0:47 Klein ET40 Voltage Tester $15.00 1:29 Klein ET310 Circuit Breaker Finder $43.00 2:03 Klein TI 250 Thermal Imager $300.00 2:50 Klein CL390 Digital Clamp Meter $90.00 4:00 Klein ET20 Wifi Borescope $87.00 4:57 Klein ET600 Megohmmeter $154.00 6:02 EXTech 382252 Earth Resistance Tester $230.00 All prices are from Amazon as of 04/04/2022
I'm amazed we didn't see a rotation meter for doing 3 phase motor wiring. If you don't get the legs in the right place the motor won't turn in the correct direction. One thing I made up for testing is a break-out cord for measuring load amps on household stuff. It's basically a male and female cord cap, wired together with a service loops hanging out the side so you can grab the conductor with your amp-clamp. I can test hot, neutral, and ground. You may ask why you want more than just the hot leg available. The way I see it the hot and neutral would be equal, but if they are NOT then you have the option to see if something is leaking off to ground. I also find this useful for doing temporary power, such as fairs and music festivals. You have no idea what people are plugging in till you get issues with tripping breakers. (say, a line of trinket vendors) This way you can point a finger and tell them they need to run another cord to another outlet. The same goes for all that stuff on a stage. I had a guy tell me his lighting was 150 watts each. My meter told me the printing was worn off and they were 750 watts each. Big difference!
Some better voltage testers than this extremely basic Klein one have phase rotation indication built in (even as a 2 pole tester). You can get ready-made line splitters designed for the job for the clamp meters too.
Journeyman here, we work on everything from 32.5 kva incoming to our substations rectified to 850DC fed through 5000amp breakers, low voltage train detection track circuits, and fiber optic vital communication systems. (Public Transit Train environment) I would like to see a video on a TDR if you have any tips and tricks aside from the basics. Great videos bro, informative with humor and fun splashed throughout. Nicely done.
hey dustin, of course, thanks so much for the effort you put in and sharing your vast experience. i would say though, there are definitely circumstances where a a "tick tracer" or "sniffer" as i call it has distinct advantages. for instance, if you are replace an old K/T fixture, which has no ground conductor, and you are not sure if it's a switched neutral wiring senario, a voltage tester is useless for determing if there is a "hot" wire there. a sniffer will identify which wire may be energized. when one is in a crawl space or attic and one wants to determine if a cable or wire is energized, as in the case of a switched leg, and it is not possible to get to the junction box for the fixture, then a sniffer works in determing that. i use the Fluke 1AC11 and have used many others but always prefer this tool. also, when there are times that a sniffer indicates a hot wire, but isn't, this is often caused by capacitive induction by another current carrying wire, and if one touches the insulation of the suspected wire and the voltage reading is caused by capicitive coupling, then the sniffer will stop indicating a voltage reading. my main observation is that just trying to use a volt meter is not always practicable and sniffers are definitely a worthwhile tool in the electricians "arsenal" thank you again for doing what you do.
SO I am not an electrician, however my father, grandfather, uncle and and brother, were all in the trades and IBEW members, so I am very failure with the tools you speak of here, and I have purchased a number of those tools so that I can work on own property. But I am never above calling in the pros when I have reached my limits, and I do know them. Of the tools you shared, and I have, not a fan of is the circuit tracer. It does not always provide me with a reliable trace to the correct circuit breaker. For the thermo, I use a FLIR device I can attach to my phone, like the bore scope, you can than save pictures or videos of what you are looking at. Great tool for the money, and so many uses. Aside for looking for hot spots, you can find cold spots. As thermo cameras work on the principal of the difference in temperature and not a set temperature. Fun fact, use it to locate damp and wet areas. As a water evaporates, it will leave the spot cooler than the surrounding area, thus showing up on the screen as cold spot compared to the surrounding area. Overall great content, I really enjoy your teaching methods. My father was an instructor back in the 70s and 80s for the trade, and though I did not become a certified electrician, I learned a lot from his teachings and helping out around the garage and house.
I keep seeing you talk about how electricians have more tools than anyone. You've obviously never met a Millwright, lol. I'm both. I've got a lot of shit. Worked in the trades all my life. Still have my bullfloat, etc. I cut into the trades on (Cement Mason). All my carpentry stuff, power compound mitre boxes, etc., became a Millwright. Currently an Industrial Electrician. Millwright took the cake in sheer volume and price. Lots of pocket in tools in that trade. Love your videos. Keep up the good work.
I'm not an electrician but living in a house an electrician use to live in had me buying a handful of testers and tools i wouldn't have otherwise! I love the ET310 and the additional parts that go with it. We have a panel and a subpanel and some of the fixtures and outlets are hard to figure out what circuits they are on. The ET310 has really come in handy.... as well as your channel!
With electricians, there is no single tool that does everything, so you must have many different ones. With the automotive industry, they keep changing stuff so you have to buy all new tools every 3-5 years. It is true, automotive technicians do have a shit ton of tools.
I definitely agree although I would say not.rven aut techs have the most tools. I am a jack I have a metric ton of tools and the list grows everytime I go into harbor freight home depot or any electrical or automotive supply store lol
@@WrenchNinja91. Hi Neil Armstrong here. We astronauts have more tools than anyone else. Nobody will bring anything for you to the outer space if you forgot something. Is not like you looking on Amazon and get your thing next day lol.
One minor observation ; I prefer Boroscopes with a built in screens ( I use a Milwaukee M12 iteration ) . My reasoning is as follows; a phone is a vital piece of equipment , I for sure don’t want to risk dropping mine off a ladder . Borescopes are used much less often ! I also carry a Flir Camera , good for documenting set of conditions !
I'm an HVAC service tech and have a few meters. All my meters have amp clamps and can read mega-ohms and capacitance. After checking voltage, those are the three most common uses we have for our meters. Checking phases is less commonly needed, but I have a meter for that, too. I've been eyeing that Thermal imager, but for the price there are other tools I need to get first. I think HVAC would give you a run for your money on breadth and depth of tools we have since we do gas, light plumbing, sheet metal, electrical and electronic troubleshooting, air conditioning/refrigeration, and heating.
I have half of those personally but as a locomotive electrician, I use a Megger brand megger often, 1kv - 5kv for finding grounded traction motors, main generators, blower motors and dynamic braking grids. Otherwise, DMM and Amp clamp is the extent of non specialty equipment.
the signal is inside the wire not like a radio.. actually, Hydro-Québec developped a way to pass wifi ad the phone line thru the power line to your outlet. The patent was sold to probably telcommuication company so it never was release to the public because it would have killed a whole industry
So the cool thing is i work with a megger as a dutch electrician, ours is a lot older though. An ABB metrawatt. We can test for regular voltage, earth to ground, isolation problems, and we test our RCBO's with it. It's cool to see how other countries do their electrics and measure back.
