Thread: Just so you don’t get too confident in your equipment. See video

There's an old saying:

........" A man with a watch knows what time it is.....A man with two watches is not quite sure"......

Just so you don’t get too confident in your equipment. Three GFCI testers on a known good floor mounted circuit. I made this video today.


<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JJ5SAAsAQTg">



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Gene,

I would change the title/heading from 'GFCI testers' (because you are not testing the GFCI function) to 'cheap 3-light circuit testers' (because that what you are testing - 'cheap' '3-light circuit testers'.

What were your results when you followed those with a SureTest?

Those things are worth what they cost ... when used as night lights (and they are actually kind of expensive for night lights, guess the cost is for 'the industrial design look'?).

We've beat those cheap 3-light testers to death before ... ... use a SureTest, with the voltage reading, that gives a good and reliable (and relatively quick) test.

While the SureTest can do things the tester in the photo below cannot do, the tester in the photo does something that even a SureTest cannot do - checks voltage H-N, H-G, N-G all at the same time.
(top meter read between top H-N slots, lower left meter reads between N-G, right meter reads between H-G)
(as receptacle is normally installed with ground down)

First photos shows correct polarity (voltage H-N and H-G), second photo shows reverse polarity (voltage H-N and N-G).

Hi Jerry, yes I agree completely.

I suspect the majority of inspectors are using the type of circuit testers shown in the video. Probably nearly all of the inspectors are.

Originally Posted by Jerry Peck

Gene,

I would change the title/heading from 'GFCI testers' (because you are not testing the GFCI function) to 'cheap 3-light circuit testers' (because that what you are testing - 'cheap' '3-light circuit testers'.

What were your results when you followed those with a SureTest?

Those things are worth what they cost ... when used as night lights (and they are actually kind of expensive for night lights, guess the cost is for 'the industrial design look'?).

We've beat those cheap 3-light testers to death before ... ... use a SureTest, with the voltage reading, that gives a good and reliable (and relatively quick) test.

While the SureTest can do things the tester in the photo below cannot do, the tester in the photo does something that even a SureTest cannot do - checks voltage H-N, H-G, N-G all at the same time.
(top meter read between top H-N slots, lower left meter reads between N-G, right meter reads between H-G)
(as receptacle is normally installed with ground down)

First photos shows correct polarity (voltage H-N and H-G), second photo shows reverse polarity (voltage H-N and N-G).

- - - Updated - - -

Hi Jerry, yes I agree completely.

I suspect the majority of inspectors are using the type of circuit testers shown in the video. Probably nearly all of the inspectors are.

Originally Posted by Jerry Peck

Gene,

I would change the title/heading from 'GFCI testers' (because you are not testing the GFCI function) to 'cheap 3-light circuit testers' (because that what you are testing - 'cheap' '3-light circuit testers'.

What were your results when you followed those with a SureTest?

Those things are worth what they cost ... when used as night lights (and they are actually kind of expensive for night lights, guess the cost is for 'the industrial design look'?).

We've beat those cheap 3-light testers to death before ... ... use a SureTest, with the voltage reading, that gives a good and reliable (and relatively quick) test.

While the SureTest can do things the tester in the photo below cannot do, the tester in the photo does something that even a SureTest cannot do - checks voltage H-N, H-G, N-G all at the same time.
(top meter read between top H-N slots, lower left meter reads between N-G, right meter reads between H-G)
(as receptacle is normally installed with ground down)

First photos shows correct polarity (voltage H-N and H-G), second photo shows reverse polarity (voltage H-N and N-G).

Did you actually confirm what was going on at that outlet? A wiggy would give you a very quick answer.
I suspect that two of the testers are defective, and give erroneous readings at every outlet.

Another thought, I have had outlets you can "wiggle" the tester and change the readings??? Any chance that outlet is loose internally or has loose connections and you were "wiggling" it while changing testers?? I know those things aren't a positive result but I would be sure to rule out any other options first. Just a thought.

Originally Posted by Patrick Hartshorn

Another thought, I have had outlets you can "wiggle" the tester and change the readings??? Any chance that outlet is loose internally or has loose connections and you were "wiggling" it while changing testers?? I know those things aren't a positive result but I would be sure to rule out any other options first. Just a thought.

Are the readings changing because the outlet is wiggling ... or because the tester is wiggling?

Could be poor connections in the tester.

Patrick

I find I get the same results as you, but I think it is attributable to outlets that are used often. At least in my experience.

In 12 years of inspections (I have no idea how many that is but its a bunch) I have never had an outlet test incorrect that wasn't confirmed by repairs as being incorrect. Even the "wiggly" outlets that change the tester to date have all been found incorrect. That doesn't mean I haven't had outlets that tested correctly that may have been bad and the tester didn't pick them up, always possible and I don't 100% trust those inexpensive testers either, I use a much more expensive one that by theory shouldn't have mis-readings. If I find any movement in an outlet I call it out, was trained to do that since moving outlets can wear on components such as copper wiring, they are designed to be solid mounted and therefore should be as such.