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Anybody recommend a good electric cable/stud locator or any tips for finding an electric cable in the wall. I'm wanting to put up a shelf near a cooker
I love screwfix...just saying.
I have one, but it beeps when it finds a stud for me to screw into...bit it also beeps when it finds an electrical cable where I shouldn't drill.
WHATS THE POINT WHEN IT DOESN'T TELL ME THE DIFFERENCE!
The advice of "cables down go up and cables up go down" is generally good but, as some amateurs don't follow the basic rules,
Neither do some "Professionals" especially were there are stud walls; have seen elect cables running at 45 Deg's to sockets
That shouldn't happen as neither the copper wire nor the aluminium shielding that some cables are wrapped in are magnetic. most of these detectors pick up on the heads of the screws used to install the gypsum board/drywall onto the studs as they are made of steel so by simply picking up on two or more screw heads you can tell where the studs lay.
Cable detectors generally use electrical induction to pick up on the electromagnetic field created when current is running through a cable.
Faraday's Laws of Induction I believe.
The Stanley IntelliSessor homebaseuk/stanley-intellisensor-pocket-stud-detector
Is an example of where it all goes wrong. (I have one!) Worst bit is it reports EDGE when in fact it should say Cable! Pipe do not bang a nail in here!!!!!!!