I use a few of these, though not all Klein, I prefer Fluke and Amprobe as I think both are much better. I do like Klein’s AFCI/GFCI tester as well as their time-to-trip GFCI tester. There are a lot of decent borescopes that work with your phone, I keep a couple in the vehicle with different lengths. I do run a non-contact voltage tester (Fluke) and simple led volt meter (Amprobe) in my tool bag as both can help when you don’t want to pull the meter out, which is a Fluke clamp meter. The first thing you should get and every person should own is a non-contact voltage detector followed by a simple contact voltage detector, just keep in mind quality and accuracy can go hand in hand with price so don’t go too cheap. That said I keep a number of Harbor Freight cheep multimeters like $5 or free with a purchase which I keep just goes giving away when people ask to borrow a meter as I’m not loaning out the expensive meters I use for work.
I totally agree with getting a false reading on a tic, but in some of the commercial work that I have done, even if you are using a voltage meter, you are required check the reading for what you are working on with something you know is hot, so that you know your meter is working, and it isn't just saying you have no power when your meter could be malfunctioning! I found the hot sticks or tics as some call them, that the ones with the flash lights are prone to giving false readings. I finally bought a Fluke, no other fancy function on it. You can do the same test with it by checking it with something you know is hot and testing what you are working on, and even test it against multiple circuits. All of them can give a false reading!
@@waytospergtherebro so this is about my RUclips channel name now, Okay. One of the great things about America, is that 100's of thousands of men have died fighting for the freedom to say what you want. that means even people like you that like to hate. You ever think that you just don't understand it? I guess it makes you feel better to hate on me, though. If you were saying something legit, you would make a correction instead of attacking me for my faith in the one who died for the sin of the world. You keep on attacking me, though, and the next comment of hate will be reported as harassment! I promise that!
I am not a professional electrician. I have earned my living by designing electronic controls. But for my home use I have pretty much the whole set of various meters listed. The two items I am missing are a borescope and a ground resistance meter. Actually I could use some of my bench meters to make the ground resistance measurement. The borescope has been on my wish list for a while, but so far I have not found one that would meet my specifications. Otherwise, most of my meters are from Fluke, HP, TEK and Keithley. And something I would add to preferred instruments list for certain electricians is an Ethernet cable termination tester. On the other hand, my personal collection also contains a WiFi scanner attachment for my iPad Mini. And last, but not least, a 2-channel oscilloscope attachment also for the iPad. However, there is a popular saying that you never have enough of some goodies, and measuring instruments for sure belong into that category!
Im in the uk and use the megger MFT1721 multifunction tester the megger voltage and continuity tester and a plug in tester. The multifunction tester does everything
The UK has a company called Megger that makes electrical test equipment, including well, megaohm-meters. I know John Ward has done a review and shown off his Megger in doing various tests from high voltage insulation to earth resistance tests. So technically it's a brand name, just it's probably more well known in Europe than North America.
CAs a third generation union Sparky, My Father is a retired Electrical Testing Technician, Doing over 42 years in our union...I AM VERY familiar with Megger, the Brand! - We actually use it as an adjective...Like Channellocks, Crescent Wrench, etc..."We have to Megger it after we land the terminations"
@@mikenormandy9250 Megger is a verb when you say "We have to Megger it" because the act of measuring the insulation's resistance is an action (verb=action). Channellocks is a noun when you say "Hand me the Channellocks." Just FYI.
I have a few of these, including the ET310. One feature or tool which would be handy: the ability to test which circuit breaker is protecting a specific circuit when the breaker trips. The ET310 only works when there Is power in the circuit.
I am a third gen sparky, My Father before me was in electrical testing for over 32 years of his 42 total in the trade...I grew up KNOWING how IMPORTANT testing is in this field...I wish it was done more, Unfortunately, It's not....Out of our local's contractors, I believe we only have maybe 5% are testing companies (with Testing techs sprinkled in some contractors along with Lineman, Ground wiremen, Outside traffic signals, etc) Great vid dude!
When it comes to NCVT or Tic testers, etc - I trust it to tell me when SOMETHING IS LIVE...I DO NOT TRUST IT to tell me something is dead! - That is my motto with those! But, I LOVE that mini volt tester, Got it in a three-pack with a tic tester and an outlet plug tester!
Agreed. There is absolutely nothing wrong with using a tick tester if you do it properly. Never trust it with your life, but it is much simpler and often times safer because you don't have to get near anything live that is not insulated. I use them every day, but always check with a meter before I touch any terminals or bare wire.
I just opened up my new Klein circuit tracer - ET450 - today to un-fk the layers of crazy wiring in my old house. Worked great on finding the buried line to the garage. Not sure how deep it is. The ET310 works well if your house wasn't wired by crazy people over many years. There's an add-on kit for that, which allows one to adapt to an Edison light socket and find the breaker for that. As a note: many DMMs can measure current (amps); however, this means wiring your device in-line and can be pretty dangerous, whereas the CL390 (clamp meter) measures the electromagnetic field around a given wire(s) and is much safer.
Love these videos, EXTREMELY helpful for me as an electrician as well. I wanted to ask you if you could make a video on why you should never buy a cheap tester. Not many seem to be aware of the dangers that are possible with those. Thanks for the videos.
So helpful because he introduced the basic tools of an electrician? And that's not all, because none of these meters will check the impedance of short-circuit loops or residual current protection, the most basic measurements for an electrician.
Could you list out the model name and numbers for each product you went through? Description seems to be missing some. As a small property manager, really appreciate the excellent videos, thanks!
You are so correct in not liking the the tracers. First-time I used one was to turn off a 480 volt circuit that was in a large conduit then a 100' long through that had over 20 other live circuits from 120, 208 & 480 volt circuits. Keep receiving a power present signal but it was a false positive due to the wires indicating a voltage in circuits that I turned off. Is what you call a thermal scanner a cheap IR device or the better but expensive FLIR type camera. My FLIR gun cost over a grand 12 years ago but prices keep coming down. If you do commercial work spend the extra money on a circuit breaker tester that located and has axillary wire leads to handle up to 277 volts.Borescope appears to a great tool that I wished were around years ago. Think you are wrong with merger being a manufactures name. Started out using hand crank 500 volt meggers back in the 1960's. All were made by Huddle company. I have a 500 to 5,000 volt battery operated Wilson merger that works great. Never saw a sparky that owned an earth ground resistance meter. Ground resistance varies greatly especially between summer & winter. Old ma bell guys would wiz on grounded rods out in the boon docks to get system working instead of laying a circle of wet salt around ground rod to lower resistance. Thanks for another great vid. Caution you young just getting into this great trade: NEVER PURCHASE OR USE or tools, test or safety equipment from cheating lying scum bag lack of quality control communist china. Your life & safety of others not worth saving a few bucks on inferior cheating china garbage.
