The Fox & Hound 3388 HotWire is a live circuit tracing kit that consists of a versatile Fox HotWire Tone Generator (Toner) and a high performance Hound HotWire Inductive Amplifier (Probe). The Fox HotWire is powered by a 9 volt battery for Low Voltage tracing or it can be powered by the High Voltage line it is toning. Also, it can generate multiple tones (Pulse or Warble), provides a visual and audible continuity test, and integrates our own True Trace and TripLatch tests while providing overload protection up to 250 VAC. The Hound HotWire is a battery operated handheld lightweight Probe; containing both a thumbwheel Sensitivity control and Signal Strength indicator LED. It has a built-in LED headlights to illuminate dark areas and reduce fluorescent light noise, a bandpass filter to suppress unwanted frequencies, an earphone jack for noisy or quiet work areas, and an easy access battery cover.
The Triplett HotWire is a wire tracer for both 120VAC and 220VAC circuits. It consists of both the HotWire Fox Transmitter and the HotWire Hound Receiver. The HotWire Fox applies a Radio Frequency (RF) tracing signal to the wire to be traced. Also, this RF signal propagates down the wire radiating the signal along the length of the wire. The HotWire Hound senses the location and strength of this RF signal, and in doing so, identifies the path of the wire to the user.
Furthermore, the HotWire can also trace other common wires, whether powered or unpowered. For example, it can trace telephone and cable TV wires, LAN cables, security system wires, and many others. The HotWire Fox, in addition to generating RF signals, also generates Audio Frequency (AF) signals which can be sensed with the Triplett Hound, Hound 2, Hound 3, or Hound Jr. In some cases, tracing a wire using the AF signal is advantageous. The HotWire Fox also includes a very useful feature called TrueTrace.
The HotWire's RF signal can be sensed through both building materials and most metal conduit. The HotWire can even trace shallowly buried underground wires, like those commonly used for `Invisible Fences', cable television, telephone, or low voltage landscape lighting. The HotWire also includes many other useful features that make it a valuable test tool for many wire tracing applications.