Looking for cable finder stud finder recommendations

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#293237 8-Jan-2022 10:50

Cable finder stud finders. Any positive or negative recommendations?

I'm interested in cable finding for 240v. The stud finding is nice to have.

Btw, are they sensitive enough to find internal phone cables? That would be a bonus.

SirHumphreyAppleby

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#2845204 8-Jan-2022 11:02

I quite like the Franklin Sensors units. They make versions with power sensing.

Franklin Sensors receive generally positive reviews. I've not yet tried mine on insulated walls where I have seen reports of issues. They may also find cables or pipes which are near the wall surface (it does not tell you what they are, only that something might be there). You still need to have a rough idea of where you are looking so as to not drill a screw into a pipe. I feel the same is true for all stud finders, no matter the cost.

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#2845222 8-Jan-2022 11:16

After reading many reviews I got a Franklin sensors unit from Amazon, cheaper than New Zealand. It is more effective than others I've tried but none of them are perfect.

raytaylor

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#2845258 8-Jan-2022 12:33

I use 3 cable toners/tracers

The "middle" range one is a MY6818 - The one i would recommend to you

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zspctImhksQ

About $180 on aliexpress

I have a bigger one for deep underground cables, but this one works really really well for finding a data cable inside a wall so we can cut a hole and pull it out.

Also does buried cables - not super deep, and can be direct connected to 240v cables too

Edit: just re-read your post. Mitre 10 sells stud finders with 240v warning identification, and even cheap multimeters come with a 240v warning sensor in them. My one which i cant remember the model of, can be held up against a wall and a light comes on if it detects AC current. Those are probably not what your looking for if you need an exact location. They are only accurate to about 30cm.

The MY6818 will get you down to about 5cm accuracy but requires direct connection to the cable, rather than just passively searching for AC current at 50hz frequency.

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#2850940 14-Jan-2022 17:29

That is a nice looking device. A couple of things I'm unclear on - what is the process for finding 240v cables in wall with that one?

I see some good deals on the MS6818. Is there a difference compared to the MY6818 you recommend?

raytaylor

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#2851047 14-Jan-2022 23:01

I think MS = mastec brandname, MY = other brandname.

Double check the model number of the one i have within the video - if there are any differences the one i have in the video will be the one to get.

Here is a copy of the manual. Its in engrish though.

http://www.meterstesters.com/assets/js/upfiles/files/PDF/Cable-Locator-MS6818.pdf

Option 1) Passive 50hz detection. If you plug a heater into an outlet to create some current, the reciever can just pick up any 50hz signal - such as the mains voltage frequency used in NZ.

Option 2) See manual

But Option 3) The way I like to do it without needing to worry about discharging a circuit, or fiddling with a live one, is based on the principal of a loop.

Here is a short video i made explaining it

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RAXl1lYhufE

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#2851083 15-Jan-2022 08:57

The Zircon stud finders available at Bunnings I have been most impressed with, not sure about phone cables but they do find studs with accuracy I am stunned by and electric cables.

They are cheap, they out perform my expensive B&D one.

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#2851088 15-Jan-2022 09:56

We got a bunch of zircon stud finders from M10 a few years ago. Would also recommend them.

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#2851120 15-Jan-2022 12:52

I have the Zircon i65 One step that i bought from Amazon.

It detects the presence of AC live wires but I have not used this function as OP wants to.
I would recommend the Zircon ones compared to the BD ones.

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#2851145 15-Jan-2022 14:40

Have the Zircon L550 and would recommend, does stud/edge finding, metal finding and live AC. Has an audio toner, a nice little laser pointer and a little groove to help you easily mark where you need to as well.

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#2851151 15-Jan-2022 14:57

qwertee:
I have the Zircon i65 One step that i bought from Amazon.

It detects the presence of AC live wires but I have not used this function as OP wants to.
I would recommend the Zircon ones compared to the BD ones.

I second this, mine is pretty good too, but wouldn't bet my life on it and risk working close to live wires.

There are other AC testers, I have a fluke pen tester that I trust more, and even that doesn't always work.

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#3434895 16-Nov-2025 09:18

A few weeks ago I ordered MS6818 from this seller. It arrived 8 days:

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005006123657777.html

The manual is difficult. The English is perfect and somewhat meaningless in places. It required some thinking and comparison and a sleep on it to decipher the intended operation method(s).

So far I've used MS6818 to trace mains, coax, and ethernet.