Great video Dustin I have a mini Klein too some people say it’s not practical but I like using it also have Klein plug in tripper and Klein tick tracer
when I started I could barely afford gas to get to work let alone anything beyond the wiggy, matter of fact the company I started with gave you the basic tools under a weekly payroll deduction plan, I worked for two companies at the same time ( one part time at night running conduit ) just to pay basic bills. its alot different now, I see apprentices driving new trucks, with an impressive set of tools, which hopefully means the pay has increased to match the skills of the new electricians finally.
Starting wage for an apprentice is around $13 - $15 an hour. Great for a 19 year old just out of high school and doesn't have any bills to pay. That new truck is probably a company truck, and many employers will supply the new folks with quality tools... they want you AND your tools to be reliable.
You’re gonna save a lot of people on the field with this video. I hate tick tracers and have been on the receiving end of a shared neutral after testing all the wires w those damn widow makers.
You can't test a shared neutral until you separate the joint. If you test them after you take them apart and one is hot, the tick tracer will beep. If you try to do it before you take apart the joint it will not detect anything because the neutral is only returning current but there is no voltage in reference to ground. Soon as you take the joint apart, the loaded neutral will lose its bond back to the panel and therefore become live at 120V or whatever the line to neutral voltage is on that circuit. Not sure if you already know this but just thought it might help.
@@illestofdemall13 nope, didn’t know and thank you for the detailed response! I understood WHAT shocked me but never understood WHY the tester didn’t pick it up.
@@Purgatoriesify So my method is take apart all neutrals with my lineman's pliers and make sure to separate them, then I will use the pen tester and/or voltage tester/meter on each one. Sometimes you will see a spark when you take them apart but not always. If I find one is hot then I will turn off more breakers til that one also turns off. I've gotten hit by them too and they are no fun. You're welcome, glad I could help.
What do you think is a good fault finder? A device that gives you length to fault. They are pretty handy in heat up, the only problem I find with them is if you didnt wire the house then you have to make good guess where the fault might be to minimize cutting into drywall to find it. They are expensive and are becoming more difficult to find.
I'd like to have a logging clamp meter that can be hung on a subpanel feeder wire to get a 24 hour view of actual power usage by a multiple circuits. I guess the flaw in that thinking is the way consumption may be seasonal, and when motors turn on and off you may get variance that might be hard to predict. But a quick view to see actual usage may be surprising.
I have the Klein ti-250 thermal imager, I can attest to how awesome it is. I'm publishing an article on how I discovered an electrical fault in an industrial setting using that camera.
@Electrician U question.. Klein Tools RT390 how can I make it show voltage drop when no ground is present? My prior circuit tester did this w/o any issues.. with this 390 unit I get a wiring error when I try to test when the ground is not present? (older homes) Am I doing something wrong or is this a product shortcoming? Thanks!!
The Klein Borescope is a good tool for sure when your having to go through conduits or concrete walls. But I still prefer my Ferret inspection cam when I'm working in a home or having to fish wires in a completed basement. It's pulled me out of a ton of jams. I'm definitely looking into the Thermal camera. You're doing great content by the way. Keep it going.
Hey Dustin Thanks for all your very informative videos. I had a question concerning changing over from 3 wire to 4 wire on a stove or dryer. Why can't you run a seperate neutral wire to use as the 4th wire instead of having to pull all new 4 conductor cable! Is article 300.20 the reason why you can't, or are there other reasons also? I am interested in what you have to say, code specific, about this topic!! Thank you for your response. Scott
It sounds like you actually need a truck to carry all of these testers around. Does it make for endless trips back to the truck? It'd be fun if they made a tool that connects to your phone and the probes (or whatever) change function on voice command. Or even one that tests "all things at the same time" and gives a readout and "verbalizes" whatever is remarkable. I always learn from your videos. Thanks!
I wonder how many views you would get if the video title was "Electricians have more tools than anyone else" ;) btw, I do enjoy your videos. Another vote here for a Megger demonstration video.
I've been doing electrical work since 1984, used a lot of Klein tools. But that said, I bought Klein meters because there were more affordable, but some of the controls make no sense, some of them are glitchy, I think that they make better hand tools than they do meters. Not that I don't have a bag full of them though. But I've got meters then I'm constantly having to put the batteries back in and turn the knob the right way and change the default settings, so yes they're probably economical for people and they're better than the cheap stuff, but they are not in my opinion the very best at what they do when it comes to meters.
As an apartment maintenance technician, I can definitely see myself using that borescope. Tired of trying to shove my phone in tight spaces just to take a picture of a potential water leak.
i am a home owner who got frustrated that the panel was not labeled correctly. The Tester is great and it cost me less than what an electrician was going to charge to do it for me.
Does anyone know of a good Canadian style Electrician U? I watched probably every Electrician U video now and wish there was a Canadian version when it comes to talking about code and practice tests in such. Great video.
you could close your ears and imagine that instead of ending his sentences in periods. that he was ending them with (comma eh question mark instead of period) a mathematical representation ive prepared is. .=,eh? I hope you like it
oh or red/green. he lives in down south near Austin Texas. I probably know him somehow, uh cuz were from the same state. I could ask him to do a red/green version.
This is the first video of yours I have liked right away. Why? Its an ad, which is fine, but it misses *so* much potential. I understand why one might not want to discuss costs in a video like this (costs vary region to region, costs change over time), but you can discuss relative value. Which do you pull out of your kit most often? Which is really the ‘only tool for the job’, which can be subbed out for another for a little bit of added work?
I have a Fluke 376FC and 117, both I love, but I’ve been wanting a megameter and thermal sensor. I’m getting these Klein instruments next!!! Really appreciate the video. BTW I own Klein plug in GFCI trip speed tester with blue LCD screen and AFCI tester also. I’ve found them very valuable. Very helpful video!!
Hi Dustin, does the ET310 work and allow for the tracing of wire to its respective breaker if the power supply at upstream has been tripped? ie. Total power down situation.
