# Ideal Suretrace circuit tracer, which model?



## MotoGP1199 (Aug 11, 2014)

I'm looking at purchasing a new wire tracer. I was looking at the ideal Suretrace as they have a good reputation. I had an amprobe that worked decent for a handful yours but it finally gave up. I'm hoping to upgrade to something better. There are 3 different models from ideal.

61-955 - $900 red led
61-957 - $1030 green oled
61-959 - $1585 green oled w/ clamp & battery pack

I have a few questions.

1. Is the only difference between 955 and 957 is that one has a green display? I can't seem to find any other difference.

2. Is the 959 model really worth the extra cost for the clamp?

3. How useful is the clamp? When do you really need it?

I am mostly chasing circuits in commercial buildings and equipment rooms (live and dead), Identify breakers, etc. I will be using it for some conduits that go under standard concrete slabs. Maybe use it on a house here or there but not often for that.


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## joebanana (Dec 21, 2010)

Since they don't seem to be critical ckts. A "tone and probe", or the cheapo plug in model, which will get you close enough. Shared neutrals can be tricky.


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## nrp3 (Jan 24, 2009)

I have the older version of the OLED one. I don't have the clamp and don't know I've come across any situations that I've needed it either. I don't know that it's better than other brands but it does well enough for me.


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## VELOCI3 (Aug 15, 2019)

I’m not sure if this is made anymore but i find this one to be the most useful for one particular reason. When you turn the breaker off the transmitter shuts off. This is because the live transmitter has no batteries (dead circuit transmitter has batteries). It’s frustrating when you shut a breaker off and get a false positive, walk all the way out to the transmitter and find the power is still on. With the AT_2000 you know you turned the correct breaker off because the transmitter stops transmitting. 

http://content.amprobe.com/DataSheets/AT-2000-A Wire Tracer Series.pdf


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## nrp3 (Jan 24, 2009)

I can see where thats useful. Mine only has one and you don't know you've found it for real until you go back to the transmitter and see the voltage indicator out.


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## Jlarson (Jun 28, 2009)

I use mine with the clamp when I've got like a run in a j-box with no splices and I want to know where it ends up, works better if there is current on the circuit.


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## MotoGP1199 (Aug 11, 2014)

Update:

I bought the 61-959 model. I've used it a handful of times in the last month or so. It has worked flawlessly every time. This is way better than my older amprobe (AT 2005).

Today I had to track down a circuit that fed a meter for a cogen unit at a high school. No one had any clue where the wires were fed from and none of the equipment was labeled. I hooked up the tracer to the neutral and one of the 480 legs (live circuit). I then went around the school to 27 different panels before I found the correct one, this took about 30 minutes only. The meter started reading in the 30's on some panels and 0 on others. When I found the correct panel it read 88 on the display with the door closed and 99 with the door open. This panel was 450' away through two locker rooms, a gym, and a corridor in the janitors closet. I got high readings on 3 breakers, I lowered the sensitivity and was able to easily identify one breaker at 92 and the other ones read in the 60's. The breaker was not labeled. 

Turned off the breaker and it appeared to be the correct one as the power was now off. However on the wires on the breaker they had used phase tape with the colors Brown, PURPLE, and yellow, at the meter for cogen the wires were taped Brown, ORANGE, yellow. 

For testing purposes with the power now off on the circuit, I checked the meter at the panel and it would not get a reading with the door closed, if I opened the door with the meter on the correct breaker I got a reading of 67. Unit still work well at this distance with no power on the circuit. With power off for the circuit I was able to go up in the various crawl spaces and I could find the correct conduit by merely holding the meter to the conduit. This attic was a nightmare as you could only see about 10' in front of you due to the maze of bracing for the roof structure. 

This meter saved me a bunch of time today. The induction clamp works OK but I could not get a reading using the clamp around a wire at this distance. However I have used it on other cables that were closer without issue. The clamp is handy but I don't know if it's worth the extra cost for the work that I do. If you need a good wire tracer I would highly recommend the 957 model without the clamp. The 959 is useful for low voltage as you can just clamp it around a cat 6 cable and then identify that cable in a bundle somewhere else.

I have also used this meter to trace a conduit that was burried 18" under a 4" concrete deck hooked up to a dead circuit. It worked well and i found the juntion box that someone had plastered over.

Hope this helps someone in the future.

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## Inggalaxia (Aug 26, 2021)

MotoGP1199 said:


> Update:
> 
> I bought the 61-959 model. I've used it a handful of times in the last month or so. It has worked flawlessly every time. This is way better than my older amprobe (AT 2005).
> 
> ...


Thank you for your feedback I am still interested in get one of these but no sure, before I was hesitating about amprobe AT-8030, but now I am not sue


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## macmikeman (Jan 23, 2007)

You know what? That Klien one at Lowe's and Home Depot ain't half bad. It is a bit different in how it operates from the other more popular ones. First pass and it "learns" the panel about your breakers and then you run another pass of the panel and it nails the right one to turn off.


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## splatz (May 23, 2015)

macmikeman said:


> You know what? That Klien one at Lowe's and Home Depot ain't half bad. It is a bit different in how it operates from the other more popular ones. First pass and it "learns" the panel about your breakers and then you run another pass of the panel and it nails the right one to turn off.


Don't buy the Klein, it's just the Century one at Horrible Freight rebranded. I have heard it's OK for $21, but at the Ideal 61-534 is better and it runs about $80 at supply houses. Ideal however has maybe the worst web site in the entire industry, I can't find a link to the thing. 









Klein and Horrible Freight - Same


Check out this blog post: Klein Breaker Finder is Identical to the Hi-Tech HTP-6 Circuit Detective This guy noticed that the Klein and Hi Tech devices looked mighty similar except for the plastic, so he took them apart and concluded the Klein is a rebranded craptacular. This is my...




www.electriciantalk.com


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## paulengr (Oct 8, 2017)

The induction clamp thing is so so and mostly for tracking buried conduit when you can’t shut it off and need to dig and it’s private so can’t call the dig service number or if you are in a pull box where there is nothing to connect to. If you can clip directly onto the conductors don’t waste your time.


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## Greg Sparkovich (Sep 15, 2007)

My 2 cents: I do a lot of residential testing in old homes with knob & tube and "enhanced" wiring with years and years of add-ons using the shadiest of methods. The SureTest series is the best tester I've used and has saved me hours of "Divide and Conquer" time searching for broken wires/connectors in a circuit. I once even found an AFCI issue with a bad connection.

More info on the kits:





Open/Closed Circuit Tracers - Ideal SureTrace 61-955 | 61-957 | 61-959


No circuit tracer has ever been so user friendly. SureTrace Circuit Tracers feature the only rotating display in the industry.



www.licensedelectrician.com


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## Almost Retired (Sep 14, 2021)

macmikeman said:


> You know what? That Klien one at Lowe's and Home Depot ain't half bad. It is a bit different in how it operates from the other more popular ones. First pass and it "learns" the panel about your breakers and then you run another pass of the panel and it nails the right one to turn off.


southwire and ideal work the same way
i have used both
the ideal may be a touch better

a lot of times if it is a twin breaker, it is very very difficult to find it, but at least you dont have to turn off the whole house to find it


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## Greg Sparkovich (Sep 15, 2007)

Yeah, much of my circuit tracing is on live circuits. Or if the neutral is dead, I'll send signal down the hot and vice versa.
Whether the circuit is hot or not, I find the plug-in transmitter is the tool I use the most and I like the fact that I don't have to care whether or not it's hot.


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