Needed: device to check outlets relationships to each other.

[zztop7]

Question: Does the following device exist.
When you have many electrical panels & many breakers in a very large house it is a >pain< to find out if multiple outlets are on the same breaker [even if panels are nicely labeled].
It would be extremely helpful to plug a device [#1] into an outlet [duplex, double-duplex, etc.], and then take another device [#2], plug #2 into another outlet and see if #2 communicates with #1 and shows [lights, etc.] communication or No communication.
I realize that you could put long leads on a multimeter for continuity, but maybe there is backtracking beyond the breaker.
I have the device that locates outlets to specific breakers [not totally accurate], but the exact breaker does not matter.
The issue is simply whether different nearby outlets are on the same breaker.
Electrical supply houses are looking for me; no luck so far.
zz.

 

[DonH50]

The easiest'ish thing to do is to turn off all but the breaker under test and then turn on lights and plug in lamps into outlets to see what comes on. Repeat ad nauseam. Takes time and is a pain to reset clocks etc. I have tried other tricks like using a X10 pair and such but it's hard to imagine something that would find just the circuit of interest.

 

[zztop7]

The easiest'ish thing to do is to turn off all but the breaker under test and then turn on lights and plug in lamps into outlets to see what comes on. Repeat ad nauseam. Takes time and is a pain to reset clocks etc. I have tried other tricks like using a X10 pair and such but it's hard to imagine something that would find just the circuit of interest.

Yes, thank you.
I will still search for the "device".
Respectfully & Best to you,
zz.

 

[GaryProtein]

The little voice in my head tells me I want to label every outlet and switch in the house with the panel and breaker number that serves it.

Then I come to my senses and tell that little voice the task is of little value, way too big and would probably take two full days to accomplish.

Good luck finding what you are looking for.

 

[Frank is here]

You can get a device that sends a signal down the wire then with another device ......by placing externally against the cable it picks up the signal in the wire, as used also for telephone and ethernet wire strands testing and sorting in a bunch. Don't do anything unless you know what you are doing....electricity is a killer

 

[DonH50]

The little voice in my head tells me I want to label every outlet and switch in the house with the panel and breaker number that serves it.

Then I come to my senses and tell that little voice the task is of little value, way too big and would probably take two full days to accomplish.

Good luck finding what you are looking for.

That is exactly what most labs and commercial buildings do, but during the build (or expansion) and not after the fact when it is much harder. I made sure our electrician labeled our breakers when we built our house, and again when we finished our basement (adding a sub-service). But, it didn't take long to find a mistake or two, and some of the original wiring I find befudding (e.g. we have GFI's as required in our master bathroom on the sockets near the sink, but one of the lower outlets nearest one sink goes to a GFI on an outlet to the boy's bathroom down the hall!)

Frank, I thought of that, or just a beeper (oscillator at one end, pizeo buzzer as a probe), but some of those require direct attachment at one end (dangerous if you don't know what you're doing and a little scary even if you do) and the non-contact types I tried (few years ago) coupled enough through the (off) breaker) that I still could not resolve all wires to their breakers with 100% accuracy. In my case I could narrow the problem to a few outlets and breakers so it took only a half-hour or so to convince myself what was and was not on a given breaker. Thirty minutes mainly to run (walk, crawl) back and forth upstairs and down flipping breakers on and off...

 

[zztop7]

DEVICE - has been ordered.

DEVICE - has been ordered. I will experiment & let everyone know in a few weeks.
Thank you everyone for the replies.
DonH50 - I like how you ended: "Thirty minutes mainly to run (walk, crawl) back and forth upstairs and down flipping breakers on and off..."
Best to all,
zz.