I bet it was a neon screwdriver!

[holmslaw]

..

 

[ericmark]

However much we want to ridicule what the guy says it is however true you can't show live wires without a reference point and to use ones body as a reference point has some fundamental advantages as it is after all the difference in potential between your body and the item made contact with that gives you a shock.

I used a neon screwdriver when working in Hong Kong on a Robin tunnel boring machine a lot to prevent getting a shock and on that job it was really brought home to me how important it was to have something to reference to. It is the only time I have worked on a 220vac IT system and after that I can see why they are not used.

OK he was not referring to an IT system and in the UK we can normally use some earthed item as a reference point but the ohms per volt of the meter needs to be high enough so that any current leaking enough to give us a shock will register on the meter. Also one should not be able to have selected the wrong range or be reliant on batteries.

These

testers are just expensive neon screwdrivers and if one holds one end they can be used exactly like a neon screwdriver without the protection of the limiting resistor built into the screwdriver and these

work exactly like a neon screwdriver the cheaper £29 version only detects voltage although one shown also detects magnet energy.

I think we need to consider what is reasonable to expect the DIY guy to buy and at £42 the Martindale Safety voltage tester is expensive. The VT12 model with Audible warning and LED's instead of neons is cheaper at £28.50 but it still has very limited testing ability. The plug in testers like this

cost very little more than the Martindale VI13700G and we can hardly expect the DIY guy to get both.

If one conducts a risk assessment and compares the safety features against the probability of DIY person buying the device one quickly realises that they are unlikely to lash out on a 17th Edition test set even if they could use it. And that does not prove dead anyway so the question is:-

WHAT SHOULD WE RECOMEND

I am all ears because I honestly don't know the answer but I would not condemn the neon screwdriver out of hand.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

We should recommend the philosophy that you do it properly or you don't do it at all.

 

[Taylortwocities]

FWIW, i think there is nothing to say voltage checking devices must have audible warning, but can be very useful when working alone. Saves many trips up/down stairs to look at the meter.

Yes, I agree but it is (again) jungle bunny's wish to embellish actual with his beliefs.

I would accept if he were to say

"voltage checking devices could have audible warning"
or
""in some situations an audible warning can be useful"

but "must" indicates adherance to some written rule or regulation.
There isn't one so why put it in?

Unless there are different regulations in Zaire? In which case you should restrict your comments to "Electrics - Outside of UK"

 

[holmslaw]

..

 

[ban-all-sheds]

I would accept if he were to say

"voltage checking devices could have audible warning"
or
""in some situations an audible warning can be useful"

but "must" indicates adherance to some written rule or regulation.
There isn't one so why put it in?

All voltage testers should give audio and visual indication.

?

 

[1john]

who cares what he wrote, if he cant see well enough to use his meter he shouldn't be working with electricity. Whats he gonna do when he does deaf?