Electrical Testers

[paulbloggs]

What electrical testers do you take on site with you? Obviously other than a multimeter.
Are there any brands or particular models that are preferred? Multifunction or single function? Logging or not?
Insulation testers, RCD testers that sort of thing.

I love my Fluke 79 but they are just too expensive and I suppose it will get worse now.

[ians]

Fluke equipment are a good investment. Bought a fluke 286 for R4500 years ago. Sold it for R 7000 second hand.

[ians]

I use a fluke 1653, i bought for R10 000 complete with cables and software. Now the cable and software alone costs R10 000. Thanks to the crap exchange rate.

[AndyD]

I have to say I'm a bit of a slut when it comes to test equipment brands. I have some testers that are high end brands such as Chauvin Arnoux, Fluke, Megger etc but I also have testers I use regularly that are cheaper brands such as Uni-T and SEW where I've studied and researched the offerings available and not seen any reason for paying three or four times the price for a Fluke. I also have old testers that are brands such as Kyoritsu, Simpson and Avo that I purchased as an apprentice and still use.

I have a couple of newfandangled MFT's but I still use separate testers for my day to day use. It's just what I grew up with and old habits die hard.

Many times in their efforts to dumb down testing procedures by introducing microprocessors into testers they actually create problems that were never there in the past. We never had issues with 'ghost voltages' or a requirement for Lo-Z ranges or add-ons when we used analogue voltmeters. We never had problems obtaining a Ze reading with a loop impedance tester whereas the MFT's often refuse to test due to 'noise'.

People making tests they don't fully understand or using test equipment they don't fully understand is one of my pet hates. Any time I see someone looking puzzled about a 93V reading with a digital tester on a disconnected wire just makes me want to kick them in the face. Yeah, I know, I'm getting old and crotchety but this 'go or no-go' testing that the new generation testers are striving for gets my goat. If I want an earth impedance reading I want an actual reading...in bloody ohms, not a red or green light.

Okay, rant over....as you were everyone

[Justloadit]

Its the same as saying, is 225.3V OK to run my washing machine?
Similar to the thermal breakers where a recently qualified electrician called me up and said the Chint thermal motor breakers were crap as they trip when set to the motor rating after about 20 minutes.
Theres a thing called internal heating, and it is after all a thermal breaker, and what was the ambient temperature i asked?
Analogue dials are not 1% accuracy. I had to explain that there is nothing wrong with the breaker, and to add 20% to the dial to compensate for internal heating and ambient temperature, and after all the breaker should not be in direct African sun light at midday in the middle of summer either.

[AndyD]

They publish derating figures for all thermal trip devices where you apply compensation on a sliding scale above or below a certain ambient temperature. At 40C a normal 20A MCB will usually trip around 18A ish as a rule of thumb. Same applies for manual motor starters and motor thermal overloads. With MCB's, grouping factors also apply when you've got multiple MCB's mounted hard against each other like in a DB or MCC.

Example, see page 2;

TECHINFO_MCBS.PDF