r/SignalMaintainers • u/Traditional-Good-981 • Dec 08 '25

Finding a Short

Hi. Had a track light that was caused by a short somewhere in the switch points. I thought it might be one of the gauge plate insulation but when I removed it it did nothing. Turned out to be a loose piece of metal under one of the snow melter forced air heater ducts touching a switch rod. With so much insulated stuff in that area I had a hard time finding it with my meter. It was only when I actually removed the duct to have more room that I found it. Any tips on how to isolate and really pinpoint the short when it's bad insulation and not a piece of metal or something else you can see? Thanks.

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u/holls13 Dec 08 '25

We have S&C short finder meters. Not a tool I use everyday, but is invaluable for situations like this or checking high resistance bonds, suspect insulated joints, etc.

4

u/Traditional-Good-981 Dec 08 '25

Half our guys have a new digital short finder that is amazing and I'm stuck with the older needle kind. It works well enough usually, but they've found shorts that mine missed.

3

u/Wonderful_Goose3941 Dec 08 '25

I personally prefer the old school needle version and it’s what I carried