The Klein circuit finder is like all the rest you’ve probably tried and thrown away: less than 75% success rate, solid false positive rings all the time. Spend money on the Zircon kit if you do service. I’ve only seen it on Amazon and ebay. I trust that thing more than I trust anyone in my family. I love Klein tools, especially that little thermal camera but that circuit finder is crap.
Which Clamp Meter Brand do you like ? Klein, IDEAL, Fieldpiece or Fluke? I know in prior videos you suggested Klein "stay in their lane" but curios if your opinion has changed on their testers? They seem like a good value for the cost/performance. I like Fluke but sometimes paying that fluke Tax does not seem worth it in all situations. I have always been a fan of IDEAL. Thanks!
Fluke is another large brand like Klein; they're probably more popular in the Bay Area due to the large IT presence there. Fluke is sworn by a lot of telecom technicians when it comes to their cable testing and locating gear.
The meg-er was very go for detecting winding of compressors. If the oil is failing it will detect it. HOWEVER, some newer model compressors maybe damaged by a meg-er. If it is a selonoid activated speed control (a low voltage seperate set of terminals) may be damaged with a meg-er's 600v ac test voltage.
To be honest...I have few other resources for knowledge other than the books that are stacked high. This trade is broken in communication. Thanks for your knowledge!
Is that a Fluke behind you off to your left on the bench? Sure looks like it. Fluke is the brand that I always use... I'm an electronic tech, so my tools are a bit different some of the same... like the oscilloscope etc... I also have a vintage Simpson multi meter, old analog kind of neat...
The Klein et 450 at cheaper then the competition don’t know how good compared to ideal but man what a difference in price. When my ideal tracer broke I got so mad.
But the tic tester lets you know if there's a live wire nearby, which is great for demo work, it sucks to be tearing a wall down and you hit a live wire.
Please show the fastest way to make J-hooks on 12g or 14g wire for screw attachment. I find it challenging sometimes on R+R because there just isn't much length of wire available after cutting out the faulty instrument.
All I had was a Simpson multimeter in a big black heavy case with a rollup door. There was no such thing as a digital meter. Damn that was a long time ago. I’ll take that back I did have a wiggy voltage tester but it was almost 50 years ago.
Former auto tech turned commercial electrician- I spent 10x more on auto tools that cost 5x as much for the name brands- I laughed at the idea of “splurging on a $420 pack out” after I’d just bought a $3,000 tool box (which was a cheap Icon from harbor freight) to replace my former employee provided snap on KLR box that cost $10,000. Btw I’m making way more money just starting out as an electrician than I was after 13 years as an auto tech. 🤔
I just subscribed but have been watching your videos for quite some time. I see you are sponsoring Klein on the tools. I was looking at the Klein Tools ET450 Advanced Circuit Breaker Finder. However, seems pricy for me. I wanted to know if there are other products available at a lower cost that are as good or about as good as the klein? I need to trace to find out why two outlets not too far from each other in my basement are not working. I took them out of the wall after testing with another klein tool. That klein tool tests to see if the outlet has any power. Outlets did not light up so I opened the two outlets and tested the individual wires. Nothing is live so I tested all breaks and they all show with a pen wand from Klein that they have power. SO my last resort is to try to trace the wire in the wall back to the panel. Looking to see if you have tested another type of wire trace tool that is more economical.
@@krisssilco .... might take 20 minutes to see that, but yes. They can pick up a 20 - 30 degree difference. I have looked at a basement ceiling with BX and that will change in a matter of 10 seconds with say a 10 amp load on #14 wire. The key is they give a broad picture like a regular camera (10 ft wide?) so you don't need to follow each wire up close to find the problem.
What's the best manufacturer? I see you use all Klein... or are sponsored by them. I use all Kaiweets and I know alot of electricians use Fluke. Honestly I didn't buy Fluke because they had all bright neon colors which looks like Tanca Toy colors.. KAIWEETS and Klein use black and subtle colors and have nice big screens. Kaiweets is sold all over Amazon and is the most popular on there. So anyone NOT sponsored here want to say their opinion on those brands? I get different readings on my clamp meter depending which direction the wire goes in my clamp, not sure if that is normal or not so was wondering how accurate these 3 top brands are.
0:47 Klein ET40 Voltage Tester $15.00
1:29 Klein ET310 Circuit Breaker Finder $43.00
2:03 Klein TI 250 Thermal Imager $300.00
2:50 Klein CL390 Digital Clamp Meter $90.00
4:00 Klein ET20 Wifi Borescope $87.00
4:57 Klein ET600 Megohmmeter $154.00
6:02 EXTech 382252 Earth Resistance Tester $230.00
All prices are from Amazon as of 04/04/2022
Thanks dad
@@christiansalazar2 No problem son. Now go do your homework.
Thank you mate 👍
@@s7un7 he doesn't have homework ask him he'll tell you I don't have homework they never do even when they do 🤣
klein stuff looks really cheap but it seems pretty big in america. How is there gear?
I'm amazed we didn't see a rotation meter for doing 3 phase motor wiring. If you don't get the legs in the right place the motor won't turn in the correct direction. One thing I made up for testing is a break-out cord for measuring load amps on household stuff. It's basically a male and female cord cap, wired together with a service loops hanging out the side so you can grab the conductor with your amp-clamp. I can test hot, neutral, and ground. You may ask why you want more than just the hot leg available. The way I see it the hot and neutral would be equal, but if they are NOT then you have the option to see if something is leaking off to ground. I also find this useful for doing temporary power, such as fairs and music festivals. You have no idea what people are plugging in till you get issues with tripping breakers. (say, a line of trinket vendors) This way you can point a finger and tell them they need to run another cord to another outlet. The same goes for all that stuff on a stage. I had a guy tell me his lighting was 150 watts each. My meter told me the printing was worn off and they were 750 watts each. Big difference!
Some better voltage testers than this extremely basic Klein one have phase rotation indication built in (even as a 2 pole tester).
You can get ready-made line splitters designed for the job for the clamp meters too.
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Journeyman here, we work on everything from 32.5 kva incoming to our substations rectified to 850DC fed through 5000amp breakers, low voltage train detection track circuits, and fiber optic vital communication systems. (Public Transit Train environment) I would like to see a video on a TDR if you have any tips and tricks aside from the basics. Great videos bro, informative with humor and fun splashed throughout. Nicely done.
hey dustin, of course, thanks so much for the effort you put in and sharing your vast experience. i would say though, there are definitely circumstances where a a "tick tracer" or "sniffer" as i call it has distinct advantages. for instance, if you are replace an old K/T fixture, which has no ground conductor, and you are not sure if it's a switched neutral wiring senario, a voltage tester is useless for determing if there is a "hot" wire there. a sniffer will identify which wire may be energized. when one is in a crawl space or attic and one wants to determine if a cable or wire is energized, as in the case of a switched leg, and it is not possible to get to the junction box for the fixture, then a sniffer works in determing that. i use the Fluke 1AC11 and have used many others but always prefer this tool. also, when there are times that a sniffer indicates a hot wire, but isn't, this is often caused by capacitive induction by another current carrying wire, and if one touches the insulation of the suspected wire and the voltage reading is caused by capicitive coupling, then the sniffer will stop indicating a voltage reading. my main observation is that just trying to use a volt meter is not always practicable and sniffers are definitely a worthwhile tool in the electricians "arsenal" thank you again for doing what you do.
