Stud/Voltage Finder

[RJH]

Any recommendations?

My 20-odd year old Lidl seems to have developed a mind of its own, giving
random false positives and wildly sensitive positives. The reviews at Screwfix
etc seem to be mixed.

[Thomas Prufer]

Post by RJH
Any recommendations?
My 20-odd year old Lidl seems to have developed a mind of its own, giving
random false positives and wildly sensitive positives. The reviews at Screwfix
etc seem to be mixed.

I have an older Fluke and a newer non-Fluke -- I like the newer one better. It
beeps in addition to lighting up, so I can stick it somewhere, go to the panel
and flip breakers until it stops beeping. Sometimes useful if no line of sight.


Thomas Prufer

[RJH]

Post by Thomas Prufer

Post by RJH
Any recommendations?
My 20-odd year old Lidl seems to have developed a mind of its own, giving
random false positives and wildly sensitive positives. The reviews at Screwfix
etc seem to be mixed.

I have an older Fluke and a newer non-Fluke -- I like the newer one better. It
beeps in addition to lighting up, so I can stick it somewhere, go to the panel
and flip breakers until it stops beeping. Sometimes useful if no line of sight.

Thanks - but not sure they do them anymore, I can only see voltage detectors
on their web site. And likely to be too expensive for me, even second hand.

I'd need at least metal and voltage (like my current Lidl - doesn't do studs,
my mistake) - stud would be nice too.

[alan_m]

Post by RJH
Any recommendations?
My 20-odd year old Lidl seems to have developed a mind of its own, giving
random false positives and wildly sensitive positives. The reviews at Screwfix
etc seem to be mixed.

My house is built 1908 with lathe and plaster walls where the plaster
can be an inch thick in place. I have various stud finders and none of
them find studs reliably giving both false positives and failing to find
anything in the wall.

I've had a lot more success with a Ziron M40 metal detector which can
find the nails in the lathe which in turn are nailed into studs/joists.
However owing to the thickness of the plaster, and maybe the old plaster
composition, this is not always 100% reliable. And, before anyone
suggests it, the magnet method doesn't work at all except on one wall
where the old plaster was knocked off and replaced with plasterboard and
then skimmed.

I have two multi-purpose stud finders that claim to detect voltage. On a
wall that has been chased out for wiring, the chase plastered back over
and then tiled these also completely fail to detect mains voltage
beneath the surface. The problem with voltage detectors is that people
using them and not finding mains voltage/wires assume that it is safe to
drill.

If you view Youtube videos on these products they are always
demonstrated under favourable conditions but read the (Amazon) reviews
and there are many low score reviews indicating that they possibly don't
work that well in real world condition.

[Andy Burns]

Post by RJH
Any recommendations?

I'd recommend against the Bosch GMS120, it gives both false positive and
false negative readings, for volts and studs :-(

[Theo]

Post by RJH
Any recommendations?
My 20-odd year old Lidl seems to have developed a mind of its own, giving
random false positives and wildly sensitive positives. The reviews at
Screwfix etc seem to be mixed.

I had good results with a Zircon - it found studs where all the other tricks
(magnets, tapping, 1980s stud finder etc) had failed. Can't remember the
model but it was yellow and looked like a computer mouse. Might have been:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Zircon-StudSensor-e50-Electronic-Finder/dp/B002R5AVVY/

but they no doubt have newer models now.

Theo