Cable avoidance tools (CAT scanner) are the classic, industry standard locators used to determine the exact location of buried cables immediately prior to any form of excavation work taking place.
Hitting and damaging buried services when excavating is costly and potentially very dangerous.
When combined with a signal generator, the cat scanner becomes a versatile, all round pipe and cable locating and tracing package.
Cable Avoidance Tools have three classic detection modes each with their own unique advantages:
The POWER mode is the quickest way to detect most buried electricity cables by detecting the signal created by the electrical current itself.
The RADIO mode detects re-radiated “radio” type signals that are often present on metal pipes and cables allowing their position to be determined using just the Cable Avoidance Tool alone.
The GENERATOR mode is used to detect the signal applied to a metal pipe or cable by using a Signal Generator. In addition the Generator mode can be used to detect the signal being transmitted by a Sonde for non-metallic pipe tracing.