Live wire detector

[ukmercenary]

Hello

So I need to detected to see if a live wire is where I think it might be.
Before I start drilling into it.

I did by one of the cheap detectors from B&Q but it was rubbish so sent it back.

Does anyone know of a decent one? maybe the Bosch PMD 7?

HSS has one for the floor but its £50 a day!

Cheers
Paul

 

[JBR]

Perhaps better in the Electrics sub-forum.

I don't know about recommendations, but I've heard that if current is being drawn (the more the better) the more likely that detectors will sense their location.

 

[Dave54]

I've got an old one I was given "free" from a tool place when I bought some other gear nearly 30 years ago. It works OK as long as the preset pots are adjusted correctly inside the unit.
The problem I have with it (and with any other tester of this type for that matter) is while it is useful to show that there actually is a cable there, and roughly where it is, I don't trust it as an absolute "there is definitely nothing there" test.
In other words if you get a positive result then you know there is something there, but a non result isn't so definite, and it's not easy to test against a known cable as there are too many variables.
The only one that's supposed to be really good within it's limitations is the Bosch professional unit that's around £500 IIRC.