The Ryobi Power Tracer - Tests and then turns off the power

[@Careerextendersmassagetools]

thanks for your comprehensive answer to why to use this rather than shorting. Nice invention. I have deleted my previous comment, made ignorant of the apparent facts.

[@maximpulse]

Wow, thank you! This is very gracious of you. I don't blame you at all for your reaction. When I read the package text it seemed to me a person couldn't really tell what the heck it did. Ryobi named this product the "Power Tracer", but I always called it the "Circuit Popper" which I think would've been a more descriptive name. I think "Power Tracer" is too vague of a name. Of course, I had no control or input over naming or packaging. I am greatly relieved how people are catching onto what it is and what it does. Then again, inventors are notorious for worrying and micromanaging everything (such as writing my long replies) so I try to exhale and move on.

[@stefanodimartino6518]

Odd question but can you use this if you have the old screw in fuse style breaker box?

[@maximpulse]

Fuses with the elements that melt actually respond faster than circuit breakers, so yes, this should work beautifully with the old screw style fuses. There is an in-between screw type which has a reset button and with those you can try the Ryobi Power Tracer, but I can't predict if it will trip or not. I can't imagine any harm in experimenting, but I'm just the crazy inventor…I don't represent Ryobi…so I can't make any promises. I just know I never hurt any fuses or circuit breakers in my years of research. I blew up and melted plenty of prototypes but that was just the tester…never damaged any wiring or breakers, etc. I hope I am describing that clearly.

[@stefanodimartino6518]

maximpulse thank you for the quick reply!

[@maximpulse]

@@stefanodimartino6518 Let me know how things turn out!

[@ryana8286]

Can’t wait for my to come in tomorrow!

[@maximpulse]

Hi Ryan! I'm curious to hear what you think of it. It really is a unique new tool…there's nothing else like it anywhere.

[@ryana8286]

maximpulse it worked great until I went to trip a 120v 20 amp receptacle, but the previous electrician made the receptacle a 208v on a double pole 40 break. It tripped that break but it fried the ryobi circuit tracer. It wouldn’t trip anything after that so I have to get a new one.

[@maximpulse]

@@ryana8286 Hi Ryan, Neat! You managed to find an unusual situation to test it on. Home Depot should exchange it for a new one. The Power Tracer is such a new product it will need a period of time to find vulnerabilities and incorporate solutions to solve them. It's hard for the engineers to imagine all the possible challenges it might face. Meanwhile I appreciate your feedback!

[@speedwayperformance1]

Hi, have you tried tripping a ceiling fan light socket with the adapter?

[@maximpulse]

Yes I did. I used two adapters. One to go from 3-prong to 2-prongs, and then a two-prong to light screw-in adapter. It worked fine for me. But Ryobi does not recommend using any adapters with their version of my invention, so doing this is "walking on the wild side". You can see a demo video I made of me tripping a ceiling lamp here, but this was with my prototype of my invention (that is, not Ryobi's version): kzbin.info/www/bejne/opDXlmCVrql2mdk

[@speedwayperformance1]

@@maximpulse thank you

[@maximpulse]

@@speedwayperformance1 Let me know how it goes for you!

[@wootexclusive8499]

So, it "safely" trips a breaker? How so? And I see it says resi only. So no 20 amp & above breakers? This could make circuit tracers a thing of the past...

[@maximpulse]

I am the inventor of the circuit breaker tripper/tester so I used my prototype in all sorts of interesting situations. I did ultimately come up with a design which worked great for 15 and 20 amp breakers. The "trick" is the tester allows a huge surge of current but only for a fraction of a second…so ultimately it is really only passing a small amount of current (8 amps total…less than a toaster). But the circuit breaker "thinks" it is a short circuit so it trips. But to make one for larger breakers such as 30 amps would require some insanely large and expensive components, so to keep it affordable and portable, etc, it was designed just for 15 or 20 amp breakers. And yes, Ryobi has an encyclopedic list of cautions in the accompanying booklet. During the 10 years I spent developing this I did all sorts of things I shouldn't have, but I was learning partly by blowing or burning components up! Interestingly, I never harmed any breakers of wiring.

[@hometooled5152]

Do you still have this? I am willing to pay handsomely for it, thanks

[@maximpulse]

I'm the inventor and I can't find any anywhere since Ryobi unexpectedly discontinued it. Companies are very odd in how they make decisions about products, both in how they manufacture and in marketing.

[@maximhurwicz9226]

@bigbubba5595 Why? The spike lasts only about 1/120th of a second. It is about the equivalent of 8 amps of power. The brief spike fools the breaker into seeing a total short circuit (which it is not). Madness or genius?

[@NahGonLie]

Awesome

[@maximpulse]

I am so glad you like it!

[@irthlingz9670]

cool!

[@ourlittleisland]

yes!