Didn’t know about grabbing the wire, definitely will try it and verify with multimeter. Thanks!
SO I am not an electrician, however my father, grandfather, uncle and and brother, were all in the trades and IBEW members, so I am very failure with the tools you speak of here, and I have purchased a number of those tools so that I can work on own property. But I am never above calling in the pros when I have reached my limits, and I do know them.
Of the tools you shared, and I have, not a fan of is the circuit tracer. It does not always provide me with a reliable trace to the correct circuit breaker.
For the thermo, I use a FLIR device I can attach to my phone, like the bore scope, you can than save pictures or videos of what you are looking at.
Great tool for the money, and so many uses. Aside for looking for hot spots, you can find cold spots. As thermo cameras work on the principal of the difference in temperature and not a set temperature. Fun fact, use it to locate damp and wet areas. As a water evaporates, it will leave the spot cooler than the surrounding area, thus showing up on the screen as cold spot compared to the surrounding area.
Overall great content, I really enjoy your teaching methods. My father was an instructor back in the 70s and 80s for the trade, and though I did not become a certified electrician, I learned a lot from his teachings and helping out around the garage and house.
I have that ET310 tester with all the extra components: ungrounded plug, Edison screw in, wire clamps, and use it multiple times a week.
I keep seeing you talk about how electricians have more tools than anyone. You've obviously never met a Millwright, lol. I'm both. I've got a lot of shit. Worked in the trades all my life. Still have my bullfloat, etc. I cut into the trades on (Cement Mason). All my carpentry stuff, power compound mitre boxes, etc., became a Millwright. Currently an Industrial Electrician. Millwright took the cake in sheer volume and price. Lots of pocket in tools in that trade. Love your videos. Keep up the good work.
I'm not an electrician but living in a house an electrician use to live in had me buying a handful of testers and tools i wouldn't have otherwise! I love the ET310 and the additional parts that go with it. We have a panel and a subpanel and some of the fixtures and outlets are hard to figure out what circuits they are on. The ET310 has really come in handy.... as well as your channel!
Love the videos but I have to disagree with electricians having the most tools, as an automotive technician I think we might take that trophy home lol
With electricians, there is no single tool that does everything, so you must have many different ones. With the automotive industry, they keep changing stuff so you have to buy all new tools every 3-5 years. It is true, automotive technicians do have a shit ton of tools.
I definitely agree although I would say not.rven aut techs have the most tools. I am a jack I have a metric ton of tools and the list grows everytime I go into harbor freight home depot or any electrical or automotive supply store lol
@@ooelectronoo I feel your pain
@@WrenchNinja91. Hi Neil Armstrong here. We astronauts have more tools than anyone else.
Nobody will bring anything for you to the outer space if you forgot something. Is not like you looking on Amazon and get your thing next day lol.
Pretty sure he said that in the context of construction trades. Y’all car techs are on a different level, respect ✊
One minor observation ; I prefer Boroscopes with a built in screens ( I use a Milwaukee M12 iteration ) . My reasoning is as follows; a phone is a vital piece of equipment , I for sure don’t want to risk dropping mine off a ladder . Borescopes are used much less often ! I also carry a Flir Camera , good for documenting set of conditions !
Everybody forgets the Elevator Trade, we need to have a lot of tools and equipment also
I'm an HVAC service tech and have a few meters. All my meters have amp clamps and can read mega-ohms and capacitance. After checking voltage, those are the three most common uses we have for our meters. Checking phases is less commonly needed, but I have a meter for that, too.
I've been eyeing that Thermal imager, but for the price there are other tools I need to get first. I think HVAC would give you a run for your money on breadth and depth of tools we have since we do gas, light plumbing, sheet metal, electrical and electronic troubleshooting, air conditioning/refrigeration, and heating.
Amazing video , didn't knew I needed this 😄
I have the circuit finder and my coworkers for some reason think it’s the most magical thing ever. I love it
I have half of those personally but as a locomotive electrician, I use a Megger brand megger often, 1kv - 5kv for finding grounded traction motors, main generators, blower motors and dynamic braking grids. Otherwise, DMM and Amp clamp is the extent of non specialty equipment.
The klein circuit locater is awesome . I used it at church to find the breaker for septic pump. It worked thru a metal building and about 100 yards
the signal is inside the wire not like a radio.. actually, Hydro-Québec developped a way to pass wifi ad the phone line thru the power line to your outlet. The patent was sold to probably telcommuication company so it never was release to the public because it would have killed a whole industry
So the cool thing is i work with a megger as a dutch electrician, ours is a lot older though. An ABB metrawatt. We can test for regular voltage, earth to ground, isolation problems, and we test our RCBO's with it.
It's cool to see how other countries do their electrics and measure back.
I use a few of these, though not all Klein, I prefer Fluke and Amprobe as I think both are much better. I do like Klein’s AFCI/GFCI tester as well as their time-to-trip GFCI tester. There are a lot of decent borescopes that work with your phone, I keep a couple in the vehicle with different lengths. I do run a non-contact voltage tester (Fluke) and simple led volt meter (Amprobe) in my tool bag as both can help when you don’t want to pull the meter out, which is a Fluke clamp meter.
The first thing you should get and every person should own is a non-contact voltage detector followed by a simple contact voltage detector, just keep in mind quality and accuracy can go hand in hand with price so don’t go too cheap. That said I keep a number of Harbor Freight cheep multimeters like $5 or free with a purchase which I keep just goes giving away when people ask to borrow a meter as I’m not loaning out the expensive meters I use for work.
I totally agree with getting a false reading on a tic, but in some of the commercial work that I have done, even if you are using a voltage meter, you are required check the reading for what you are working on with something you know is hot, so that you know your meter is working, and it isn't just saying you have no power when your meter could be malfunctioning! I found the hot sticks or tics as some call them, that the ones with the flash lights are prone to giving false readings. I finally bought a Fluke, no other fancy function on it. You can do the same test with it by checking it with something you know is hot and testing what you are working on, and even test it against multiple circuits. All of them can give a false reading!
