Literally been watching your videos during my lunch. 5 month commercial electrician helper here in CA. I feel like I learn more each day and watching your videos connects the dots from what I learn at work and school.
Pretty comprehensive test equipment list and basic explanations of each one. Got to give credit where it is due. Most videos on this subject are lacking in explanation than this one. Hello, pat on the back here! Good job guy! 👍🏻
I use that Fluke toner, brilliant tool. One of the best features is if you short your two wires at the field end, it will change tone-up to 5 or 6 different ones; brilliant for verifying poorly marked circuits. It also has an RJ11/45 plug ideal for data points.
My Fluke multimeter has a Megger as well, the one thing I love to use with it is the magnet, I’m constantly in panels so the ability to do everything with a gator clip and my probe at eye level makes troubleshooting that much easier.
Recently retired from a large hospital/research center ( 5 millon sq feet ) where I used the fluke multimeter with the built in megger for 10 years. Used it everyday for PM' ing over 500 drives. Dropped it off a 6 & 8' stepladder couple of dozen times. Most electricians do not know how to use a megger. Have to make sure motor is not turning while meggering.
THANK YOU for those comments on Volt Pens!!! I personally HATE those damn things! I can’t tell you how many times the helpers had to buy a new pair of linesman’s because they thought the circuit was dead... Or how many outlets weren’t working because they tested for proper operation with the volt pen, and later on found out the string wasn’t working due to a missing neutral! Never trust these things unless your a 100% sure with a working VOM or at least a load such as a light bulb.
As an electrical troubleshooter/installer in industrial & commercial environments, I own each of these tools & have to say you covered the tools & their capabilities very well. There is other test equipment on the market as well but many of the showcased tools are the basics that the average electrician should know how to use.
You are awesome. Just picked up my apprentice license. Now time to earn my journeyman. I really enjoy the pace of your videos. You drop a lot of info and don’t waste time. If I’m not reading my NEC2020 I’m watching your vids.
@10:12 "What it does is connects the ground and neutral together inside here and trips that GFCI." I don't think so. Since neutral and ground are at pretty much the same potential, there is no guarantee that enough current flows from neutral to ground (more than 5mA as I recall) to trip the GFCI voltage comparator circuit. I believe that the GFCI test function works by shunting a small amount of current through a resistor from the hot leg to ground, not the neutral leg. PS: I appreciated the equipment roundup. I just bought a 1961 house and the branch circuits are a nightmare. I'll be busy for a while :3)
I use that same Fluke toner all the time. The reason I like it is because it helps eliminate errors from cross talk. With many wires in the same conduit or JB, the toner can beep very loudly on the wrong wire due to cross talk. This process can only work when you have access to both ends of the wire you’re trying to trace. Clip the black lead to ground and the red lead to the wire you’re trying to locate the other end of. When you think you’ve found the right wire, touch that lead to ground. If the tone changes, you’ve got the right wire. If the tone doesn’t change, you’re picking up the signal through cross talk.
I think i will start my new career in 2-3 years when i move to Texas, want to become electrician, i know some stuff about electricity but looking forward to become real deal electrician, i like to work with wires and have good feeling when you turn the barker and everything is working, lest time i connect 3 extra barkers in my apartment to life panel, its all about knowledge and safety even in life old panel. I hope i will do good. You are great person, thanks for all this info, all do i know a lot of it but there always a lot to learn every day.
Thanks for the video for sure. It made me rethink my tool setup. You do an awesome job and I am studying to take my EE98J exam in New Mexico so you've helped me a lot. Thanks a million!
This is why I refer to the touchless voltage testers (tick tracers) as suicide sticks. Never take the presence (or lack of) beeping/light/vibration as law. I use mine exactly as mentioned in the video. It is definitely a helpful tool, but not a crutch, and definitely not a full on diagnostic tool. Good stuff! I've been in this trade a while, but I always learn something from your videos.
Excellent tutorial. I have used underground pipe locators that looked like a mini suit case. I have located steel water and Gas pipe. Do they even make a unit like that anymore ?
A tick tracer is useful for detecting open neutrals. If it keeps on what is supposed to be a neutral wire, your problem is in the neutral wire upstream near the panel. It can also be used to tell the difference between a live and a neutral wire with knob and tube wiring.
