Wire Tracer vs Tone and Probe: Which One Finds Your Cable

Quick Answer

Two tools, one name

"Wire tracer" means two different tools, depending on who is searching.

Electricians mean a circuit tracer. You connect a transmitter to an electrical circuit and follow it with a receiver to find the wiring or the breaker that feeds it. These are built and rated for line voltage.

Network, phone and AV techs mean a tone and probe. A tone generator connects to one end of a low-voltage cable. At the other end, you sweep a probe across the cables, and it sounds when it is near the one carrying the tone. That is how you find one cable in a bundle, at a patch panel, or in a wall plate full of unlabeled runs.

The two are not interchangeable. A tone and probe is for low-voltage cable. A circuit tracer is for electrical wiring. Decide which wire you are tracing before you buy.

Which tool for which job

The tone-capable tools we sell

Digital Tone & Probe Kit: when tracing is the job

If you spend your time finding cables, start with the Digital Tone & Probe Kit. It is a tone generator and a probe sold together. The generator connects by RJ45 for a terminated run, or by alligator clips for bare conductors, and the probe follows the tone at the other end.

It also checks a jack for PoE (Power over Ethernet). It acts as a powered device and shows on four LEDs which pairs carry power. That tells you power is present. It does not read voltage or PoE class.

What it is not for: electrical wiring. Its RJ45 port is rated to 60 VDC, so keep it on low-voltage cable. To prove a run is wired correctly once you have found it, pair it with a cable tester.

VDV MapMaster 3.0: when you trace and test in one trip

The VDV MapMaster 3.0 is for installers who want wiremap, length and tone in one unit. It puts tone on a run with 4 selectable cadences. Follow that tone with a probe.

For finding runs, its ID remotes do a different job than tone. Plug the remotes into the far-end jacks, and the MapMaster tells you which run you are on, for up to 20 runs. One remote comes with the tester; numbered ID remotes for more runs are bought separately.

Once the run is found, it tests it: wiremap to T568A or T568B, including opens, shorts, miswires, reversals and split pairs, and length from 0 to 1,000 ft (305 m), accurate to plus or minus 3% plus 1 ft. It works on shielded or unshielded cable from Cat3 to Cat7, and on coax.

What it does not do: certify a link, test link speed or measure PoE.

LanSeeker: a quick check with tone built in

The LanSeeker is a pass or fail wiremap tester with built-in tone. It has four pair lights, a shield light, four fault lights and a tone light, and no display. Use it when you need to know a cable is good and occasionally need to put tone on a run. Follow the tone with a probe.

What it does not do: show which wire is at fault on a screen, test link speed or measure PoE. If you need a length reading, use the MapMaster.

Products we do not sell

You will see these named in other guides:

• Fluke Networks IntelliTone, a tone and probe line.
• Klein Tools VDV500 series, Klein's tone and probe kits.
• Klein Tools ET450, sold by Klein as a circuit breaker finder and wire tracer kit, for electrical wiring.

For live electrical circuits, buy a circuit tracer rated for line voltage from an electrical supplier.

How to choose

1. What is on the wire? Data, phone or coax: a tone and probe. Line voltage: a circuit tracer.
2. How is the far end terminated? An RJ45 jack takes an RJ45 lead. Bare conductors need alligator clips.
3. One cable or many? Tone finds one cable at a time. ID remotes identify several runs in one pass.
4. Do you also need to test the run? If yes, a tester with tone (MapMaster or LanSeeker) saves carrying a separate tone generator. You still need a probe to follow the tone.