Christ doesn't seem to be able to help you write a coherent sentence.
@@waytospergtherebro so this is about my RUclips channel name now, Okay. One of the great things about America, is that 100's of thousands of men have died fighting for the freedom to say what you want. that means even people like you that like to hate.
You ever think that you just don't understand it? I guess it makes you feel better to hate on me, though. If you were saying something legit, you would make a correction instead of attacking me for my faith in the one who died for the sin of the world.
You keep on attacking me, though, and the next comment of hate will be reported as harassment! I promise that!
I am not a professional electrician. I have earned my living by designing electronic controls. But for my home use I have pretty much the whole set of various meters listed. The two items I am missing are a borescope and a ground resistance meter. Actually I could use some of my bench meters to make the ground resistance measurement. The borescope has been on my wish list for a while, but so far I have not found one that would meet my specifications. Otherwise, most of my meters are from Fluke, HP, TEK and Keithley. And something I would add to preferred instruments list for certain electricians is an Ethernet cable termination tester. On the other hand, my personal collection also contains a WiFi scanner attachment for my iPad Mini. And last, but not least, a 2-channel oscilloscope attachment also for the iPad. However, there is a popular saying that you never have enough of some goodies, and measuring instruments for sure belong into that category!
I work with lighting a majority of the time and I have to say that that bore scope comes in super handy
Im in the uk and use the megger MFT1721 multifunction tester the megger voltage and continuity tester and a plug in tester.
The multifunction tester does everything
I am a 6th year Journeyman and I have the first 4 of the testers you presented
My Fave is an old Wiggy. I now use a Fluke T5 1000 and still use a Simpson 260.
The UK has a company called Megger that makes electrical test equipment, including well, megaohm-meters. I know John Ward has done a review and shown off his Megger in doing various tests from high voltage insulation to earth resistance tests. So technically it's a brand name, just it's probably more well known in Europe than North America.
CAs a third generation union Sparky, My Father is a retired Electrical Testing Technician, Doing over 42 years in our union...I AM VERY familiar with Megger, the Brand! - We actually use it as an adjective...Like Channellocks, Crescent Wrench, etc..."We have to Megger it after we land the terminations"
I have the megger 1720 its a really good piece of kit
@@mikenormandy9250 Megger is a verb when you say "We have to Megger it" because the act of measuring the insulation's resistance is an action (verb=action). Channellocks is a noun when you say "Hand me the Channellocks." Just FYI.
Your technicalities have no honor!
@@darwinawardcommittee Speak when spoken to, Junior intellect.
I have a few of these, including the ET310. One feature or tool which would be handy: the ability to test which circuit breaker is protecting a specific circuit when the breaker trips. The ET310 only works when there Is power in the circuit.
We use the insulation tester, megohmmeter, megger, in my industry to test traffic induction loop sensors.
I am a third gen sparky, My Father before me was in electrical testing for over 32 years of his 42 total in the trade...I grew up KNOWING how IMPORTANT testing is in this field...I wish it was done more, Unfortunately, It's not....Out of our local's contractors, I believe we only have maybe 5% are testing companies (with Testing techs sprinkled in some contractors along with Lineman, Ground wiremen, Outside traffic signals, etc) Great vid dude!
When it comes to NCVT or Tic testers, etc - I trust it to tell me when SOMETHING IS LIVE...I DO NOT TRUST IT to tell me something is dead! - That is my motto with those! But, I LOVE that mini volt tester, Got it in a three-pack with a tic tester and an outlet plug tester!
Agreed. There is absolutely nothing wrong with using a tick tester if you do it properly. Never trust it with your life, but it is much simpler and often times safer because you don't have to get near anything live that is not insulated. I use them every day, but always check with a meter before I touch any terminals or bare wire.
@@Clay_333 I especially like the Fluke ones.
I just opened up my new Klein circuit tracer - ET450 - today to un-fk the layers of crazy wiring in my old house. Worked great on finding the buried line to the garage. Not sure how deep it is. The ET310 works well if your house wasn't wired by crazy people over many years. There's an add-on kit for that, which allows one to adapt to an Edison light socket and find the breaker for that. As a note: many DMMs can measure current (amps); however, this means wiring your device in-line and can be pretty dangerous, whereas the CL390 (clamp meter) measures the electromagnetic field around a given wire(s) and is much safer.
In denmark we have a metrel eurotester. It does all if the resistance tests and rcd test, insulation tests and more.
Love these videos, EXTREMELY helpful for me as an electrician as well. I wanted to ask you if you could make a video on why you should never buy a cheap tester. Not many seem to be aware of the dangers that are possible with those. Thanks for the videos.
So helpful because he introduced the basic tools of an electrician? And that's not all, because none of these meters will check the impedance of short-circuit loops or residual current protection, the most basic measurements for an electrician.
Could you list out the model name and numbers for each product you went through? Description seems to be missing some.
As a small property manager, really appreciate the excellent videos, thanks!
You are so correct in not liking the the tracers. First-time I used one was to turn off a 480 volt circuit that was in a large conduit then a 100' long through that had over 20 other live circuits from 120, 208 & 480 volt circuits. Keep receiving a power present signal but it was a false positive due to the wires indicating a voltage in circuits that I turned off. Is what you call a thermal scanner a cheap IR device or the better but expensive FLIR type camera. My FLIR gun cost over a grand 12 years ago but prices keep coming down. If you do commercial work spend the extra money on a circuit breaker tester that located and has axillary wire leads to handle up to 277 volts.Borescope appears to a great tool that I wished were around years ago. Think you are wrong with merger being a manufactures name. Started out using hand crank 500 volt meggers back in the 1960's. All were made by Huddle company. I have a 500 to 5,000 volt battery operated Wilson merger that works great. Never saw a sparky that owned an earth ground resistance meter. Ground resistance varies greatly especially between summer & winter. Old ma bell guys would wiz on grounded rods out in the boon docks to get system working instead of laying a circle of wet salt around ground rod to lower resistance. Thanks for another great vid. Caution you young just getting into this great trade: NEVER PURCHASE OR USE or tools, test or safety equipment from cheating lying scum bag lack of quality control communist china. Your life & safety of others not worth saving a few bucks on inferior cheating china garbage.
Meg-a-meter part was my favorite 🤩 great job 👏🏾
megger*
@@electvolt67 with the hard “r” smh … Jesus would be ashamed
@@darkcopius 2 Hail Mary's ??