If you're a commercial/industrial electrician, you'll also need a phase rotation tester. They come in a solid state and a mechanical version. I prefer the mechanical version because you can actually physically see which direction the little motor inside is turning indicating the phase order. NEC articles 408 and 409 mandate a clockwise phase rotation. ABC left to right, front to back, and top to bottom.
love your channel bud. I work for a guy who does all kind of work but we mainly install generators, he has been teaching me everything from the ground up. I passed the installers test because I am really good at "monkey see monkey do". I started my prerequisites for basic electricity and only got a 65%. I hope to educate myself enough to pass the basic electricity course and become a certified installer. This channel seems like my best bet at educating myself, so thank you for your hard work in educating the helpers of the world.
Been doing this a very long time and i still learn off your videos. Best of all is i recommend your channel to all the apprentices in my company. Especially my helper i make sure he watches your videos.
Good video, one thing I think most electricians should have is a decent infrared temperature gun which is great for scanning disconnect switches and panelboards.
10:47 - When using a toner to trace a Romex cable, connect one of the toner's alligator clips to ground and the other clip to the black the wire of the cable you are trying to follow. Also, in order for this to work properly, temporary disconnect the white neutral wire while tracing the cable.
Hi there, I've got a point to the sniffer. I have it always with the tester and I use it as a line/circuit tracer. I switch on the breaker I want to test and just go by the line. Truth is to be told that I work in Europe and the there is a big difference in the building materials and ways the cable is ran trough the walls... So I have these two tools with me all the time and some of the other stuff you've shown in my bag or toolbox. TY CYA
Love the channel. Thoughts on the Ideal Circuit Analyzer 61-165? I mainly use it to test voltage drop, impedance, polarity, and bootleg grounds but it can do AFCI and GFCI tests . I use the Edison base adapter to test lighting circuits. I use my Fieldpiece SC56 swivel head clamp meter for everything: inrush amps, MFD, microamps for flame rectification and DC millivolts for thermocouples and thermopiles. Back lit display. Wish it had a mag. strap. Didn't hear you mention meter CAT ratings. I've seen meters blown up and dudes arc flashed when I was a paramedic b/c meter wrong CAT. Transient got one. Thx,
Pro Tip: some of the fluke meters offer a removable magnet that can be attached to the meter to hang it from panelboards and such. If you are cheap like me or your meter won’t mount that accessory... just buy a small neodymium magnet from amazon or eBay and super glue it on the back of the meter.
I'm not sure but that magnet might interfere with some readings.. I'm thinking there's a reason all the brands use a strap instead of building a magnet into the housing. I know some of these companies make other tools (such as combustion analyzers) with built-in magnets, so it's not like they haven't thought of it..
Dan Africk a couple of my fluke meters have a magnetic place on the factory housing that is OEM. I am not saying that you were wrong when it comes to cheap meters being affected by a magnetic field but if you open up any reasonably good quality meter you will find that it’s fully EM shielded.
