I want to buy Ideal voltage/continuity tester, solenoid types. Ideal’s tech manual lists one (61-080/www.testersandmeters.com) that tests for voltage, continuity and “excessive leakage to ground”. Tech help recommends 61-086 but no specific manual for this.
How do I use this tester to find a short circuit in a dead wire? For example, I had a problem with furnace blower motor because the thermostat wire I used had a short in it. With this tester, how would I test this wire for possible factory defects or problems I may have introduced during installation, before I connect the wire to the power?
Even today, I take it on faith that if I buy a spool of wire, it will not have defects in it. How do I test the wire before I use it?
I can’t seem to picture how two touching wires (a short) may be tested. Any explanation or analogy will be gratefully appreciated. Also, I always assumed that a short happens if power and neutral wires touch. Why does the short not (not) happen when a tool is turned on, or light bulb turned on? Thank you all in advance.
Replies
A short produces continuity between the two wires. Remove the short and there's no continuity. To be doubly sure, check for leakage between the wires, if your meter has a leakage mode.
But note that nothing should be connected to the wires (or at least the "hot" wire) on either end. With a spool of wire you need to find the inside end and make sure the two wires aren't touching.
I can't get that site to come up, but generally you're going to have trouble finding a combo of solenoid tester, continuity tester, and leakage tester. A decent quality solenoid tester plus a cheap digital multimeter may be a better choice.
I think that both of them are variation of the 61-76.
The 80 has fuses in the leads (don't know why that would be needed in item like this. Might be in someone spec).
The 86 is certified for use on 600 VAC.
http://www.testersandmeters.com/IDEAL-EZ/products.nsf/Voltage+Testers%5CSolenoid+Voltage+Testers
Here is the manual for the 61-76.
http://www.testersandmeters.com/pdf/ND2838_1.pdf
It sounds like you have a specific problem. If so what is it? And do you have any kind of test equipment now?
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A-holes. Hey every group has to have one. And I have been elected to be the one. I should make that my tagline.
Thank you for reply. And thank you to DanH, a light bulb just turn on in my brain after reading about the continuity. Just for others' benefit, to test that new spool of wire doesn't have a short somewhere in the middle, I would connect black wire from one end to white at the other end and see if there is continuity, and test the combination with ground as well. Again, thank you.
This is exact problem I had. I just couldn't figure by myself how to test for possible short-circuit in a wire that is not yet connected to power. I have a battery powered continuity tester.
Would you explain what leakage is? How does it happen, and is this what "excessive leakage to ground" mean? Do you know of any instruction book for using multimeters or solenoid testers that is written for home users and not for seasoned electrician or an engineer? What words should I look for on the multimeter package to be sure that I am getting a multimeter that tests for leakage?
Just to add one thought, as long as I am only working on my single family house, it seems I don't need the solenoid voltage tester. Is there a situation in my case where I would need to know the voltage? So far, I just made sure that there was no power in the line with the bulb tester.
Thank you very much.
"Leakage" is just a high resistance short. Eg, there might not be enough of a connection between the two wires (or one wire to ground) to light the light in your tester, but if you put a meter on it you could find that several milliamps are flowing, due to the "pressure" of the battery in that test light.Normally you test for leakage to ground, to check a device for shock hazards, etc. There are special testers ("meggers") for doing this where the test is critical, but in most cases a simple mulitmeter (that can measure K ohms resistance) is sufficient.
Half of the harm that is done in this world is due to people who want to feel important. They don't mean to do harm but the harm does not interest them. --T.S. Eliot
I don't know of any specific booklet or other "how to test" infomration.But if you look around Ideal, Greenlee, Extech, and similar websites you migth have some applications informtion."ust to add one thought, as long as I am only working on my single family house, it seems I don't need the solenoid voltage tester. Is there a situation in my case where I would need to know the voltage? So far, I just made sure that there was no power in the line with the bulb tester."The DVM's will give much more accurate information than a wiggley. But they are prone to phantom voltage probems. That is reading the voltages that are on open circuits.The wiggley can tell you if you have 120 or if you have 240. But it is not good if you have a voltage drop issue.Dan mentioned what leakage is. I see that the Vol-Con starts at 500k and indicates full continuity at 300k ohms. That is good for detecting leakage* or to see if something has continuity, but worthless for checking for bad connections. A good example would be an undergroud wire that has gotten water in it and the wire has corroded. It might show continuity on a vol-Con (<300k), but still nto be able to carry any current. But possibly the wiggly function MIGHT not show voltage at the far end (don't know how much current it draws). But a DVM would show full voltaged.*Leakage - the vol-com probably uses 3-9 volts when measuring resistance. In some cases that is not enough to cause leakage current. For real determination a special meter, a Megger, is used that uses 500 - 1000 volts when testing.There is no single device that I know of that can test everything in all modes.
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A-holes. Hey every group has to have one. And I have been elected to be the one. I should make that my tagline.