Power Probe

Today we're looking at the ECT3000, one of our most popular tools for locating shorts and broken wires in ve It can be some of the biggest headaches in automotive troubleshooting. It's a simple tool that will hopefully make that task a lot easier. It's a two-piece tool. There's a transmitter that will connect to the car's battery. T And then you're simply going to follow the signal with your handheld receiver. And the point that you lose a signal is generally where your short or your break is. But it does take a few techniques and you've got to understand how it's picking up the signal and everyt So right now we have So I'm going to plug the ECT transmitter into the transmitter is, that tone is indicating you do have a short on that system. Normally you're with turning that tone off. But if you're in the car moving stuff around, maybe you'll do somet So especially if you've got some intermittent conditions going on, just connecting t So the transmitter now, excuse me, is injecting the signal. It definitely has a short. You'll turn t But there's one very important step when using t If you don't lock the signal in, for example, if your short is on a lighting circuit that goes to every corner of the car, you could end up not going down the wrong circuit. Once the signal is locked in, and you usually hold it over the wire at the distance you want, lock it in. Now, even if the circuit splits in multiple directions, it's only going to go on the branch of the circuit that has the short. So that's a very important step. Also understanding where it's picking up the signal. There's a spot where it says short here. T And it picks up off that bottom edge. And it's also directional. So see if I hold it 90 degrees, it doesn't indicate anyt So we're ass We don't want to have to pull that stuff as we're following the wiring through the car. So we'll start following t So we're picking up our signal. And So I always say, especially if it's Then you're going to check it didn't change some direction on you. And see, keeps telling me w Let'see if it can change direction on me again. And at some point you're going to lose the signal. And then checking other directions, obviously nowhere else around. Now you can be pretty confident your short or your broken wire is, you can pull that panel now. And that's where your problem is going to be.