Leakage clamp meter is missing. Especially in times of more and more GFCI protected circuits it is important to be able to measure small leakage currents. GFCIs will fail in most cases that they start tripping very often. The leakage clamp meters can measure currents mostly down in the mikroamp range and mostly only go up to 100A (compared to most regular clamp meters this is very little). I built myself an adapter for testing, a plug and an outlet connected with open wires (cable without sheathing). You can also buy them, but they're pretty steep here. I put this adapter between the outlet and the appliance, put the line and the neutral into the clamp. This will indicate the leakage current which is using the wrong path. You can also use them to test the insulation resistance if you can't switch off a circuit. For the regular insulation test the circuit must be switched off and disconnected. But there are a few situation where you simply can't do this. For example in a hospital, you can't go there and tell them that you'll have to switch off the emergency room to perform an insulation test. For the test of an RCD/GFCI I use an installation tester (in my case a Fluke 1654B) which can perform several tests, for RCDs/GFCIs you can measure the real tripping current, the tripping time and it can create several types of fault currents: AC, DC (smoothed) and pulsating DC (DC unsmoothed directly from the rectifier). The last one is caused mostly by defective switch-mode power supplies, which are in almost every appliance these days. RCDs/GFCIs are permitted to trip in the range between 50 and 100% of the rated tripping current. The installation tester also contains an insulation tester functionality (Megger), so most guys here don't have a Megger as a separate device. On a new installation you'll always have to test the insulation resistance before you switch it on. The outlet testers contain a resistor inside to limit the current if you push the GFCI test button. This resistor can become very hot if you push it for too long (and the GFCI is not tripping), so if the GFCI is not tripping instantly don't hold that button! Otherwise you'll damage that test plug. Here in Germany 2-pole voltage testers are very common. Mostly two handles connected with a cable, and most electricians hang them arround the neck, sometimes called "the electricians stethoscope". Simplest version is a neon indicator in one handle, in the other handle is a plunger coil instrument. Normally the neon indicator is working only, showing only dangerous voltages above 60V. If you push a button the neon indicator will go out and the plunger coil will indicate the voltage. The plunger coil is also used as a load to a circuit, the current is high enough to trip a GFCI if you measure between line and ground. Some have several LEDs indicating different steps of voltages, and some have in addition a Display. Some have a display only, most of the modern ones also feature the indication of the direction of the rotating field in a three-phase system, continuity and such things. Three circuits in one single junction box? Really? Here the electrician which did this would be crucified...only one circuit per junction box, exceptions: Three-phase circuit (which requires three circuit breakers) or the circuits are in different compartments of the junction box. In case of a wiring with conduits and single wires you're permitted to chase wires of other circuits through a junction box of another circuit, but no terminals in the junction box, just the uncut wires chasing through.
TIP: Gorilla tape (or epoxy) a neodymium magnet onto the back of the amp clamp & you won't have to buy 2 multimeters. You can magnetically put it on the main panel door or even on a nail in the stud, those magnets are crazy strong. Now you have both hands free, problem solved.
If you want to test series circuit components a 20pce trace board using type5 coil springs as connectors can enable easy voltage drop/ohm test maybe pop in a few LED's here and there with a variable power source.
Hi great video. From the UK. For what we would call Earth and you would call Ground leakage I use, for detecting tipping, a Martindale CM69 clamp meter. True RMS and CAT 4 at 300 volts.
I generally work on electrical controls, so I'm by no means an electrician, but I generally try to use the tick tracer on a known live circuit before I use it to test something that's dead to verify that I isolated with the correct breaker. Also if you do ethernet, there is a fluke network tester that should also work with the toner receiver he showed.
Fluke T+Pro is an incredibly versatile, fast and easy to use tester. You lose amps, but you get a lot of wiggy like features, and a gfci tester. You know why I don't carry testers in my pocket? So I can say "Man, all my gear's at home!"
Love the vid.... think everyone should know how to use all these tools. Do have a question. When is it time to “update/get new testers” when in the electrical field? Been doing this since 90s & just curious, cuz have some “old tools” & sometimes get looked at funny(not shiny new) 😉
Aepek I have grungy ass old testers that still work man. Don’t replace it if you don’t need to. But buy new ones because it’s like getting new toys! Treat yourself from time to time lol. I have a TON of testers but don’t get it twisted, the old dogs are still among them. I keep one in the truck, one in the garage, one in my travel bag, one at my in laws, a spare in the truck in case one shits the bed, etc. never know when/where you’ll need one.
Worked at a large candy company where we had box erecetors that sprayed hot glue on a moving box up to 8 shots a second. No meter could pick it up so used a 24 volt LED to pick it up.
YES good idea! If you have a set of TL175 leads it's even better. The little rotating sleeve that pops up to shield the lead also provides a flat spot for the clamp to settle into. Keeps the lead from popping out of the clamp and flying at your face.
That's great! but I thought you were going to speak about the Fluke T6-1000 which is in fact safer and quicker testing voltage without leads. have a look at it!. I like your video anyway. Thanks for sharing!
Javier Llerena if you do a search on YT for the T6 you'll see a lot of negative reviews. Look at the videos that AvE posted regarding the T6. He's pretty involved about the pros and cons.
Hey so if a GFCI tester touches neutral to ground inside of it, how come they don’t trip an arc fault breaker when used on an arc fault protected circuit?
