I am diagnosing my well line electrics. I have a non-contact voltage detector. At about 10" from the box, it shows live, and after that dead. Oddly, on the other side of the wire, the live signal extends perhaps another 8" past that, then dies. Visual inspection reveals an intact sheathing. Everything upstream checks out with the tester. When the breaker is shut off, everything goes dead, so it appears not to be secondary wire interference.
How common is a wire break in (I believe) 12/2 cable. It's 220V for a submersible well pump.
Any help is appreciated. Shall I cut the wire at the break and install a junction?
Is there an easier test without cutting the cable?
Electrical – Wire break diagnosis help
electricalwiring
Related Solutions
Looking at the schematic...
The red wire is R, while the blue wire is C.
If this ribbon flexes , it is possible that it is broken. The LED's work that tells you that you at least have some parts of the cable working. The buttons are usually in a matrix - address and row. or a control signal and simply a row. You would be missing the control line in this case. So I would check the circuit board for a bad solder connection where that cable attaches. Checking continuity of the conductors on that cable - I would be flapping the cable a bit (while testing for continuity) to see if I lose continuity - looking for a cracked cable. Obviously this cable connects to a single touch pad. Simple solution to verify bad touch pad. Trace the wires that need to be connected for any one of these functions (heavy, normal, light, rinse only) then using a jumper wire JUMP them with the wire and see if the function lights up (remember you might need the door switch in the locked position). If it does not try the same for the other non-working buttons and also one of the working buttons just to be sure. None of the functions work except the previously defined working function - then your controller is defective. If the functions all work then your keypad is defective. Remember you are jumping them on that beautiful ribbon cable.
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Best Answer
As guy that did this trade all his working life, I can DEFINITELY tell you that these proximity / non contact voltage detectors ARE NOT to be depended upon 100%.
They have their place and time, and they are to be treated as such. I have a Fluke™ Volt Alert 1AC-A II and while it's a great tester, it definitely is not the "End-All" of testers and it cannot ever be replaced by a wired / probe / lead tester.
I use these proximity testers for "quick and dirty" GENERAL testing purposes.
Get yourself a Fluke™ T5-1000 from Home Depot or Lowe's