Mains was easiest. Plug MS6818 into the wall phase and neutral and press the start button. To make it safer and easy I made a test lead using a plug cable and colour coded insulated banana jacks from jaycar. All the power points I needed to trace were on the same rcd so that was relatively easy. I found manual mode with a sensitivity around 4 was ideal.

I noticed detection on aluminum window frames and gib corner joiners, and a few other random places that attract signal.

There is a gotcha when distracted. When you pull the receiver out of your pocket and turn it on and press manual mode initially the setting is least sensitive and there will be no detections. Easy mistake when you're doing several things at once.

For coax detection I used the included alligator clips with a short standard cable. It seemed to work.

For Ethernet I used the outer two connectors. It mostly worked. Ethernet is twisted pair. If you pick a twisted pair it definitely won't work.

I have not tried the ground spike method yet mainly because I don't have a long cable to hand.

WARNING: Imo some knowledge of building and electrical systems is required to use MS6818 safely when working with mains voltages.

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#3434899 16-Nov-2025 09:49

For stud detection I borrowed a Zircon e50. With some existing building knowledge it was adequate for that part.

For some reason on the windows at my place the side studs studs stop at the lintel. I don't recall seeing that before. It seems very odd to me. I've googled around for some examples and not located any. I worked around it.

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#3434956 16-Nov-2025 11:17

The best way to make it work is to "complete the loop".

The signal is transmitted out the red and returns via the black. The cable gives off an AC wave which the receiver is picking up. It uses a really high frequency so the signal will leak off the cable and on to other metallic pathways in its goal of getting back to the black wire.

So I use a long roll of cable and clip the black on to that, out a window and then put the stake into the earth.
Then i put the red on to the earth pin of the outlet.

The signal travels down the earth wire to the fuse board, then is bonded to the electrical earth stake outside, travels through earth and returns via my stake and black wire.

Alternatively if you have access to both ends of the cable, you can hook the black up to the other end of the cable, obviously via an extension lead of some sort but make sure you keep the black line away from the target cable to be located.

But you want to keep your return path away from the target pathway otherwise they can off-set or cancel each other out.

Another way to do it is to bond the distant end of the cable to earth with another earth stake (not included in the pack, screwdriver works)

At points where the signal is concentrated - such as when traveling down a cable, the receiver will detect the best signal.
At points where the signal is spread out - such as when returning via earth, the receiver will pick up almost no signal at all.

But the signal can take a shortcut on the return path if other metal stakes are in the ground nearby and provide less resistance for a distance before returning the signal to ground - like a metal fence in the return direction.

If the other end of the cable is not earthed, or bonded back to the black return wire, you are relying on the natural leakage of the high frequency to detect the cable, and cranking up the transmit power and sensitivity of the receiver.
This is why metal windows and other parallel metallic pathways will show a signal.

If i remember right, the manual shows hooking up both of the wires to the same cable - i haven't thought too much into the theory of how this works.
I imagine you are tracing the neutral back to the fuse board, which is bonded to the earth bar, then returning back to the socket via the earth wire. But I would have thought you would need a high power level because the return path on the earth wire running parallel to the neutral / target trace wire would cancel each other out.
Though the earth wire is bonded to an earth stake so there will be some leakage from earth back to the wire through air that might mean its not all returning via the parallel return pathway. Some signal would be transferring to earth and then leaking back into the cable over distance.

Anywhoo, get a second earth stake or a roll of single core wire to extend the black to hook up to the other end and you will find its soooo much more effective than just relying on signal leakage.

Ray Taylor

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#3435053 16-Nov-2025 12:05

Thanks again Ray, it was surprisingly effective and easy using phase and neutral with a test plug lead and the signal strength indication. In my manual this is 3.2 Dual Pole Applications.

I appreciate it will be more effective with a loop method. I'll try it with my next small project.

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#3435056 16-Nov-2025 12:18

Every electronic stud finder I’ve had has been close to useless and a massive time waster.
Best by far is a nice strong magnet - just swoop it around to find the drywall screws. Always works great.

[update] Sorry - rereading your post I see you are more interested in finding cables than studs! Is that so you can tap into one or to avoid them? Generally there won't be a cable anywhere unless there's a switch or power point above or below. Flush boxes are usually pinned to studs and cables should run up or down from any switch. If you pull the switch out (with the circuit deactivated) you can tell if the wiring is all coming down from the ceiling or up from the basement.