Love you vids first of all. At 4:07 you put your finger up against a what appears to be a live lug do you have rubbers under your leathers? Can you talk about gloves in a video?
I'm not an electrician but when I did CATV work, we relied on tic tracers to keep us safe. Most people don't know that there is voltage on telco lines, but it is low voltage. We always checked the line with a tic before working on it. There was a CATV installer killed on a service call a few years ago because he got electrocuted due to a shitty electrician. Homeowner had some work done and noticed after the work their CATV was messed up. Service tech goes out to trouble shoot the problem and goes to the access box on the side of the house to hook up his meter. As soon as he touched the connector he was electrocuted. It turned out that an electrician messed with wires he shouldn't have (should have been a power company job). Anyway, the electrician put a high voltage line against a Coax. There was bleedover and the coax became energized. Tics were very important to us. Used the pocket ones all the times, used one on a hot stick for aerial.
Just in case there are home gamers watching these videos: When Dustin says "you will blow up" a tool he means that literally. If you try using a tool that is only rated for low/no voltage on a live 120/240V circuit, that tool will very likely explode. Obviously that's not ideal when you happen to be holding the tool in question. Little glass fuses in low voltage devices go boom when the wire inside becomes plasma. On the other hand, a good multimeter will use fast-blow fuses packed with silica or something similar that can physically intrerrupt the current flowing through the fuse. Still, everybody should see an arc flash in their lifetime. From a safe distance. Sunburns in your eyeballs are no bueno.
@@neocount6397 ive used clamp meters and multimeters obviously, how do you do electricity without those? ive just been looking for opinions on the better brands to purchase, but some of the tools near the end id never heard of
@@nicholasbrassard3512 well, these are great videos to learn from. You rarely encounter every scenario even as a J-man. Honing your skill is a good thing. Stay safe, all the best.
Personally I like the clamp meters. Especially when your up in a Wilson joist or something and the clamp can hold the meter for you. I have a basic circuit tracer but would love one for 347/600. Who makes that line locator you showed?
i remember trying to fix someone's line running to swimming pool turns out somebody buried it without conduit, and it got hit with a shovel and they just taped it up so it would short out when wet out it would leak voltage to ground
I think a process meter, Fluke 789, could have been demonstrated. The ability to source a 4-20 mA signal, and also read 4-20 mA can be essential in industrial troubleshooting.
I disagree with the multi meter. Working on HVAC you need one that'll do цf for capacitors. I've had sluggish motors because the capacitor was out of range. I also use an infrared temperature gun to check electrical connections for hot spots.
I carry LED in a pigtail socket not just for light but testing (also carry a heat lamp in the truck). Sometimes it's handy to throw on some load when testing Afci/Gfci situations.
Homegrown tools are great. I often work on doorbell circuits. They are almost never marked at the breaker box. I took a light from an old doorbell button and attached some alligator clips. Now it's easy to see when the power is off at the door on buttons that don't have built in lights.
Don’t forget the Phase Rotation Meter! A simple incandescent light bulb in a pigtail socket.... put that in series with a short or an overload, and the intensity of the bulb will glow bright. Clear the short, and the bulb will go out.. A multiple wire splice, once you’ve found your feed, touch the other wires to it. The wire that makes that bulb glow bright is your short! Find out what’s still not working, and you’ve narrowed down the search considerably.
I use the lightbulb test all the time in the field to troubleshoot shorts either to ground or phase to phase some circuits almost run for a mile alot of people dont know this method alot of fake electricians
i dont get it if i put the bulb in series of a short wouldnt the breaker be broken already and you said clear the short and bulb would go out wouldnt the bulb work if you cleared the short? im not being smarty pants i actualy want to know im thinking your talking about an overload can you explain an overload and how to fix it? i understand useing the bulb to trace the wire that runs from multi wire splice to the bulb
I always find I can bill customers more if I bring in some large equipment cases with strange testing equipment. Oscilloscopes displaying sine waves, Jacob's ladder arcing electricity, maybe even a Tesla coil throwing off lightning. Not to mention a dummy box that displays a single light that tells them they need a whole new rewiring job.