Fluke 117

[Cubit]

in what way,you had faults

Not at all.

Network test kit, was in discussion with them with regards to best options - they (in)conveniently have a fair amount of overlap in functionality between models. They knew where I was buying from etc.

[arfur mo]

Hey all,

Just got this new mutimeter the Fluke 117. It is great with its non contact live conductor test. What are the others using?

Eric

very very real old school - pair of penknives, each attached to a legnth of single and placed either side of the tongue and 'tasted!".

yup, real old school but have to admit a tad risky, especially above old style window soffits with florescent lighting using twin twisted - best 'jump' i witness was some 30 feet - ouch! lol!

Fluke DVM otherwise .

[SouthernBrad]

I've got the Fluke 117 too,nice size for the tool bag and the backlight comes in handy too.

We are no longer supposed to be checking mains with our meters and all have a Kewtech Kewstick Uno and a Kewtech Kewvolt1 with proving unit.

Think it's because a couple of yanks have been electrocuted and a few UK guys by being stupid.

[sixwheeledbeast]

We are no longer supposed to be checking mains with our meters and all have a Kewtech Kewstick Uno and a Kewtech Kewvolt1 with proving unit.

I have heard that before.

A friend of mine was taught to only use a "Kewvolt" like device to test for dead.

I suppose it has a clear LED only display and less to go wrong.

[arfur mo]

Arfs neon screwdriver, it's a Fluke in most of our eyes!.

roflmao!

remember - i never started it .

tbh i find it hard to trust solely any test device that relies on a battery, lost count of spurs with reversed connections, or the live wired to earth in client provided spurs, and even those provided by qualified sparks, i just don't trust anyone with my life.

I had a Fluke non contact tester which has a very useful LED light built in and a convenient mounting clip. Really ideal for junction boxes in dark corners or EWD's at night etc,. During testing i discovered that it had gone intermittent. New battery installed but a few days later intermittent again, has now been smashed to bits - as i tend to .

Now I first test with a Fluke (D15) leads on ohms for continuity, then from both sides of power to earth, no reading i then test with a non-contact screwdriver (looks like a neon but has LED) having check agains a known live lead, no light i test with a neon. if still no light i use my Fluke Cable tracing receiver on speaker and listen for the increased buzz when placed close.

Even then i never grab the wire outright, i touch with the back of my fingers (so i can't involuntary grasp the wire) in a swipe action. If others contractors are on site, and i have moved away for other works it all gets tested again when i return.

[arfur mo]

I still have a giggle over this, but serves to warn and instruct.

Last firm i worked for I got asked to help on a PJ by my then supervisor, pretty rare as we were not always the best of friends, and i was very wary he was setting a trap.

Anyway, i decided to help as another engineer was also helping, we are shown around, i'm asked to turn of the power to the panel. That means ladders up, kill SAB (EWD to you younger guys), panel in cupboard under stairs i pull the fuse in adjacent spur, remove flex, offer to mark cables and remove panel. Get told as it was his job he would not trust anyone else - charmed i though!

What i was not told was he wanted to move the panel, he was too busy preening his feathers to his client about his Granley days and duck shooting (he was nicknamed pull - bang -bang, now read in for pure irony).

I like to get done, get paid and get home, so i started cracking out the 1st floor i'm going like a train, all detectors up and starting in the ground floor, other guys sorting the new SAB run and security lights, all this before he has even got the new panel out of the box

Next i hear a lot if expletives and a strange repetitive rapid banging coming from under the stairs, tbh i thought he was having self served sex. he had thought i'd pulled the main CU fuse for the sockets, he was so busy talking he had not checked, and opened one of those round brown plastic junction boxes, attacked the wiring - which was still very live.

So imagine, he is crouching and trying to reach over a small safe making a natural guide for what followed, his fingers suddenly hit live - his arm reacts shooting back, his elbow know crashes into a stout corner support post, and his funny bone - which reacts by sending his arm guided by the safe forwards again, and fingers directly back into the j/b like a piston action.

apparently this involuntary cycle was repeated several times, but he did not count them for some reason - he was very angry, yet all the client, the other engineer and i could was rollabout laughing.

[petrolhead]

Its always funny until someone gets hurt.

Then its f hilarious.

[matthew.brough]

^^

[datadiffusion]

Going to say did you send flowers arf?!

[cybergibbons]

I've got a Fluke 17B, bought it in Hong Kong as I could inspect it first to make sure it wasn't one of the cloned ones. It's a very good, basic, electrician's meter.

 

I've got a lot of time for the Amprobe meters, got an AM-140 as my main meter and love it.

 

I think the voltage-only two pole testers are great. There's so little reason for most people to measure current in mains systems, so removing that from the picture means there is so much less to go wrong.