We're still waiting on part 2!!! Can't wait for it to come out @electrician u
Great video Dustin I have a mini Klein too some people say it’s not practical but I like using it also have Klein plug in tripper and Klein tick tracer
when I started I could barely afford gas to get to work let alone anything beyond the wiggy, matter of fact the company I started with gave you the basic tools under a weekly payroll deduction plan, I worked for two companies at the same time ( one part time at night running conduit ) just to pay basic bills. its alot different now, I see apprentices driving new trucks, with an impressive set of tools, which hopefully means the pay has increased to match the skills of the new electricians finally.
Starting wage for an apprentice is around $13 - $15 an hour. Great for a 19 year old just out of high school and doesn't have any bills to pay. That new truck is probably a company truck, and many employers will supply the new folks with quality tools... they want you AND your tools to be reliable.
Wire locator and fault finder are important as well.
Thanks enjoy watching have alot of these meters too I enjoy finding out got things work
You’re gonna save a lot of people on the field with this video. I hate tick tracers and have been on the receiving end of a shared neutral after testing all the wires w those damn widow makers.
You can't test a shared neutral until you separate the joint. If you test them after you take them apart and one is hot, the tick tracer will beep. If you try to do it before you take apart the joint it will not detect anything because the neutral is only returning current but there is no voltage in reference to ground. Soon as you take the joint apart, the loaded neutral will lose its bond back to the panel and therefore become live at 120V or whatever the line to neutral voltage is on that circuit. Not sure if you already know this but just thought it might help.
@@illestofdemall13 nope, didn’t know and thank you for the detailed response!
I understood WHAT shocked me but never understood WHY the tester didn’t pick it up.
@@Purgatoriesify So my method is take apart all neutrals with my lineman's pliers and make sure to separate them, then I will use the pen tester and/or voltage tester/meter on each one. Sometimes you will see a spark when you take them apart but not always. If I find one is hot then I will turn off more breakers til that one also turns off. I've gotten hit by them too and they are no fun. You're welcome, glad I could help.
What do you think is a good fault finder? A device that gives you length to fault. They are pretty handy in heat up, the only problem I find with them is if you didnt wire the house then you have to make good guess where the fault might be to minimize cutting into drywall to find it. They are expensive and are becoming more difficult to find.
I'd like to have a logging clamp meter that can be hung on a subpanel feeder wire to get a 24 hour view of actual power usage by a multiple circuits. I guess the flaw in that thinking is the way consumption may be seasonal, and when motors turn on and off you may get variance that might be hard to predict. But a quick view to see actual usage may be surprising.
When taking junction box cover off how do you find which breaker a particular wire (blk/hot) in that box is feed from?
Is there a tool/meter for this?
Will get some Klein to try out. Thanks for the update on the range.
I have the Klein ti-250 thermal imager, I can attest to how awesome it is. I'm publishing an article on how I discovered an electrical fault in an industrial setting using that camera.
@Electrician U question.. Klein Tools RT390 how can I make it show voltage drop when no ground is present? My prior circuit tester did this w/o any issues.. with this 390 unit I get a wiring error when I try to test when the ground is not present? (older homes) Am I doing something wrong or is this a product shortcoming? Thanks!!
The Klein Borescope is a good tool for sure when your having to go through conduits or concrete walls. But I still prefer my Ferret inspection cam when I'm working in a home or having to fish wires in a completed basement. It's pulled me out of a ton of jams.
I'm definitely looking into the Thermal camera.
You're doing great content by the way. Keep it going.
sadly, Cat sells phones with FLIR cameras - but they are hardware locked to AT&T bands, and AT&T doesn't support them.
Hey Dustin
Thanks for all your very informative videos. I had a question concerning changing over from 3 wire to 4 wire on a stove or dryer. Why can't you run a seperate neutral wire to use as the 4th wire instead of having to pull all new 4 conductor cable! Is article 300.20 the reason why you can't, or are there other reasons also? I am interested in what you have to say, code specific, about this topic!! Thank you for your response.
Scott
As always: good video. Thanks
It sounds like you actually need a truck to carry all of these testers around. Does it make for endless trips back to the truck? It'd be fun if they made a tool that connects to your phone and the probes (or whatever) change function on voice command. Or even one that tests "all things at the same time" and gives a readout and "verbalizes" whatever is remarkable.
I always learn from your videos. Thanks!
I wonder how many views you would get if the video title was "Electricians have more tools than anyone else" ;)
btw, I do enjoy your videos. Another vote here for a Megger demonstration video.
I've been doing electrical work since 1984, used a lot of Klein tools. But that said, I bought Klein meters because there were more affordable, but some of the controls make no sense, some of them are glitchy, I think that they make better hand tools than they do meters. Not that I don't have a bag full of them though. But I've got meters then I'm constantly having to put the batteries back in and turn the knob the right way and change the default settings, so yes they're probably economical for people and they're better than the cheap stuff, but they are not in my opinion the very best at what they do when it comes to meters.
always liked fluke more than klein for meters. Definitely more expensive but imo its worth it
Can you Make a video on using the megger? How to test the insulation on wires and motor windings and what values to look for? Thank you
As an apartment maintenance technician, I can definitely see myself using that borescope. Tired of trying to shove my phone in tight spaces just to take a picture of a potential water leak.
i am a home owner who got frustrated that the panel was not labeled correctly. The Tester is great and it cost me less than what an electrician was going to charge to do it for me.
Sir, dustin. good day. i just want to ask what is proper termination of wires in the panel box. like us we are working inside US base. Thanks
Does anyone know of a good Canadian style Electrician U? I watched probably every Electrician U video now and wish there was a Canadian version when it comes to talking about code and practice tests in such. Great video.
There's that one show where the guy has funny colored suspenders. It's kind of older though.
you could close your ears and imagine that instead of ending his sentences in periods. that he was ending them with (comma eh question mark instead of period)
a mathematical representation ive prepared is. .=,eh?
I hope you like it
oh or red/green. he lives in down south near Austin Texas. I probably know him somehow, uh cuz were from the same state. I could ask him to do a red/green version.
This is the first video of yours I have liked right away. Why? Its an ad, which is fine, but it misses *so* much potential. I understand why one might not want to discuss costs in a video like this (costs vary region to region, costs change over time), but you can discuss relative value. Which do you pull out of your kit most often? Which is really the ‘only tool for the job’, which can be subbed out for another for a little bit of added work?
Thanks Dustin good job
I have a Fluke 376FC and 117, both I love, but I’ve been wanting a megameter and thermal sensor. I’m getting these Klein instruments next!!! Really appreciate the video. BTW I own Klein plug in GFCI trip speed tester with blue LCD screen and AFCI tester also. I’ve found them very valuable. Very helpful video!!
