Extech CB10 Circuit Breaker Finder

September 24, 2017

Lately I have been having some issues with an outlet where the UPS I had was plugged in. I know it was the outlet because anything that got plugged into it was pretty lose. I have never changed an electrical outlet as that is something I would prefer to leave it to an electrician. I have seen people do it, but it's just not something I wanted to do myself. Then I found that my 1300 cyberpower UPS was not working and every time I would unplug it, everything on the battery outlets and non-battery outlets would just die or completely shutdown. This is not our house but I thought it was time to take care of this problem before the rains start. From experience I know most problems will start when the rain starts and you get power outages which we do at this place. Or when the summer starts with those very hot days which thankfully we got through most of them.

So first things first, I was able to return that UPS back to where I got it from. Wiith the money I got from that I was able to order a new one since it was on special too, I just added the difference and I'll be making another page for that. This page is about a neat circuit breaker I found on amazon. It's the least expensive one I found and I liked that it didn't have a side button like others which means that once it's turned off, I don't have to worry about draining the battery if I put it in a tool bag. I also don't need this for daily work so this is the other reason I don't need anything expensive but I still wanted something that would make this process a bit easier on me. It works just like my network toner so that's what I liked about it.  Plus now I don't have to go turning random breakers on and off. So here are the pictures.

Here's how the package arrives. Unfortunately it does not come with a case or bag to keep it safe like my toner did. It would be nice if it did have one to at least protect it when not in use.

The back.

Here's everything you get in the package. It's nice that they include the 9v battery and I did check it and it came at 10 volts which was nice.

The reason I like this one is because it also has the outlet tester on the left which I didn't have any. If you have looked for testers you'll notice that they sell just these type of testers without the finder. You get both with this so it just made sense to get this one. Specially for just the occasional use. At least now I can test the outlets wherever I am or if the need arises. Specially if you are in an older house or apartment. Years ago I had a landlord changed all the outlets after I told them that I couldn't plug my computer in any of the old outlets. So it was very nice after they did that.

Unfortunately mine came all dirty as you see here. I don't know if that's glue or what but this is what I meant about it feeling cheap. The plastic just feels cheap. For a new item you at least expect it to be clean. I'm just glad that it worked out of the package.

Moving on to the outlet tester piece. I plugged it into an extension just to check it and both green lights lit up. This is what a normal outlet will show you. So it was nice to see it working. I did read the manual before starting any of this. You can even download it from their website which is what I did before I even bought it and read it.

This is how you store the outlet piece on the end of the finder. So it just plugs into the end of it. Although it makes it a bit longer, it's nice to just keep them together so they won't get lost.

Here are the instructions that came with the new outlet I got at home depot. Tiny text, but after watching a few tube videos it helped a bit more. Now I'm not an electrician and don't suggest doing any electrical on your own. Although if you have old electrical outlets, etc. in your house, I definitely suggest getting an electrician to look or fix things in your house. I have a relative whose house burned down due to bad electrical wiring. So you have been warned. This goes without saying, some common sense and a bit of basic knowledge can go a long way.

Here I am finally changing this very old outlet which has given me a few headaches. It's my very first one so it was a bit scary, but the tool made it easy to find the correct breaker to turn off before I started. Not only was the outlet old and lose when I plugged anything to it, but some of the screws were also lose. Unfortunately for me, one of the wires was pretty short so I couldn't really pull it out too much to give me some room. But I managed to get it done.

The new outlet ready to be put back in. One of the wires was pretty short so it made it harder to get this installed, but I got through it. Electrical tape is not necessary around the outlet, but I saw someone do it and I just like to do it since there were other wires too close in there. Plus it won't hurt anything. You just need to make sure your screws are tight on each wire.

Here you can really see the difference between the very old outlet and the new one. Not to mention how lose everything was on the old one, both the wires and the actual plugs. Anytime wires got moved, things just shut down. You can imagine how annoying and bad that was.

I turned back the power to test it here once more before putting back the cover and it was all good to go. My nas is on this outlet and as I mentioned before, every time we got a power outage, it would just turn off which is not what you want your new hardware to do. I'm just happy to have this finished and with the new UPS, I know I'll be ready for any outages. I have also tested the new UPS to make sure it will stay on when there is no power so it's all good now. I can't tell you enough how many times my UPS's have saved my hardware so this is something that I like to make sure is working from the start no matter where I am. This will save you many headaches later on.

In short, the circuit finder is a good tool to have if you live in an older place or just around in case you do move again and want to test the outlets. It was affordable and although the finder seemed very sensitive, it works as it should. I did have a bit of guessing at first due to that, but I turned that down as suggested in the sheet manual and it worked out. So keep this in mind and it will at least get you close to the right breaker so you're not turning all of them on and off trying to find the right one.

I got this one from amazon in case anyone is wondering but I'm sure you can find them at your local stores as well.