AC Hidden Wire Detector, Broken Wire Detector, 220V AC Live Wire In Wall Scanner, This little circuit will help you to scan the line of a 220V live wire in the wall. The FET gate is connected to a capacitive metal sensor (which is usually a simple metal plate). When you hold the sensor close to the wall, the LED will indicate the current flow around where it detects the wire and cause an attached buzzer to give sound. System works on 9VDC.
This hardware could also be named “INVISIBLE BROKEN WIRE DETECTOR”
Today we use many gadgets and electrical appliances which need a power connection from cellphones, refrigerators, cookers etc. For all these we supply power using wires insulated inside a PVC covering, for protection of both wire and user, but sometimes this becomes a problem!!
Over a period of time due to stress and other factors the wire inside the insulation gets broken and stops functioning, It is difficult to detect the exact location of this fracture and many a time the component needs to be replaced, This is Why we need the “INVISIBLE BROKEN WIRE DETECTOR”. It locates the breakage point very accurately and the insulation can be removed at that point and the wire can be repaired saving us a lot of time, money and material resources.
Portable loads such as video cameras, halogen flood lights, electrical irons, hand drillers, grinders, and cutters are powered by connecting long 2- or 3-core cables to the mains plug. Due to prolonged usage, the power cord wires are subjected to mechanical strain and stress, which can lead to internal snapping of wires at any point. In such a case most people go for replacing the core/cable, as finding the exact location of a broken wire is difficult.
In 3-core cables, it appears almost impossible to detect a broken wire and the point of break without physically disturbing all the three wires that are concealed in a PVC jacket. The circuit presented here can easily and quickly detect a broken/faulty wire and its breakage point in 1-core, 2-core, and 3-core cables without physically disturbing wires. It is built using hex inverter CMOS CD4069.
Gates N3 and N4 are used as a pulse generator that oscillates at around 1000 Hz in audio range. The frequency is determined by timing components comprising resistors R3 and R4, and capacitor C1. Gates N1 and N2 are used to sense the presence of 230V AC field around the live wire and buffer weak AC voltage picked from the test probe. The voltage at output pin 10 of gate N2 can enable or inhibit the oscillator circuit.
When the test probe is away from any high-voltage AC field, output pin 10 of gate N2 remains low. As a result, diode D3 conducts and inhibits the oscillator circuit from oscillating. Simultaneously, the output of gate N3 at pin 6 goes ‘low’ to cut off transistor T1. As a result, LED1 goes off. When the test probe is moved closer to 230V AC, 50Hz mains live wire, during every positive half-cycle, output pin 10 of gate N2 goes high.
Thus during every positive half-cycle of the mains frequency, the oscillator circuit is allowed to oscillate at around 1 kHz, making red LED (LED1) to blink. (Due to the persistence of vision, the LED appears to be glowing continuously.) This type of blinking reduces consumption of the current from button cells used for power supply. A 3V DC supply is sufficient for powering the whole circuit.
Leave a Comment