I used was just the electrical ground line to my breaker box (exposed inside of my garage). It should work the same with an outlet ground, after taking some precautions to make sure it is wired to ground correctly.Wire tracers that I used when I was working with a communications organization (used tracing telephone lines) would give a very clear indication when the toner leads were just connected across a wire pair. I did not find that with this device. But with the black lead connected to a ground and the red lead connected to a conductor to be traced, the tracer in this set worked very satisfactorily. It appears to me that the manufacturer should emphasize this method of operation, unless I just have a unit that is operating spuriously. If you are having difficulty getting good results with tracing, I would recommend using it in this manner.

I purchased this to help with a home network wiring project. The house had a few RG6 and Cat5e wires and I wanted to start by labeling them. The product works, however the signal is weak after just 50 ft of wire. Working with Cat5e, I connected the tone generator directly to one pair of wires. At the other end, the probe could find the signal, however only if the pair of wires was on the same side of the Cat5e cable as the probe. Because Cat5e is a twisted set of 4 pairs, you have to slide the probe up and down the wire 8-12 inches until the energized pair is on the same side of the cable as the probe. The pros who wired our office several years ago had tools that worked a lot better but I think were in the $500-$700 range.So, for $25 I would buy this again for small projects. It was certainly a lot more convenient than using a 9v battery, DMM and some gator clips to figure out which wire went where.

This product works as advertised, however the beeping to signal the line is very very faint. The beeping is hardly audible when trying to locate a wire behind drywall. The device is simple to use, but the faint beeping is only reason for 3 stars. If they could boost the audio it would be great device.

I wish I'd bought this decades ago! Had some weird wiring in my basement- with this tool I located some unsafe buried lamp sockets and was able to disconnect that circuit. It's like having x-ray vision into my basement ceiling, well, almost. It takes some practice like anything but it's pretty neat being able to track hidden wiring. At this price definitely worth trying out. Thanks.

I'm working on the field of data cables for a long time, always need the tone tracer & probe to find the bad data wires. Have been using many difference brands, most of the good one is expensive but does not mean those not going to get bad after a couple of years. I thought to save money try to get the cheap product, after read some review of this & see very high review, so I decided to purchased one for the work, turn out it was big mistake, it's too good to be true for try to save $. Received this item & bought to the job, connected the tone generator the 1 end of Cat6, turn on the probe & heard very loud tone, I thought this one will be good one, then I went to the patch panel side & wasted almost 1 & 1/2 hour to trace the cable but could not get any tone, but at the other end it very loud, Finally I went to start to trace at the very first of the cable, when moved the probe about 5 feet the tone is already very low & when get to 10 feet, can't not get tone at all. Only 10 feet not 100 feet away, This is just a piece junk, don't waste time & save little $ to get the expensive one. No wonder why is cost too low. Have no idea why some one give so high review for this one?