Fluke is great, but they are also very expensive. I wish I still had my Fluke’s, I lost mine somewhere.
Hi Dustin, does the ET310 work and allow for the tracing of wire to its respective breaker if the power supply at upstream has been tripped? ie. Total power down situation.
great vids. just bought that same Megohmmeter last week .
The Klein circuit finder is like all the rest you’ve probably tried and thrown away: less than 75% success rate, solid false positive rings all the time. Spend money on the Zircon kit if you do service. I’ve only seen it on Amazon and ebay. I trust that thing more than I trust anyone in my family. I love Klein tools, especially that little thermal camera but that circuit finder is crap.
Which Clamp Meter Brand do you like ? Klein, IDEAL, Fieldpiece or Fluke? I know in prior videos you suggested Klein "stay in their lane" but curios if your opinion has changed on their testers? They seem like a good value for the cost/performance. I like Fluke but sometimes paying that fluke Tax does not seem worth it in all situations. I have always been a fan of IDEAL. Thanks!
Cool video, but in my experience here in the bay area of California, electricians use and trust Fluke meters and testers.
Fluke is another large brand like Klein; they're probably more popular in the Bay Area due to the large IT presence there. Fluke is sworn by a lot of telecom technicians when it comes to their cable testing and locating gear.
In Australia Fluke rules.
I have the breaker sniffer wand, it can be really helpful, but some percentage of the time it identifies the wrong circuit.
The meg-er was very go for detecting winding of compressors. If the oil is failing it will detect it. HOWEVER, some newer model compressors maybe damaged by a meg-er. If it is a selonoid activated speed control (a low voltage seperate set of terminals) may be damaged with a meg-er's 600v ac test voltage.
Have you used a tilt meter?
dustin - can you do a video on splicing larger conductor? like #10 and bigger
Very informative thank you very much
Great info as usual.
Great video… thanks!
To be honest...I have few other resources for knowledge other than the books that are stacked high. This trade is broken in communication. Thanks for your knowledge!
Excellent video.
Is that a Fluke behind you off to your left on the bench? Sure looks like it. Fluke is the brand that I always use... I'm an electronic tech, so my tools are a bit different some of the same... like the oscilloscope etc... I also have a vintage Simpson multi meter, old analog kind of neat...
The Klein et 450 at cheaper then the competition don’t know how good compared to ideal but man what a difference in price. When my ideal tracer broke I got so mad.
Love Klein testers have several of them they are great
looking forward to the next one!!!
Can you teach how to use the mega
But the tic tester lets you know if there's a live wire nearby, which is great for demo work, it sucks to be tearing a wall down and you hit a live wire.
Please show the fastest way to make J-hooks on 12g or 14g wire for screw attachment. I find it challenging sometimes on R+R because there just isn't much length of wire available after cutting out the faulty instrument.
How do you control for moisture with that ground tester? I imagine you'd get some VERY different results in a drought vs the day after a rainstorm.
Thank you
The Megger would be what you use to check the windings in a motor to see if the motor is still serviceable or needs to be replaced!
All I had was a Simpson multimeter in a big black heavy case with a rollup door. There was no such thing as a digital meter. Damn that was a long time ago. I’ll take that back I did have a wiggy voltage tester but it was almost 50 years ago.
I've seen an original Wiggins. solenoid testers are great for troubleshooting because they load the circuit enough to make a bad connection drop out.
Former auto tech turned commercial electrician- I spent 10x more on auto tools that cost 5x as much for the name brands- I laughed at the idea of “splurging on a $420 pack out” after I’d just bought a $3,000 tool box (which was a cheap Icon from harbor freight) to replace my former employee provided snap on KLR box that cost $10,000. Btw I’m making way more money just starting out as an electrician than I was after 13 years as an auto tech. 🤔
Hello I am a refrigeration tech do u know any tools to find a 220 breaker for a disconnect that am trying to turn off ?
Thank you. As a home inspector I have half these tools as extra service available to potential customers
"Potential" customers - electricians get a lot of those. 🤣
What tool would you use to safely trip a breaker
Hey Dustin you get your hands on the et450 yet? I just ordered one today
I just subscribed but have been watching your videos for quite some time. I see you are sponsoring Klein on the tools. I was looking at the Klein Tools ET450 Advanced Circuit Breaker Finder. However, seems pricy for me. I wanted to know if there are other products available at a lower cost that are as good or about as good as the klein? I need to trace to find out why two outlets not too far from each other in my basement are not working. I took them out of the wall after testing with another klein tool. That klein tool tests to see if the outlet has any power. Outlets did not light up so I opened the two outlets and tested the individual wires. Nothing is live so I tested all breaks and they all show with a pen wand from Klein that they have power. SO my last resort is to try to trace the wire in the wall back to the panel. Looking to see if you have tested another type of wire trace tool that is more economical.
Love your videos, Thank you so much for putting them out there. Except I have to disagree with you I think HVAC technicians have more tools.😁🤣🤣
Question, running a DC power plant and running DC ground to AC ground, will that affect any equipment? ( in some weird way )
Klien makes great hand tools. When it comes to meters Fluke is top of the line.
Amprobe AT-8030 you can do reverse engineering for a industrial plant running with it.
That thermal tool you think you could place it on drywall and trace a wire with it? Like do you think it could read through the wall
I doubt it. and if you can "see" the wire through the wall with it, then your house is about to go up in flames lol
@@krisssilco ... BTW, a professional grade thermal imaging camera can sense a warm wire long before it gets hot enough to start a fire.
@@rupe53 behind a wall?
@@krisssilco .... might take 20 minutes to see that, but yes. They can pick up a 20 - 30 degree difference. I have looked at a basement ceiling with BX and that will change in a matter of 10 seconds with say a 10 amp load on #14 wire. The key is they give a broad picture like a regular camera (10 ft wide?) so you don't need to follow each wire up close to find the problem.
What's the best manufacturer? I see you use all Klein... or are sponsored by them. I use all Kaiweets and I know alot of electricians use Fluke. Honestly I didn't buy Fluke because they had all bright neon colors which looks like Tanca Toy colors.. KAIWEETS and Klein use black and subtle colors and have nice big screens. Kaiweets is sold all over Amazon and is the most popular on there. So anyone NOT sponsored here want to say their opinion on those brands? I get different readings on my clamp meter depending which direction the wire goes in my clamp, not sure if that is normal or not so was wondering how accurate these 3 top brands are.
Megger is still a brand, it is an insulation resistance meter.
Do you have a rotating field tester ?