Pretty much all I do is Stage lighting, maybe a few thousand items a year. These days I have a big rolling rack with my supernova mounted on it that gives me everything from iec to powerlock with a really fun contactor driven socapex tester too. Fail labels are something I've never used; stuff either gets repaired at the time, skipped or sent away for repair.. If you stick a fail label on something in a venue it'll just sit there till somebody decides they need it and uses it anyway. Having it all laid out for you is a lovely chage from the norm.
A very useful video. I went back and retested all of our DJ lights as a consequence of watching this video. They are all Chauvet and Equinox Class I appliances - and passed the class I test with no problem. However, when I tested them as extension leads they passed the earth continuity and insulation tests, but every single one failed due to reversed polarity on the outlet. I could believe that on a single light, but with 6 different models from two different manufacturers, I suspect idiot operator error. The meter (Megger PAT 120) works fine - normal extension leads are ok and when I connect the IEC lead and link lead together, they pass all the tests. Is this an actual thing with this sort of through power outlet?
Thanks for your question. I think I have come across this before. It may be that the way the units are designed the IEC doesn't operate properly until it is powered up. Although it might be a useful question to ask the manufacturer as to why?
@@caterhampattesting Again, very helpful. I took an alternative approach and made myself a male IEC to UK three pin socket cable, and then used a socket tester. When the lights are powered up, the polarity is correct on the socket tester. I will see what the manufacturers say as well. Thanks again, Richard
@@caterhampattesting hi again. I contacted Chauvet and received what I can only describe as a rather condescending reply...... they basically told me to remember that when you look at a plug and a socket they are mirror images of each other! However, Megger were much more helpful and a very nice technical expert phoned me up and told me that this is basically due to the circuitry of the light fooling the meter. He said that the alternative test I had applied using a socket tester, or (with the fixture powered off) sticking a nail into the sockets of the IEC outlet and manually checking continuity with the pins on the input. The PAT meter does not do a simple continuity test it seems, but something a little more complex. It was not designed to be used in the way that I have tried to use it here, but should be a valid way of testing earth bonding and insulation. All the best, Richard
@@caterhampattesting Do you invoice your jobs per tag or by hour rate? Example if you charge per tag and then arrive with all the gear needing to be dismounted taking an hour to do, how to cover this lost time.
@@servicetechnician218 We always test per item and an initial call out fee. If we come across items that will need considerable moving and preparing before testing then we would charge an additional fee to do so
Thanks for your comment. Everything that fails will be labelled as such and then we present these to the duty holder. We then offer to repair anything that can be fixed easily there and then.
